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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 21 May 2019

CHICAGO MAYOR in charge and who a judge
Continued from Front can charge with contempt
Lightfoot, who made history is the mayor. But she's a
in April when she defeated proponent of reforms."
a longtime political insider The plan that Dow ap-
to become the first black proved in January was a
woman and openly gay culmination of the scandal
person elected to lead Chi- surrounding McDonald's
cago, signaled days before death and came after a
her inauguration that she's Justice Department inves-
serious about transforming tigation concluded that ra-
the 13,000-officer force by cial bias and poor training
appointing top staffers with contributed to a pattern
histories as strong police- of abuse by police. Illinois'
reform advocates. attorney general sued the
Even with court backing, city to force the court's su-
Lightfoot faces obstacles pervision after years of in-
to enacting the meaning- action by the City Council,
ful changes that protest- which dealt with systemic
ers sought after the 2015 police misconduct in re- Mayor of Chicago Lori Lightfoot, right, is joined on stage with her spouse Amy Eshleman, left, and
release of video of a white cent years by approving her daughter Vivian during her inauguration ceremony Monday, May 20, 2019, in Chicago.
officer shooting black teen- millions of dollars in lawsuit Associated Press
ager Laquan McDonald 16 settlements.
times. Lightfoot is likely to fill top ing that newly hired officers tives solve from the current During her Monday
"I believe she's a true re- posts in her administration spend two weeks meeting 20%. A specific proposal is speech, Lightfoot repeat-
former," said Phil Turner, with people who support residents in the neighbor- for a mobile lab that can edly returned to the issue of
who like Lightfoot, is a for- the changes. Her chief of hood they will police. cut the time it takes to pro- violence, saying "there is no
mer federal prosecutor in staff, named Wednesday, Among her other priorities is cess ballistics evidence higher calling than restor-
Chicago. "But there's a dif- is Maurice Classen, a for- improving the percentage from days to just a few ing safety and peace in our
ference between trying to mer prosecutor in Seattle, of homicide cases detec- hours. neighborhoods."q
reform police and reality. where he lobbied for "sys-
She is up against a lot of temic and deep reform" of
entrenched forces." city police. He later helped
The fiercest resistance will develop anti-violence and
come from rank-and-file policing strategies in cities
officers and the union that nationwide.
represents them, which He told the Chicago Sun-
has been openly hostile to Times that Lightfoot's ad-
key provisions, arguing that ministration will be focused
many will tie officers' hands from her first days on the
and make it impossible for job on better management
them to do their jobs right. of city costs and ensuring
One requirement that the that "compliance with the
union singles out for criti- consent decree is a high
cism — and that Lightfoot priority for the Police De-
has heralded — is that of- partment."
ficers document each time Money will be an issue. City
they point their weapons officials recently said Chi-
at someone, even if they cago's 2020 budget short-
don't shoot. The union says fall was around $740 mil-
it will cause police to hesi- lion, worse than previously
tate, potentially putting thought. Some changes,
them at risk. including to police training,
There's also no guarantee will require funds. But the
officers will fully comply with consent decree doesn't
any new policies. Dow's spell out how much the city
ability to hold people in should spend — something
contempt if they don't ad- Lightfoot has criticized.
here to reforms only goes Lightfoot's campaign plat-
so far, Turner said. form called for changes
"You can't hold entire en- that go beyond the con-
tities, like officers on the sent decree, including the
street, in contempt," he adoption of a policy in
said. "The person nominally place in New York requir-