Police Board Selects Three Finalists For Chicago Top Cop: Report

CHICAGO — The police board forwarded the names of three finalists in the search for the city's next top cop to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, according to published reports.

Chicago police deputy chief Ernest Cato, Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman and former Dallas, Texas top cop David Brown made the Chicago Police Board's short list leaving Lightfoot with the final decision on a permanent replacement for ousted police Supt. Eddie Johnson.

The police board considered 25 applications from 21 men and four women.

Cato, a 29-year Chicago police veteran, supervises three West Side police districts.

Brown retired as Dallas police chief in 2016, leading the response to a mass shooting that killed five officers and injured nine others. He got national attention for deciding to use explosives delivered by a robot to kill the shooter.

Ziman got her start in law enforcement as an Aurora police cadet and rose through the ranks to lead the department in 2016. She lead the police departments response to the February 2019 mass shooting at the Henry Pratt Co.

On Tuesday, Lightfoot said she would not forward her superintendent selection to the City Council at the virtual meeting scheduled later this month.