Chicago police chief steps down after tumultuous three years
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[November 08, 2019]
By Brendan O'Brien
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago Police
Superintendent Eddie Johnson on Thursday said he will retire from the
second-largest U.S. police force after a three-year run marked by a
sharp reduction in murders, a federal police misconduct probe and
clashes with President Donald Trump.
Johnson's retirement comes three weeks after patrol officers found him
asleep in his car. Johnson, 59, initially said he had fallen asleep due
to blood pressure medication, but local media later reported that he
told the city's mayor, Lori Lightfoot, he had had a "couple of drinks"
before driving. The incident is under investigation.
Flanked by his family and Lightfoot as he announced his retirement,
Johnson hailed the drop in shootings on his watch as having made the
city a "safer place to live, work and play," but said the job had taken
a toll on his health, family and friends.
"It’s time for someone else to pin these four stars on their shoulders,"
Johnson said, choking back tears. "These stars can sometimes feel like
they’re carrying the weight of the world."
He said he would stay on the job through the rest of the year to help
with the transition to a successor.
Chicago's homicide rate stood at a 20-year high of 792 in 2016, when
Johnson was appointed chief, and dropped to 561 by the end of 2018.
Johnson credited the use of data analysts for the decrease in homicides
and shootings. But the number of murders in Chicago remains higher than
the combined number in New York and Los Angeles, two much larger cities.
Johnson, who spent his entire 31-year career with the department, was
appointed in 2016 by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to restore public trust after
the city delayed for more than a year the release of a video that showed
a white officer's fatal shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald.
"This tragedy forever changed Chicago," said Johnson, who is
African-American. "Trust in the police department fell to its lowest
that I seen in my 31 years. Officer moral bottomed out likely as a
result of the lack of trust."
A U.S. Justice Department investigation into Chicago police shootings
found widespread excessive force and racial bias by police officers. It
led to a consent decree, a federally enforced agreement overseeing
Chicago police reforms.
As a result of the decree, Johnson said he refocused the department's
community policing efforts and made investments in officer training,
which has resulted in a drop in officer-involved shootings.
More recently, Johnson traded verbal barbs with President Donald Trump,
who has repeatedly assailed Chicago's leaders for the city's high crime
rate. As superintendent, Johnson has refused to cooperate with the
federal government's efforts to round up undocumented immigrants.
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![](../images/110819pics/news_z71.jpg)
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson speaks at a news
conference at Chicago Police headquarters in Chicago, Illinois,
U.S., February 21, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Lott/File Photo
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Last month Johnson conspicuously skipped a speech by Trump to a
meeting of the International Association of Chiefs of Police in
Chicago, a move lauded by Lightfoot.
"He showed the president what true leadership and character look
like," said the mayor. She added, "And I’m thankful for everything
you’ve done.”
SMOLLETT INCIDENT
During his time as police chief, Johnson also became entangled in a
high-profile case against actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of
staging a phony hate crime on the city's North Side last January.
Smollett was charged with a crime, but those charges were later
dropped by the local prosecutor, angering Johnson and Emanuel, who
was mayor at the time.
The mood during Thursday's news conference turned from upbeat to
tense when reporters asked about the Oct. 17 incident in which
Johnson was found asleep in his car. Lightfoot refused to discuss
the matter, saying it was inappropriate to talk about the ongoing
investigation.
Johnson told the Chicago Tribune he had been "toying with"
retirement for some time. He said on Thursday that he began to think
seriously about stepping down over the last two months.
Johnson has dealt with health issues in the past. After nearly
fainting in January 2017, the police superintendent made public that
he suffered from a chronic kidney ailment that required a
transplant, which he underwent in August 2017.
Johnson, who grew up in Cabrini Green, an inner city housing project
that has since been torn down, said he hoped his rise to the top of
the force from beat cop would inspire others like him "to work hard
and do the right thing and maybe even join the department."
Johnson is the second big-city police chief to announce this week
that he is stepping down. New York Police Department Commissioner
James O’Neill announced on Monday that he would step down to take a
new job in the private sector.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Additional reporting by
Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Scott Malone and Leslie Adler)
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