Sources: Top CPD official honored for heroism demoted
A top Chicago police official was demoted this week, according to department sources, the latest high-ranking cop to lose his command spot under police Superintendent David Brown.
Jacob Alderden was demoted from the rank of commander of the Central patrol district, which encompasses a large swath of the downtown area, to captain of the Police Department’s alternate response section, or nonemergency call center, the sources said.
A spokesman for Brown on Friday would not talk about Alderden’s demotion, including the reason for it, saying the department doesn’t discuss personnel issues. Alderden could not be reached for comment.
He’s the latest high-ranking police official to be demoted by Brown. In February, for instance, he demoted Deputy Chief Daniel Godsel, who oversaw police training, to the rank of lieutenant.
A CPD veteran of about 20 years, Alderden is a recipient of the Carter Harrison Award, one of the city’s two highest honors for first responders, for his response to a November 2018 shooting at Mercy Hospital & Medical Center that claimed the lives of pharmacist Dayna Less, Dr. Tamara O’Neal and Chicago police Officer Samuel Jimenez.
The gunman who killed them, Juan Lopez, was shot in the abdomen by SWAT Officer Elvis Turcinovic. Lopez then died when he turned his gun on himself.
Alderden, a lieutenant in the Central patrol district when the shooting occurred, and Turcinovic were honored with the award along with Officer Bernardo Quijano, whose gun was holstered when it was struck by gunfire from Lopez.
Alderden was also among the commanders who led the Police Department’s downtown response to the civil unrest following the May 25, 2020, killing of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minnesota.
Alderden had been promoted from captain to commander in January 2020 by then-interim Chicago police Superintendent Charlie Beck, Brown’s immediate predecessor.