Cop running for mayor treads carefully on 'stop and frisk' issue

Frederick Collins, a Chicago Police officer, is one of the people who will try to unseat Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2015.

If you’re not a political junkie, you may not have even heard of Collins. But in 2012, he ran unsuccessfully as a GOP candidate against Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.

Because we don’t take underdogs seriously in this town (despite the upset campaigns of Jane Byrne and Harold Washington) Collins will likely have to beg, borrow or steal every bit of publicity he gets.

Indeed, the only potential mayoral challengers who have gotten a lot of free publicity are CTU President Karen Lewis and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who, by the way, has said she is not running for the mayor’s office for the upteenpth time.

I can’t begin to speculate what Collins’ chances are of occupying City Hall.

But as a 21-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, he should have some ideas about how to reduce homicides.

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