Chicago City Wire

Presiding over his first police graduation, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson vowed to always have the backs of his officers.

“Know as your mayor, as your brother, I’m here to build the type of coalition that generations to come will marvel because this will be the generation that stared into the eyes of the divisive nature that’s been created by political forces that do not want the city of Chicago to succeed," the mayor told graduates in the grand ballroom at Navy Pier, the Chicago Sun Times reported. "But this is the freakin’ city of Chicago. The best city in the world, and no one — no one — will come before us.”

Johnson assured the class of 261 graduates gathered at the grand ballroom at Navy Pier that his administration will do all it can to make their jobs easier, adding, "If we’re gonna have a society that we all can be proud of and a society we can raise our families in, it’s gonna take all of us. No one can sit on the sidelines. And let me make this emphatically clear: If you don’t live in Chicago, you don’t have a right to talk about the city of Chicago.”

Throughout his campaign, Johnson sought to walk back his position of once supporting the defund the police movement and at one point during his speech vowed not to cut “one penny” from the police department's nearly $2 billion annual budget, the Sun Times reported.

“If we’re gonna have a society that we all can be proud of and a society we can raise our families in, it’s gonna take all of us," the mayor said. "No one can sit on the sidelines. And let me make this emphatically clear: If you don’t live in Chicago, you don’t have a right to talk about the city of Chicago.”

Johnson told recruits he has a plan that includes slicing up to $150 million from the police department's budget and reinvesting the funds in areas that include promoting up to 200 detectives, improving officer wellness and meeting the demands of a federal consent decree the department now faces, the story said.