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U.S. NEWS Friday 8 November 2019

Chicago's top cop retiring

after turbulent 3-plus years

By DON BABWIN Johnson said none of that
Associated Press contributed to his decision
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago to step down. He said the
Police Superintendent Ed- tool his job took on his fami-
die Johnson announced ly came into focus when he
Thursday that he’s retiring saw the pain on the faces
after more than three years of widows of officers who
as the city’s top cop, a post were killed this year, and
he took over during one of in October when he went
the most violent chapters in on his first family vacation
the city’s history and amid since becoming chief.
public outcry over the re- Johnson, a native Chica-
lease of a video showing goan, held just about ev-
an officer shooting a black ery rank in his more than
teen 16 times. three decades career on
During a news confer- the force. He was named
ence in which Johnson superintendent in 2016 by
announced his retire- then-Mayor Rahm Emanu-
ment, Mayor Lori Lightfoot el, who had fired Superin-
said he’d agreed to serve tendent Garry McCarthy
through the end of the after the release of the Chicago Police Department Supt. Eddie Johnson, with his 10-year-old son, his wife right, and and
year. A successor hasn’t now-infamous video of Of- Mayor Lori Lightfoot, left, looking on, announces his retirement during a press conference at CPD
yet been named. ficer Jason Van Dyke fa- headquarters, in Chicago, Thursday morning, Nov. 7, 2019.
“These stars can sometimes tally shooting 17-year-old Associated Press
feel like you’re carrying Laquan McDonald. John- national media story and ly, and more recently by by the shooting and alle-
the weight of the world,” son, then the interim chief, even the reports that the boycotting the president’s gations that Van Dyke’s su-
said Johnson, whose uni- hadn’t even applied, but number of homicides had speech to a police chiefs pervisors and fellow officers
form includes four stars on Emanuel eschewed the dropped to 664 all seemed convention. had made a concerted
each shoulder. “This job has recommendations of the to include the reminder “The superintendent stood effort to keep secret what
taken its toll, taken a toll on police board and chose that the number was higher tall and refused to stand happened that night in Oc-
my health, my family, my him. than the combined total of on the stage with a presi- tober 2014.
friends.” An African American who homicides of New York and dent who has villainized our The McDonald shooting
Johnson, who joined the spent his early childhood Los Angeles. city’s values (and) repeat- and the arrest of Van Dyke
force as a patrolman in living in one of the city’s And he had to contend edly lied about or progress — the first police officer to
1988, signaled earlier in most notorious public hous- with Trump, who repeatedly on violent crime and about be criminally charged in
the week that he was mull- ing projects, the soft-spo- pointed to the gun violence the superintendent person- an on-duty shooting in de-
ing retirement because ken Johnson was a popular in the city in his campaign ally,” Lightfoot said. cades — shined a light on
he wanted to spend more choice with the rank-and- and into his presidency to Johnson set out to beef up a police force where of-
time with family. He said file who felt they could trust claim that the bloodshed his force, presiding over ficers are rarely disciplined
the decision would have him far more than McCar- could be halted if the city an effort to hire more offi- for misconduct or officer-
nothing to do with an inves- thy, a brash outsider who allowed its police officers cers that has increased the involved shootings.
tigation into a recent inci- spent the bulk of his career to crack down on crime. At size of the force by about In a blistering report, the
dent in which he was found in New York. one point, Johnson called 1,000. Under his leader- U.S. Justice Department
asleep behind the wheel of Johnson inherited a de- Trump on his claim that an ship, the city also dramati- found a long history in the
his SUV at a stop sign and partment that was in the officer told him that gun cally expanded the use of department of racial bias
his admission to Lightfoot midst of what seemed like violence could be solved high-tech crime-fighting and excessive force by of-
that he’d had a “couple a running gun battle on the “in a week,” publicly telling technology that allows of- ficers.
of drinks with dinner” that streets as rival gangs and the president if he has such ficers to know almost im- That led to wholesale
night. drug dealers shot it out for a plan, he should share it. mediately where shots are changes in the way offices
He also has come under control of the streets. By the Lightfoot praised Johnson coming from, install scores are investigated and last
withering ridicule from end of his first year on the Thursday for his willingness more surveillance cameras year the implementation of
President Donald Trump, job, the city saw thousands to implement reforms that and embark on the largest a federal consent decree
both on Twitter and in a re- of shooting incidents, the make the city safer. She rollout of police body cam- that calls for more commu-
cent Chicago speech that number of dead totaled also noted how he stood eras in the United States. nity policing, better officer
Johnson boycotted to a nearly 800 — or 300 more up to the Trump administra- As the McDonald case was training and a requirement
national conference of po- than just the year before. tion by refusing to cooper- advancing in court, John- that officers fill out paper-
lice chiefs in which Trump The next year things im- ate with federal agents’ ef- son also looked for ways to work every time they point
called the city a haven for proved, but the street forts to capture immigrants restore public confidence a gun at someone, even if
criminals. warfare had become a living in the country illegal- that had been shattered they don’t fire.q