FERGUSON SEEKS NEW TERM, SAYS POLICE OVERSIGHT VITAL
Inspector General Joe Ferguson said Monday he’s seeking another four- year term because the federal government’s retreat from police reform means local oversight is critical.
The Chicago Sun- Times reported last week that police reformer and researcher Laura Kunard wanted assurances that the man who chose her to be Chicago’s $ 137,052- a- year deputy inspector general for public safety would not depart in a few months.
On Monday, Ferguson acknowledged that Kunard’s term is “tied to” his own and that, if he’s not reappointed, her new job “lasts only five or six months.”
But Ferguson also took it a step further. He argued that U. S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to review and retreat from police reform agreements nationwide leaves a giant void that must be filled locally by the new, 25- employee, $ 1.8 million unit housed in his office.
“The absence of the Justice Department means that the city really needs to own this fully. And one of the key mechanisms that’s evolved in this whole field over the last 25 years is an inspector general function,” Ferguson said.
“I’m very anxious to get our shop up and running because I do think it would be a force amplifier and a driver.”
The police reform effort is “not as far as we’d like to be. Not as far aswe should be,” he said.
“There was probably a little bit of passivity waiting for the Justice Department to say what needed to be done. Now it’s on us and we’ve got to giddy up. It’s a warm day out there and we all know what happens in Chicago when it’s warm out. So we’ve all got to get moving,” he said.
Taking center stage at Kunard’s confirmation hearing, Ferguson argued that the Chicago Police Department is “only barely in the game” in some areas of reform and “not in the game at all” in others.
He specifically mentioned an early intervention and counseling system that is “barely being used” and supervision and training, both of which the DOJ called grossly inadequate.
Ferguson also referred to Chicago’s moribund community policing program as the “poster child” for the “right idea” without adequate resources.
Ferguson spent two years in a cold war with Mayor Rahm Emanuel. It was only after the Ohio bribery scandal that culminated in the conviction of former City Comptroller Amer Ahmad that Emanuel seemed to realize Ferguson was more helpful than threatening.
Sources said Emanuel is amenable to reappointing Ferguson, but only after a face- to- face conversation with the inspector general that hasn’t happened yet.
During Monday’s confirmation hearing, Kunard got off on the wrong foot with powerful Budget Committee Chairman Carrie Austin ( 34th). It happened after Kunard started off by declaring that the current system of police accountability was “largely ineffective” and that it has “lost legitimacy” with Chicagoans because “so few officers historically have been held accountable for substandard performances or misconduct.”
“It’s very disturbing to me . . . You can always find fault with it. Nothing that we have done in the past has been any good. I’m here to straighten it out,” Austin said.
“I really get tired of people saying that because I’ve been here 22 years and things have been operating. Maybe not at its best, but it has been operating. It does a disservice to us as a city for you all to come in here and say that.”