Emanuel says he's 'not focused' on Burke's bodyguards

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said today he's not focusing on the size of Ald. Edward Burke's bodyguard detail, which he suggested during the mayoral campaign would need to be cut in the spirit of shared sacrifice.
Emanuel said he's concentrating on getting large numbers of police officers back on the street rather than whether Burke, 14th, should continue to have six Chicago police officers assigned as his guards.
"My main goal wasn't about the six officers related to Ald. Burke, but the 650 officers we put into the streets. And now the commanders have the resources to do what they need to do," Emanuel said.
Emanuel said during a February mayoral debate that Burke would need to sacrifice alongside other Chicagoans, and pointed to the powerful 14th Ward alderman's police detail. "The City Council has to share in the sacrifice because the residents will be sharing in the sacrifice, which means if Ed Burke has six police officers, that just can't continue," Emanuel said then.
But Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said yesterday that he can't shrink Burke's detail because of a court order from the 1980s.
Emanuel acknowledged the court order is "an issue," but said he isn't giving Burke a pass. McCarthy is still working on a review of all city officials' bodyguard detachments, to determine how many are necessary for safety purposes, Emanuel said.
Speaking after a Finance Committee meeting at City Hall today, Burke said there would have to be a hearing to make changes to his detail.
“A court order is a court order, and in order to change it there would have to be a hearing,” he said.
Burke also challenged the assertion that there are six officers assigned to him, but would not say how many officers are on his detail.
Emanuel's comments on the issue came during a news conference with Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle to give more specifics on a joint city-county summer program to keep young people off the streets.
 The One Summer Chicago program will provide an array of programs for 2,800 kids in four neighborhoods that traditionally see spikes in summer violence: Garfield Park, Englewood, Woodlawn and Little Village.
In addition to the city and county, several foundations kicked in funds to pay for the programs. The University of Chicago's crime lab will study the crime statistics from the four neighborhoods at the end of the summer, with an eye toward expanding the ideas that work best next year.
Emanuel said he hopes to "see if this strategy of both more policing, but positive alternatives for our kids, help reduce the juvenile crimes in these four areas compared to other parts of the city, so we'll have the data to go forward.
"Can we take it from four communities next summer, double it to eight?" the mayor said during the event in the Bronzeville neighborhood.