If Eddie Johnson retires, Chicago needs a top cop with no ties to the status quo

Speculation over Police Supt. Eddie Johnson’s potential retirement has become front-page news. Despite improvements in crime-fighting and crime statistics under his leadership, debate over the use and deployment of police resources remains a constant.

Quiet as it likely is being kept, inner-circle planners are no doubt surveying potential replacement candidates, raising the hoary question: Appoint an outsider or promote from within? The rank-and-file resents outsiders. But only an outsider, without personal loyalties and who owes no favors, can wield the moral authority to make policing reform stick.

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Surely Mayor Lightfoot knows this. She headed a search committee that presented candidates whom Mayor Rahm Emanuel snubbed in favor of Johnson. They were all from elsewhere, with impeccable resumes and records of achievement.

Past experience says the Fraternal Order of Police will lobby for an insider and denounce any outsider, striving to maintain the self-serving status quo that has disappointed Chicago so often and so long. But if ever Lightfoot had a golden opportunity to start making Chicago a model of big-city policing, the stars now seem to be aligning toward that.

Ted Z. Manuel, Hyde Park

Honoring our veterans for their service

On this upcoming Veterans Day, I encourage all Illinoisans to take a moment to honor and thank our veterans who bravely and honorably served our country.

Originally known as Armistice Day to honor and celebrate the end of World War I, Congress expanded the federal holiday in 1954 — renaming it Veterans Day — to recognize all U.S. veterans who served honorably in the military during wartime or peacetime.

The United States is the greatest country in the history of the world. We serve as a beacon of freedom and hope to many in the world living under hostile rule and deplorable conditions. Yet our freedom is not and has never been free. Those serving in the U.S. military defend our freedom both at home and abroad. I thank these brave men and women every day for their sacrifice and their commitment to protecting us and our cherished ideals.

I had the privilege of serving as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division and as a member of the Illinois National Guard and Reserve. This experience helped shape me into the person I am today. I remain grateful to all those with whom I served and to those who served before and after me.

Please take time Monday, Nov. 11, to thank veterans for their service. It is the least we can do to recognize our heroes with a heartfelt gesture of gratitude and appreciation.

Jesse White, Illinois Secretary of State