Mayor Rahm Emanuel is moving 200 more Chicago police officers to the streets after a 15-year-old girl was gunned down Tuesday in what authorities say was a gang turf war.
The recommendation came last week from the city inspector general who said nearly 300 positions currently occupied by sworn officers should be converted to civilian positions.
So far in January 42 people were killed in Chicago gunfire, but the recent death of Hadiya Pendleton, an honor-roll student who recently performed in events at President Barack Obama's inauguration, outraged the nation.
Hadiya died after she was shot in the back while hanging out with a group of teens in Vivian Gordon Harsh Park and taking cover from a rain storm. Police said she wasn't the intended target.
"I want everybody in the city of Chicago to know -- you look at her, you look at how she talked about her future -- she took her final exams," Emanuel said Wednesday. "She had dreams. And these -- and this gang banger, this punk -- took that away."
Four years before her death, Pendleton spoke on an anti-gang public service announcement.
"So many children out there are in gangs, and it's your job to say no to gangs and yes to your future," she said in the video.
Emanuel said the beefed up police presence is aimed at making kids feel safe in their neighborhood and outside their school. "Those kids just took a final," he said. "They have a right to be able to be at a playground near their school as they're going to go home."
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney called the shooting a "terrible tragedy" and said Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama had been notified.
“The president and first lady's thoughts and prayers are with the family of Hadiya Pendleton,” Carney said. "All of our thoughts and prayers are with her family."
The mayor joined Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy Thursday to announce a move that reassigns 200 police officers from administrative responsibilities to patrol work. The administrative spots will be replaced by civilians, and the first officers will be reassigned this weekend.
Inspector general Joseph Ferguson says out of 370 positions reviewed by his office, 292 could be filled by civilian workers. Ferguson says he found officers performing “purely administrative tasks” such as travel arrangements, data entry, graphic design, timekeeping, grant writing, even nursing.
“The City has a variety of options for civilianizing these positions,” Ferguson said in a statement. “Doing so would not only save the City money, but it would allow CPD to redeploy these and possibly other sworn officers to other high priority missions.”
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Photo Credit: NBCChicago.com