Mayor’s checklist for permanent leader includes proactive approach

When Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson announced his pending retirement on Thursday, he said the job he’d held for fewer than four years had taken its toll on him, the four stars adorning each of his uniform’s shoulders having at times felt like they were “carrying the weight of the world.”

His eventual successor will be stepping into a department that faces many demands and challenges — a mayoral mandate to reduce crime in a city beset by violence and a department under judicial oversight to enact and maintain widespread reforms as part of a federal consent decree.

“It’s one of the toughest jobs in law enforcement really anywhere, but certainly within the United States,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot told the Tribune during an interview in her City Hall office.

As Johnson looks to end his tenure later this year, the mayor embarks on a search for his permanent replacement amid competing interests and opinions about what traits the right candidate will possess.

Lightfoot announced Friday that former Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck would become Chicago’s interim superintendent, an indication of her commitment to police reform.

For Lightfoot, the right candidate for the full-time gig would be someone who understands that the federal oversight, which is aimed at improving how officers treat citizens in their interactions, can transform the department for the better.

She also emphasized accountability, professionalism and her desire to have a more proactive police force as key factors she’s considering in Chicago’s next top cop. She said she also wants someone with experience as a senior manager of a large organization, among other things.

The mayor also said the consent decree that was negotiated between her predecessor, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is “critically important” for officer training.

“I want to make sure that gets done, gets done right, and that we are developing a regular cadence of how we are doing the training and that we also professionalize the adult learning that’s taking place at the academy both for our recruiting classes but also for our in-service training for veteran officers,” Lightfoot said.

Around crime strategy, Lightfoot said she wants police to “be much more proactive.”

“A part of doing that is looking at staffing and resources. Do we have the right people in the right places at the right time? That’s fundamentally in my mind what it comes down to,” Lightfoot said.

Officers need to be held more accountable too, Lightfoot said.

“People need to do their job and when they don’t do their jobs they need to be coached and mentored,” Lightfoot said. “And if they don’t turn things around, then they need to be managed out of the department.”

Lightfoot, who since taking office in May has held regular accountability meetings with police brass, detailed several problems she sees within the department, including a need for building professional growth pipelines.

“Right now district commanders get their jobs and it’s like, ‘OK, good luck, tell us how you do.’ We need to make sure we’re doing a better job for every supervisor starting with our line sergeants on up the chain of command through the superintendent that professional development and leadership opportunities are routine within the department,” Lightfoot said. “I think we’ve got to do a much, much better job there.”

Nevertheless, the mayor also said Chicago police have made progress in the department’s crime-fighting efforts. Homicides and shootings are down, Lightfoot said, and the city’s doing “phenomenally well” when it comes to burglaries and robberies. “But there’s more that we can be,” Lightfoot said. “I mean when I’ve said, I’m not going to rest until Chicago’s the safest big city in the world.”

Lightfoot wouldn’t say whether there’s anyone within the department who is ready to take its helm. She said the Chicago Police Board will do a “very rigorous search” and referenced New York City’s transformation from the days when it hired an outsider to now promoting from within.

“I would like to see us get to a day like New York where the mayor obviously had the belief that multiple people within the department had the bandwidth and experience and integrity and relationships with the community to step up and lead and that you’re not going to miss a beat when the person who’s the chief retires because the next man or woman is up,” Lightfoot said. “But that only happens if you’re intentional about succession and professional development and I think we’ve got a long way to go there.”

Choosing a police superintendent comes with many potential landmines. The wrong choice could demoralize rank-and-file cops and anger members of the City Council. After Johnson announced his retirement, several aldermen said they hope his successor comes from within.

Northwest Side Ald. Ariel Reboyras, 30th, said an internal candidate could be best positioned to maintain morale among rank-and-file officers. “I think if you have an inside person that’s going to lead them, that’s good for the morale,” he said. “But if the mayor wants to change that, I’ll support whichever way, as long as we’re working in the right direction.”

Freshman North Side Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, said he will be watching the process. “It needs to be fully transparent and open to the public,” he said. “As someone who thinks we need more police accountability in general, I think that the process should reflect that. So I think we should have a long one, where we’re able to get public comment, where all of the candidates’ information is posted publicly so we can get everyone’s input as we go through the decision-making.”

Veteran West Side Ald. Emma Mitts, 37th, said she hopes Lightfoot considers a woman like Chief Barbara West, who came out of the West Side 15th District. Mitts said on-the-ground leadership like the kind West provides is needed, an area she said Johnson sometimes fell short in, perhaps because of his health issues.

“I’m looking for a superintendent who wants to be out with the people, get out and build that trust,” Mitts said.

Frequent mayoral critic Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, whose Southwest Side ward has seen significant gang conflict in recent years, cautioned against Lightfoot bringing in an outsider like Beck, even on an interim basis.

But not everyone agreed. Ald. James Cappleman, 46th, whose ward includes the Uptown neighborhood, said he thinks Lightfoot should hire someone from outside the department.

“People just want someone new. They’re tired of the old order and I think the most important thing right now is trust with the community,” Cappleman said. “And I think the community would rather have someone from the outside.”

Asked about aldermen lobbying for an internal choice, Lightfoot said, “Luckily, it’s my pick.”