The Democratic rulers of ultra-liberal cities love to pay lip service to their voters’ calls to ‘defund the police’ – except, of course, when it comes to their own protection.
In the latest example of this disturbing trend, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has, for the past two years, enjoyed a security detail consisting of some 71 Chicago PD officers, despite proposing to cut the department’s budget by $80 million back in 2020 as a sop to the “defund” movement (while the city’s murder rate continues to spiral out of control).
The detail, known as Unit 544, started with a handful of officers, but has since grown into a group that includes 65 officers, five sergeants, and a lieutenant, according to a Chicago Sun Times report.
As if this weren’t already excessive enough, Lightfoot has an additional personal bodyguard detail made up of approximately 20 officers. The department sent a memo to its officers in the summer of 2020 (at the height of the defund movement) inviting them to apply to join the mayor’s detail.
“The unit’s mission will be to provide physical security for City Hall, the mayor’s residence and the mayor’s detail command post,” the memo read. “Through the coordination of intelligence and resources, officers will respond to all threats related to the mayor’s physical properties to ensure its protection.”
Around the time the unit was established, city residents who lived near the mayor’s house were complaining that the precinct’s limited resources were too often being dedicated to the mayor’s residence, where protesters repeatedly gathered.
Lightfoot told the Sun-Times that the unit was created to ensure proper coordination between officers who provided security at her residence, and those who provided security at city hall.
Read More: Mayor Lightfoot Assigned 70 Chicago Cops To Personal Security Detail Created In 2020
