Donald Trump claims he could slash Chicago's crime in a week. Chicago police vehemently disagree.

Chicago Police Officer. — (Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Chicago police have been left scratching their heads over Donald Trump's claim that he met with a "top" officer who told him the city's crime problem could be solved completely in a week.

"How?" Trump told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly on Monday. "By being very much tougher than they are right now. They're right now not tough. I could tell you this very long and quite boring story. But when I was in Chicago, I got to meet a couple of very top police. I said, 'How do you stop this? How do you stop this? If you were put in charge — to a specific person — do you think you could stop it?' He said, 'Mr. Trump, I'd be able to stop it in one week.' And I believed him 100 percent," Trump said.

Chicago police spokesman Frank Giancamilla, however, vehemently disagreed with Trump's story. "We've discredited this claim months ago. No one in the senior command at CPD has ever met with Donald Trump or a member of his campaign," Giancamili told Chicago 5 in a statement. Trump's campaign clarified to the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday that their candidate hadn't spoken to "top" officers so much as he had spoken to "some talented and dedicated police officers on a prior visit."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Whoever it was, Trump claimed the officer he spoke with had a plan to solve Chicago crime. "I'm sure he's got a strategy," Trump told O'Reilly. "I didn't ask him his strategy."

Explore More

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.