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Chicago Adding Extra Police Officers Over Holiday Weekend

CHICAGO (AP) -- More than 1,000 extra Chicago police officers are hitting the streets to stem the surge in violence that typically accompanies long holiday weekends in the city.

In a news release, the police department says that beginning Friday and through the Memorial Day weekend, more officers on bikes, on foot and in squad cars will be deployed in neighborhoods and downtown as well as in parks and along the lakefront.

Putting more officers on the streets is part of the department's summer deployment initiative that includes putting scores more officers on the street during the weekends of Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day.

After a similar deployment last Labor Day weekend, the police reported a drop in both homicides and shootings compared to the previous Labor Day weekend.

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