Ald. Edward Burke built ‘special police’ force after Rahm cut bodyguard detail

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

After he was elected in 2011, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, facing budget problems and a shortage of officers on the streets, said he’d cut the bodyguard detail for Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), paring it from four active-duty Chicago police officers to two retired cops.

So Burke began hiring former Chicago cops and getting them certified through an obscure city program, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show.


Since 2014, the city has certified nine “special police” officers at Burke’s request, allowing them to carry guns and make arrests.

Six of those former cops remain on the payroll of the Chicago City Council Finance Committee, even though Burke relinquished his position as head of the powerful aldermanic committee after federal prosecutors announced early last month they had charged him with attempted extortion.

Imagine that.