Second round of interviews complete in search for next CPD superintendent

The commission tasked with finding three finalists for the vacant Chicago police superintendent job has completed two rounds of candidate interviews and remains on track to meet its mid-July deadline, according to the body’s president.

Anthony Driver Jr., president of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, said this week that he’s “a billion percent” confident that the commission will “meet or exceed” its July 14 deadline to send three finalists to Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Driver wouldn’t say, though, how many candidates have been interviewed or how many rounds of interviews the commission may hold.

“We are a good ways through our process and we are right on track to meet or exceed our deadline, (but) I wouldn’t get ahead of our commission. If they determine by vote that we need more interviews then we’ll add those,” Driver said.

The commission started the search process in March after former police Superintendent David Brown submitted his resignation the day after former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s failed to qualify for the mayoral runoff election.

Public safety was front and center throughout the campaign, and the search for the next superintendent continues as the summer season — when gun violence typically spikes — gets into full swing. Through June 12, Chicago had recorded 276 homicides on the year, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. In 2022, the city saw 752 homicides.

City ordinance gives the CCPSA 120 days to send the finalists to the mayor after the superintendent position is vacated. Johnson will then either select one of the finalists — who would then be subject to full City Council approval — or he could order the commission to restart the search process.

Driver previously said that 53 people applied for the job, 32 of whom have ties to the CPD.

Throughout April and May, the commission hosted seven public meetings across the city to solicit residents’ feedback about what qualities they want in the next leader of the country’s second-largest Police Department. At each meeting, speakers told commission members that the next superintendent should have experience within CPD and ties to Chicago.

Prior to the creation of the CCPSA, the search for superintendent finalists was conducted by the Chicago Police Board, the appointed body that hands down discipline in the most serious cases of police misconduct.

In 2016, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel disregarded the three finalists that were presented to him by the board which, at the time, was led by Lightfoot and ultimately selected Eddie Johnson, though he never applied for the job.

Four years later, Lightfoot selected Brown, the former Dallas police chief, less than two days after the board named him as a finalist. Brown’s tenure as top cop though, was mired by a surge in violent crime during the COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest, entrenched gun violence and woeful officer morale.

Driver said Johnson’s office has not reached out to inquire about the search and interview process

“Not once. Never,” Driver said. “And I’m very thankful for that and very proud that the mayor’s office has taken a hands-off approach. I can appreciate that.”