The Chicago Police Department’s superintendent announced Wednesday he will step down in two weeks, hours after it was confirmed that Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who championed him, lost her reelection bid in a mayoral primary election where violent crime in the nation’s third largest city was a central issue.
Superintendent David Brown was appointed in April 2020 by Lightfoot.
April’s run off election will be contested between Paul Vallas, who has the backing of the police union, and Brandon Johnson, who has the backing of the teacher’s union.
All of Lightfoot’s eight rivals said they would fire Brown and replace him with someone else. That included the two candidates who advanced to the April 4 runoff, Vallas and Johnson.
At the time that he was appointed, Brown stated that his goal was to get the city’s murder rate below 300 annually. In 2022, Chicago saw more than double that with 695 homicides. That was down slightly from 2021’s number of 820.
Superintendent David Brown announced on Wednesday that he leave his job as Chicago’s top cop on March 16
Chicago police work the scene where a police officer was shot and killed along with a suspect who was seriously wounded in the city’s Gage Park section
Brown revealed he was leaving hours before a Chicago police officer died after being wounded during a shootout while responding to a call of a man chasing a woman with a gun.
‘I’ve accepted a job opportunity to be the Chief Operating Officer of Loncar Lyon Jenkins, a personal injury law firm with seven offices in Texas,’ Brown’s announcement said.
‘I will be stepping down as Chicago Police Superintendent effective March 16, 2023 so the incoming mayor can begin the process as soon as possible to hire the next Superintendent.’
The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability will compile a list of possible candidates to replace Brown and submit them to Chicago’s new mayor. The chosen candidate will then need to be confirmed by the City Council before assuming office.
On Wednesday, Lightfoot asked the commission to begin the selection process as soon as possible.
Brown, the former police chief of Dallas between 2016 and 2020, will turn 63 on Oct. 22, the retirement age for Chicago cops.
He was the chief during the July 7, 2016 shooting that killed five police officers during a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas.
His role began at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic where he was charged with enforcing Lightfoot’s strict lockdown protocols and the protests that followed the police murder of George Floyd that summer.
Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost her re-election bid over criticisms of her soft-on-crime approach amid a steady spike in violence. Pictured: Lightfoot at her election night rally on February 28
Paul Vallas (left) and Brandon Johnson (right) are headed for the run-off election in April
In 2021, Brown oversaw the response to the fatal police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo in Chicago’s Little Village section. The response included changes to the force’s foot pursuit policies.
‘It has been an honor and a privilege to work alongside the brave men and women of the Chicago Police Department,’ the resignation statement continued.
‘I will continue to pray that all officers return home to their families safe at the end of their shift. May the Good Lord bless the city of Chicago and the men and women who serve and protect this great city.’
Lightfoot issued a statement commending Brown for setting a record number of illegal gun recoveries for two consecutive years, leading a double-digit reduction in violent crime in 2022.
The outgoing mayor said that Brown’s efforts ‘significantly expanding the resources for officer wellness; and promoting more women to the senior exempt ranks than ever before in the history of the department.’
‘I accepted his resignation and wanted to commend him for his accomplishments, not just for the department for the entire city… I personally want to thank him for his service to our city,’ Lightfoot’s statement said.
Mayoral frontrunner Paul Vallas criticized Brown’s time as superintendent, highlighting his failure to make Chicago safer
Brandon Johnson rival focused more on the search for Brown’s successor in his reaction statement
Mayoral frontrunner Paul Vallas criticized Brown’s time as superintendent, highlighting his failure to make Chicago safer.
‘As mayor, I will appoint a new police superintendent and command team from within CPD that will prioritize community policing, end the failed friends and family promotion system and invest in building trust between the police and our communities,’ he said.
Vallas added: ‘Public safety is a civil right, and as mayor I will work with CPD and all of our communities to make Chicago the safest big city in America.’
His rival focused more on the search for Brown’s successor.
‘As mayor, my preference will be to appoint someone from within the current ranks of the department, but most important is appointing the right person for the job – someone who is collaborative, competent and compassionate, and who truly cares about protecting and serving the people of our city,’ Johnson said.
First Deputy Eric Carter will be appointed as interim superintendent until a new mayor is sworn into office, Lightfoot said.
Brown pictured with New York City Mayor Eric Adams in July 2021
Public safety dominated the mayoral election, in which Lightfoot lost her bid for a second term.
Lightfoot has defended Brown, saying the city needed an outsider to lead the department after years of problems and a federal consent decree ordering CPD to make changes.
She also argued that after crime spiked during the pandemic, the city was making progress in reducing homicides and some other crimes. Her rivals said it wasn’t enough.
The officer who was killed on Wednesday afternoon was shot several times on the city’s Southwest Side, Brown said.
The officer shot back and wounded the suspect in the head, Brown said. The suspect, identified as an 18-year-old with one prior violation, was in critical condition Wednesday night.
The officer had five years on the job, Brown said. ‘He had a bright future ahead of him,’ the superintendent continued.
Lightfoot appeared with Brown at the news conference. ‘Tragedy has befallen the Chicago Police Department and, really, the city,’ Lightfoot said.
Also on Wednesday saw the resignation of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, which includes Chicago, John R. Lausch Jr. He was appointed by ex-President Donald Trump in November 2017.
Chicago police union president John Caranzara has long been a critic of Brown’s
Brown has also been criticized Chicago’s largest police union – the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 – for not supporting officers and canceling days off.
Over a dozen Chicago cops have taken their own lives since 2018, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
The union’s president, John Catanzara, told WGN TV in an interview that Brown lost police support two months into his tenure when he began criticizing officers publicly.
‘It was just egregious, over-the-top disgusting. It just showed his willingness to be a political pawn for this mayor. He became as political as any superintendent has ever been and did the mayor’s bidding from Day 1,’ Catanzara said.
He was also accused of taking officers from neighborhoods in order to have more policing of the city’s downtown area.
In February, ABC Chicago reported that Brown wanted to leave in January but was convinced to stay on until after the election.
At the same time as those reports, it was reported that city’s Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan was leaving the force to take up a role with Google.
Chicago’s last five superintendents lasted just three years on the job, two, Garry McCarthy and Eddie Johnson, were fired.
The Texas-based firm that Brown will be joining is known as The Strong Arm in the state, a slogan based on a long-running ad campaign. In 2016, the firm’s founder Brian Loncar took his own life by taking an overdose of cocaine in his car.
Loncar’s daughter Grace had taken her own life at the age of 16 days earlier after a battle with depression.
In 2010, Brown’s son, David Brown Jr., was shot dead by a police officer after he’d shot dead a stranger on a suburban sidewalk and then also killed a responding officer during an apparent mental breakdown.
‘My entire body pulsated with pain, as if I’d been jolted with an electric shock,’ Brown recounted in a 2017 book. ‘I grieved just as deeply for the loved ones of those my son had taken.’
