Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson announced Sunday that the department has added 108 new officers and five new patrol vehicles equipped with license plate reading technology aimed at stopping carjackings and recovering stolen vehicles.
The new officers are being deployed to their first district assignments after leaving CPD's training academy, according to a statement from the mayor's office. The new hires are part of an ongoing plan to grow the department by nearly 1,000 officers. Roughly two-thirds of the newly assigned officers identify as minority.
The department also expanded license plate reading technology to a handful of new patrol vehicles, the mayor's office said. The expansion builds on a program launched last year that supports the newly-formed local, state and federal Vehicular Hijacking Task Force. CPD has made over 20 percent more arrests for vehicular hijacking this year.The new technology is capable of reading as many as 1,000 license plates per minute. Police said they hope the technology will deter would-be carjackers, who often view carjacking as an easy crime with no real consequences.
AS REPORTED BY ABC 7 CHICAGO