CHICAGO — The city’s new Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) continues its search for Chicago’s next police superintendent.
The CCPSA provided an update to the public Wednesday about where they were in the process, including a bit about the applications received.
In total, 53 applicants are seeking the city’s top cop position. Commission president Anthony Driver, Jr. provided some demographics from the pool:
- Ten different states and two countries are respresented
- Six applicants have experience as a chief of police in a “major city”
- Eight have police chief experience
- 32 have some affiliation with the Chicago Police Department – no additional detail was provided on this data point
The scheduled update followed a series of public hearings which the commission used to gather community feedback on what qualities they would like to see in Chicago’s next top cop. During Wednesday’s update, the three commissioners provided their own perceived highlights of what the community wants from those meetings including:
- Someone who puts community first
- Views the consent decree as “a floor, not a ceiling”
- Someone who is present in, and engaged with, the community
- Demonstrates care, compassion, and empathy for community and officers alike
- Someone who has proven strategies for reducing overall crime, increasing the clearance rate, and decreasing the homicide rate
- Supports equity of service across the city
Ultimately, the CCPSA will provide a list of three finalists to soon-to-be Mayor Brandon Johnson. The deadline for that list is July 14. Johnson will then have 30 days to either select one of the finalists or reject all of them which would force the commission to start the entire process over.
