Will other city officials lose police guards?

The Chicago Police Department's decision to yank the four police bodyguards assigned to City Clerk Jim Laski has triggered a broader review of a perk that critics contend is little more than a valet service.

Now that Laski has been stripped of his guards, Mayor Daley, former Mayor Eugene Sawyer, City Treasurer Judy Rice and Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), chairman of the City Council's Finance Committee, are the only Chicagoans who have police officers assigned to them as bodyguards. Former Mayor Jane M. Byrne, Daley's archrival, has no police protection.

The Police Department refused to reveal the precise number of bodyguards assigned to the four officials. The Special Police Services section, where bodyguards are drawn, has 63 officers and an annual budget of $4.8 million. Not all officers in the unit serve as bodyguards.

"It's a perk -- a demonstration of your clout," said Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association. "Absent a specific threat, elected officials don't need security details.

Civic Federation President Laurence Msall said he's concerned that "there doesn't appear to be a formal policy" for determining when security is assigned to city officials and when that protection is removed.

Daley said it was First Deputy Police Supt. Dana Starks who pulled the plug on Laski's protection, adding, "I stand by what he said."

The decision was made almost immediately after Laski became the first elected official to be caught up in the Hired Truck scandal. But Daley insisted that the bribery and extortion charges against Laski were not the trigger. It was the fact that, until this week, Laski had not been showing up for work.

Daley said the four police bodyguards assigned to the clerk "weren't there for a number of weeks. So they weren't working."

Aside from political tradition, Daley was hard-pressed to explain why bodyguards were ever assigned to an obscure officeholder like the city clerk.

"It's always been there for many years. ... They have them for, you know -- the city clerk has one, a number. The city treasurer has one, a couple. ... They deal with a lot of issues dealing with their safety and their families. So, it's always a concern," Daley said.

Asked if Chicago taxpayers would be better served if those officers were reassigned to crime-ridden neighborhoods, Daley said, "That's why they're evaluating. ... They always look at it. They evaluate each and every one of them."

Rice has a pair of rotating police bodyguards.

With two full-time bodyguards and one relief officer, Burke is the only City Council member with bodyguards.

The assignment dates back to Burke's role as a political lightning rod who marshaled opposition to Mayor Harold Washington during the 1980s "Council Wars."

Although political tensions have eased considerably since then, Daley has allowed the perk for his lifelong rival to continue. "I think it's appropriate [for the finance chairman] to have some."

Bodyguard protection is assigned to politicians and other VIPs at the discretion of the police superintendent.