Embattled Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown resigned Wednesday — one day after the defeat of his biggest backer: Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
“Today, Superintendent David O. Brown informed me that he would be resigning as Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department effective March 16. I accepted his resignation and want to commend him for his accomplishments not just for the department but the entire city,” Lightfoot said.
The outgoing mayor ticked off a laundry list of accomplishments by the retired Dallas police chief she lured to Chicago by going around the Police Board.
They include: a “record number of illegal gun recoveries” for two straight years; a “double-digit reduction” in violent crime in 2022; “consistent progress” toward compliance with a federal consent decree and programs to improve officer wellness and confront a spike in police suicides.
Lightfoot also mentioned the hiring a full-time recruiting team to stop the mass exodus of police officers that resulted in 950 new hires last year along with promoting more women to the senior exempt ranks than ever before in the history of the department.
“I personally want to thank him for his service to our city. First Deputy Eric Carter will be appointed as interim superintendent until the new Mayor is sworn into office. We ask the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability to immediately begin the search for a new Superintendent so that the new Mayor will be able to make a selection as soon as possible,” Lightfoot was quoted as saying.
All eight mayoral challengers had vowed to fire Brown as their first order of business, including the two remaining candidates in the April 4 runoff: Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson.
Through it all, Lightfoot remained Brown’s biggest backer and only public champion while stubbornly refusing to fire him.
But now that Lightfoot is a lame duck and will be leaving office in May, there was simply no sense in Brown sticking around for the bitter end.
The Sun-Times reported a few weeks ago that had already instructed his top brass to prepared a list of his major accomplishments.
Never mind that the rank-and-file had long since lost faith in Brown and that violent crime is 40% higher than it was when Lightfoot took office.
