Police Board President Term Ends Without Replacement

FILE - Chicago Police Board President Lori Lightfoot speaks on WBEZ’s Morning Shift.
Chicago Police Board President Lori Lightfoot speaks on WBEZ's Morning Shift. Jason Marck / WBEZ
FILE - Chicago Police Board President Lori Lightfoot speaks on WBEZ’s Morning Shift.
Chicago Police Board President Lori Lightfoot speaks on WBEZ's Morning Shift. Jason Marck / WBEZ

Police Board President Term Ends Without Replacement

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Police Board President Lori Lightfoot’s term is set to expire at the end of the day Monday, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel hasn’t said whether he’ll re-appoint her for the job.

“I’m not especially worried about it just yet, but the longer this goes without resolution, this will potentially have an impact,” she said.

While the board, which independently oversees certain aspects of the Chicago Police Department, has made provisions to be able to function without a president in the short term, Lightfoot said the situation is far from ideal.

“We have ve taken action to make sure that anything that needs to get done can get done appropriately. But obviously, getting this resolves one way or the other, sooner rather than later, is important.”

Lightfoot’s term on the board isn’t up until 2019, but she won’t be able to act as president with the beginning of the new month Tuesday.

Lightfoot, said even if she isn’t asked to keep running police board, she’ll remain committed to police reform.

“People look to me, as the police board president, to weigh in on pressing issues of the day related to police reform,” she said. “And whether or not I wear the hat of president, or whether I’m even on the board after that, these are issues that are important to me, and I’m going to continue to weigh in.”

Lightfoot said the delay in decision-making undermines the credibility of both the police board and the mayor’s office.

Lightfoot told WBEZ she hasn’t heard anything specific from the mayor’s office, but that they plan to meet later this week.