By John Dempsey, WLS-AM News
(CHICAGO) Mayor Emanuel is set to name a veteran Chicago Police official as the city’s new Police Superintendent, as the Mayor rejects a list of finalists given to him by the Chicago Police board.
Emanuel issued a statement saying he is appointing Chicago Chief of Patrol Eddie Johnson as the department’s interim leader, and will appear with Johnson in a news conference Monday afternoon at Police Headquarters.
The Mayor reportedly offered the job last week to one of the finalists on the Police Board list, Atlanta area police official Cedric Alexander. But those reports indicate an irate Emanuel withdrew the offer after he learned Alexander began speaking to the media about it.
Emanuel is embroiled in a police crisis that began in December with the release of a police dash cam video showing a white police officer shooting a black teenager 16 times.
The release of that video and protests that followed, led Emanuel to fire former Superintendent Garry McCarthy.
Emanuel’s office says Johnson is a Chicago native who joined the CPD as a patrolman in 1988. The Mayor’s statement says “The Mayor has spent the past three and a half months talking to police officers, residents, community leaders, aldermen and others about the type of leader the Department needs right now. With the help of their feedback, the Mayor is confident that Eddie Johnson is the right person at the right time to fight crime, lift morale in the Police Department, and build on the work that’s been done to restore trust and accountability in the police department.”
Johnson becomes the interim superintendent to replace current interim Superintendent John Escalante. To follow the law, the Police Board now must give Emanuel a new list of three finalists, a list which will presumably include Johnson At that point Emanuel is expected to choose Eddie Johnson as the permanent Superintendent.
@ 2016 WLS-AM News
