For 1st time in Chicago Police history, top 3 brass are African American

History was quietly made last month when the Chicago Police Department promoted 28-year veteran Eric Carter to 1st Deputy Superintendent. It meant the top three brass are African American — a milestone in 185 years. Promotion of 20-year veteran Barbara West in January also made her CPD’s highest-ranking African-American woman ever.

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On July 15, the Chicago Police Department quietly made history when 28-year veteran Eric Carter was promoted to 1st Deputy Superintendent. Coming atop the promotion of 20-year veteran Barbara West to Deputy Superintendent in January, it now meant the department’s three highest-ranking officers were African-Americans — for the first time in CPD’s 184 years. And earlier overlooked was the history made when West became CPD’s highest-ranking African-American female officer ever.

On July 15, the Chicago Police Department quietly made history when 28-year veteran Eric Carter was promoted to 1st Deputy Superintendent. Coming atop the promotion of 20-year veteran Barbara West to Deputy Superintendent in January, it now meant the department’s three highest-ranking officers were African-Americans — for the first time in CPD’s 185 years. And earlier overlooked was the history made when West became CPD’s highest-ranking African-American female officer ever.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

They are solemn, reflecting on the weight of history and its responsibilities, coming as America is roiled by ruminations on race.

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown, his 1st deputy superintendent, Eric Carter, and his deputy superintendent, Barbara West, sat to chat at headquarters, about the race and gender history their department quietly made this year.

“As African American leaders, we have this clear understanding of the issues, with race the prominent discussion nationwide,” said Brown, 59, the former Dallas police chief just shy of four months at CPD’s helm.

“We all have pushed through likely racial barriers in our coming up through the ranks. We all likely have been looked at differently because of the color of our skin, so we have more than just this reading of the issues that we face. We have an innate understanding.”

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It was 185 years ago, on Jan. 31, 1835, that the state of Illinois authorized a police force for the “Town of Chicago.” Seven months later, the Chicago Police Department was born.

It would accept its first African American police officer, James L Shelton, in 1871.

Its first female officers came in 1913; and in 1918, its first African-American female officer.

It took the 1983 election of the city’s first African-American mayor to get the first African-American superintendent, Fred Rice; 1992 saw the first Latino superintendent, Matt Rodriguez.

Last month’s promotion of Carter, a 28-year veteran who previously served as chief of the Bureau of Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations, to CPD’s second-highest position, meant the department’s top three brass are now all African Americans.

It is a Black History moment notable in a city that has long struggled with equitable representation of its communities in city government.

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It also comes atop another milestone reached by the department in January.

Women’s History was made when 20-year veteran Barbara West, previously chief of the Bureau of Organizational Development, was promoted to the third-highest position — becoming the highest-ranking African-American female officer in CPD history.

“I think back to when I came on the job. There weren’t a lot of females on this job,” said West, reflecting on dual challenges faced rising up through the ranks.

“This was said to me by my mentor, a female chief in another department: ‘It’s hard being a unicorn.’ Because you’re different, but yet the same. It’s a predominantly male occupation, so it’s tough being female,” said West, 53, of Chatham. “I’m very excited to be an example for what we want to see in the future.”

Barbara West, the Chicago Police Department’s Deputy Superintendent of Constitutional Policing and Reform, made history with her promotion in January. Formerly chief of the Bureau of Organizational Development, West became the highest-ranking African-American female officer ever to serve in the 185-year-old department.

Barbara West, the Chicago Police Department’s Deputy Superintendent of Constitutional Policing and Reform, made history with her promotion in January. Formerly chief of the Bureau of Organizational Development, West became the highest-ranking African American female officer ever to serve in the 185-year-old department.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

It’s hard to pause to note history when immense challenges loom.

In January, the nation was on the precipice of a COVID-19 pandemic that had seen 162,751 U.S. deaths as of Sunday, and 5 million infected. Chicago police have been counted among the city’s 63,109 cases and 2,805 deaths to date.

Then, already reeling from racial disparities in coronavirus deaths that unveiled America’s longstanding economic and health inequities, the nation was plunged into collective trauma on Memorial Day with the heinous killing of George Floyd under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis.

It raised awareness of police brutality as a public health crisis, and the nation erupted into weeks of protests triggering looting and destruction in Chicago and many cities, followed by soul-searching over America’s structural racism.

“I hate to liken it to the Civil Rights Movement, but we’re on the precipice. The question is whether or not we continue the momentum, and focus on what’s really important, not only civil rights, but economic rights,” said Carter, 54, of Beverly.

“That’s what was lost in the Civil Rights Movement,” he said. “We never got the economic part of it. We made some gains, but it’s the same thing happening now. Are we going to be able to make economic gains along with the civil rights gains? Will we be able to push through and really achieve equality?”

The turbulent yet pivotal aftermath of the Floyd killing also brought radical demands to defund the police — rooted not unjustly in the racism that has too often seeped into policing and led to too many unarmed persons of color killed under glare of cell phone video — putting additional pressure for reform on CPD and departments nationwide.

“The challenges of race in this country, the divisiveness we see, is unprecedented. Unprecedented civil unrest. Unprecedented economic collapse. Unprecedented social injustice. This whole narrative of change in policing became the forefront of this discussion,” Brown said.

“But again, the challenges are really right here in front of us to meet, without any excuses. The three of us all grew up in neighborhoods much like the challenging neighborhoods we police in,” said Brown, who lives in the South Loop with his wife and 14-year-old daughter.

“And the remnants of much of what we have pushed through is having to be twice as good. I still have those remnants, believing that I’ve got to do the job better than my counterparts, that I can’t be deficient in any area. I’ve got to, you know, achieve beyond any challenges.”

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown, right, and First Deputy Superintendent Eric Carter at Chicago Police Headquarters on Friday, Aug. 7, 2020. Brown’s promotion of Carter on July 15 meant for the first time in CPD’s 185-year history, its three highest-ranking officers are African-American. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown, right, and First Deputy Supt. Eric Carter at Chicago Police Headquarters on Friday, Aug. 7, 2020. Brown’s promotion of Carter on July 15 meant for the first time in CPD’s 185-year history, its three highest-ranking officers are African-American.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Much of the challenge of the past 2 12 months has been discerning the post-Floyd impact on a department branded with a history of racism and civil rights violations.

A U.S. Department of Justice investigation in the wake of the brutal 2014 killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald — shot 16 times by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke — led to the historic January 2019 consent decree now governing reforms.

As deputy superintendent of constitutional policing and reform, West is charged with managing those reforms, overseeing the consent decree, community policing, training, use of force, manpower and supervision, and CPD transparency and accountability efforts.

CPD has been accused of dragging its feet. West, who is married, with one son, disagrees.

“We started working on reforms probably back in 2016. At the same time, we were going through the negotiations on the consent decree. If you’ve seen other cities go through [it], it’s taken a significant amount of time. We are just 17 months in,” she argued.

“The pieces of our consent decree are more comprehensive and complex than most other agencies have ever had to experience. We have had our use of force policy, in particular, reviewed at least twice, and we’ve actually eliminated the chokehold from our policies, so we’re ahead of the game of some other agencies in terms of that,” West said.

“We just want to make sure when we do reform, that it’s sustainable. We also want to make sure we have accountability measures on the back end, because that’s going to be truly the test of whether or not reform is taking effect down the street.”

But that’s been only half the challenge — the other being the annual summer bloodbath from gang violence. It’s been particularly heinous this year, with More than two dozen children under age 10 have been shot, five killed. July was the city’s most violent month in 28 years.

“It strikes at the heart, as a father, a husband, a family man, a police officer, to see this violence ripping apart families,” said Carter, a married father of three, who oversees patrol operations, deployment and criminal investigations..

“It’s the total disregard for life in our face right now. These young people have been just arbitrarily killed or shot at, to get to allegedly one individual or two. [The shooters] have no fear there’s going to be any repercussions. That’s what we’re dealing with out here.”

(L-R) The Chicago Police Department’s First Deputy Superintendent, Eric Carter, Superintendent David Brown, and Deputy Superintendent Barbara West. CPD’S three highest-ranking officers are African-Americans — for the first time in its 185 years.

(L-R) The Chicago Police Department’s First Deputy Supt. Eric Carter, Supt. David Brown and Deputy Supt. Barbara West. CPD’S three highest-ranking officers are African Americans — for the first time in its 185 years.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

He sticks by CPD’s argument that more needs to be done to keep gun offenders behind bars — a dispute with the Office of the Cook County state’s attorney, pre-dating this administration. CPD has always maintained prosecutors are too lenient on gun arrestees. Kim Foxx, the first African American woman to lead that office, rejects the notion.

Carter also hammers the department’s plea for more community help turning in perpetrators.

“That’s what the perpetrators are banking on, that the community’s too afraid to speak up and speak out, to hold them accountable. We’ve got to show the community we’re stronger together than apart,” Carter said. “It’s gotta catch root. Working together is the only way we’re going to change what’s going on in Chicago right now.”

The three identify with youth activists amplifying this moment into a movement, and too, with youth who have lost their way amid social and economic challenges in disinvested South and West side neighborhoods.

“I feel at home in those communities,” said Brown, who grew up poor, raised by his single mother and grandmother.

“I always try to make the case that those might be reasons you have a more difficult time digging yourself out of a tough environment, but they’re not excuses. I hope to be that example, that, ‘Look, I’m just like you, and you can achieve just like I have.”

He and Brown are focused on holistic solutions to the violence, said Carter, a Missouri native who moved here with his mother when his parents separated, later divorcing.

“We’ve got a good plan in place that will holistically help us address the current crime we’re seeing. We’re really working hard on the West and South sides, because those are communities that need us most right now,” said Carter, who joined CPD at age 24, after serving in the U.S. Marines.

“We have business partners on board supporting some of the initiatives. We’re trying to develop jobs for the at-risk age group, 16 to 32, that we are targeting. We’re trying to do rehabilitation and development of blocks. We’re trying to get police officers to do mentoring. We’re doing our best in those communities to show them that we care.”

Born on the West Side, West’s father died when she was 2, her mother left raising four daughters on her own. West doesn’t take her trailblazer status lightly.

After all, her forerunners among CPD’s first 10 women included Alice Clement, later a famed detective, and Grace Wilson, who carried the weight of history as not just Chicago’s first African American female officer but the first nationwide, according to some historical references.

“I work with a lot of girls in the community,” said West. “And when I go into the stations, some of the officers will corner me and want to know what it’s like being female in leadership. What did I do? How did I get there? I’m able to share in that way in the community as well as within the department.”

But breaking barriers is most meaningful behind results, Brown notes.

“The challenges are quite complex — a global pandemic, layered atop all the other racial and civil unrest and strife we are facing. But I am confident in this team to lead this department through these challenging times,” the superintendent said.

”And the easiest thing for me is to lead in a crisis, when there’s barriers, a likely pushback, or a climate where people believe you can’t do it. That’s just right for me, because that’s what I’ve had to overcome my entire career while moving up the ranks.”

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