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Emanuel: Reforms Are Needed To Police Disability Rules

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel is demanding reforms in the city's police disability rules, after some apparently major abuses have been uncovered.

As WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation shows the City of Chicago spent $18 million in a year for police disability leave, though few officers ever go back to the department, and many have moved on to other, more comfortable careers.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports

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Mayor Emanuel was asked if reforms are needed.

"The short answer? Absolutely," he said.

The reason, he says, is that many officers clearly deserve the benefits.

"They do very serious work, and it's there to protect them, and everybody knows there are a few bad actors who are ruining it for everybody else," he said.

For that reason, the mayor is asking his financial team to outline changes.

"It is there as an insurance policy of protection," Emanuel said. "It is not there for a few bad actors to abuse and then take down the system as a whole."

The mayor spoke at an unrelated North Side event.

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