Aurora Pride Parade in jeopardy after police controversy

AURORA, Ill. - The Aurora Pride Parade could be on hold due to security issues.

The parade sparked debate last month with rules about how police could participate — and now, there aren't enough officers to keep the event safe.

"We really couldn’t in good faith say this event could go on without the required law enforcement number being there at the event to provide security," said Paris Lewbel, spokesperson for the Aurora Police Department.

Organizers of the privately-run event have worked with APD to come up with a safety plan, but the department, Lewbel says, can’t make officers work it.

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"We can’t force them or require them to work a special event or any overtime event for that matter – it’s really on a voluntary basis," said Lewbel. "When it comes to this event, specifically, it's not different than any other event that we’ve had where we are just having issues filling that many positions."

Lewbel says once they realized staffing would be short, they encouraged Aurora Pride to ask other agencies for help.

"We got a report back from them yesterday, that they weren’t able to fill those positions," said Lewbel, who added parade organizers are still 20 officers short.

The upcoming event already made headlines last month when they announced police officers could not march in the parade "in uniform" and would have to leave their service weapons and patrol cars at home.

In response to the security struggles, Aurora Pride only released a short statement: "We are concerned and disappointed, and we are investigating all options available to us."

Because of the uniform controversy, APD and others including Aurora mayor and gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin have said they will not participate in the parade, set to happen Sunday at noon.