Overview
- Starting Friday, CPD staffing on the CTA rises from an average of 77 officers per day to 120 through the Voluntary Special Employment Program.
- Private K-9 security increases from 172 to 188 guards per day across trains, buses, and platforms.
- CTA and CPD say deployments will be guided by combined crime data, system trends, and daily intelligence sharing.
- CTA estimates the surge will cost about $3.5 million over a year, covered in the agency’s 2026 budget, and the FTA has not confirmed compliance.
- No end date has been set for the surge, and independent data show 834 violent crimes so far this year, down 6.4% from 2024 but higher than a decade ago.