Emanuel rejects top cop finalists, to name Johnson new interim superintendent

[Eugene]

Source: Chicago Tribune

Emanuel rejects top cop finalists, to name Johnson new interim superintendent

By John Byrne , Bill Ruthhart and Jeremy Gorner
Chicago Tribune

MARCH 27, 2016, 12:49 PM

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has decided to install veteran cop Eddie Johnson as the city's interim police superintendent while rejecting the three finalists the Chicago Police Board sent him, according to four sources familiar with the process.

It remained unclear whether Emanuel will seek to hand the top cop job to Johnson permanently, but his move to circumvent the three candidates presented to him from the Police Board's national search for a new police superintendent came among heightened pressure from black and Latino aldermen to make the hire from within the department.

Johnson, a prominent African-American who currently serves as chief of patrol, did not apply for the superintendent job, two sources close to the Emanuel administration said.

Under city code, Emanuel is required to select the city's police superintendent from a slate of candidates presented by the Police Board, which is appointed by the mayor. Emanuel's decision to reject the three candidates, who were chosen by the board among the 39 who applied for the job, resets that process.

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Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-rahm-emanuel-chicago-police-superintendent-met-0328-20160327-story.html

[metroins]

1. So....

The Chicago PD has a bunch of problems...Yet local leaders tell him to promote from within the Department with a bunch of problems?

They should've gotten an outside Superintendent to right the ship. I would have rejected all the candidates and formed my own committee/interviewers. You could've gotten a cop who grew up in Chicago but moved elsewhere and wants to move back. Or a completely new-to-the-city cop to look at it with fresh eyes.