What Happens When Suburban Police Departments Don't Have Enough Money?

In suburbs just outside the city of Chicago, some police officers are paid fast-food wages; they work part-time patrolling high crime areas, just so they can use their badge to get better paying security jobs.

Many police chiefs say the low-wages and part-time positions are consequences of inadequate funding. That means departments can't pay for ongoing training, can't afford to fire problem officers and don't have the capacity to investigate police shootings.

Experts say it's created a system where there's often no accountability for bad actions, and no real effort to learn from policing mistakes.

Lack of resources leads to lack of accountability

Two years ago, Robert Collins took over as police chief in the Chicago suburb of Dolton — population 22,000.

"When I first came aboard, one of my first things to do was to look at the history of the department," he says. "And I did notice that there were quite a few officer-involved shootings."

Dolton has had nine police shootings since 2005 — tied for the most in suburban Cook County.

"To be honest with you, I don't know how we would explain it to people," Collins says.

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