Ben Joravsky Interviews: Inside Chicago Government

Jonathan Silverstein, a budget analyst fired by the city's Council Office of Financial Analysis, explained his recent report: "The Real Cost of the Chicago Police Department." In the standard version, Silverstein revealed the city of Chicago’s unusual budgeting practice: Many costs attributable to police are left out of CPD’s budget allocation. In the premium version: how other major cities handle their police budgeting; the effect of Chicago's budgeting scheme on taxpayers; the city's persistent, if not mysterious, tendency to under-budget CPD's overtime costs; and why Silverstein's revelations are coming now. (For the full-length version, subscribe at chigov.com.) Length 10.6 minutes.