Black Caucus Wants An African-American As Chicago Police Superintendent

Alderman Roderick Sawyer and members of the City Council's Black Caucus expressed their preferences for a local African-American as Chicago’s next police superintendent at City Hall Thursday.

The group of aldermen threatened to withhold their votes to approve the next superintendent if they’re not allowed to publicly question all three candidates before Mayor Rahm Emanuel calls for a council vote on his choice for the post.

The finalists are Deputy Police Supt. Eugene Williams, the African-American chief of the Bureau of Support Services; Cedric Alexander, the African-American public safety director of DeKalb County, Georgia; and Anne Kirkpatrick, retired police chief in Spokane, Wash.

"The problem that we have with the situation currently is we have not spoken with any of the candidates," said Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th, chairman of the council's Black Caucus.

Sawyer said that shattered public trust can only be restored by shining the light on all three nominees.

“It’s beyond time. We should have been doing it a long time ago. I’m glad we’re [demanding] it now. We should question them. The public demands us to question and challenge the individuals coming before us,” Sawyer said.

“We want somebody that can restore trust in the police department. We want somebody that has the trust of the rank-and-file. Someone that knows Chicago and knows how the police department works here. We need to ask questions to be sure that, whoever that choice is, could subscribe to these things that we’re asking. Right now, we’re almost as much in the dark as you are.”

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