Lightfoot — not the top cop — is calling the shots at CPD, police union charges

Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara says Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her top aides are calling the shots at the Chicago Police Department, tying the hands of Supt. David Brown and turning him into kind of a figurehead.

“Whatever he wants to do is getting cleared through her office first or it’s not getting done. What authority does he really have? His hands are tied,” Catanzara said. “She should stay the hell out of running the police department and let Supt. Brown run it. If he falls on his face, let him fall on his own face.”

The mayor’s office fired back that “once again, John Catanzara continues to speak without knowledge of the facts.”

“These remarks are not only racist and blatantly disrespectful to his own boss and fellow officers but also completely irresponsible. We refuse to be a part of a race to the bottom,” said Pat Mullane, a spokesman for the mayor.

The latest salvos between the fiery FOP president and the mayor this week demonstrate the increasing hostility between them over the city budget and negotiations for a new police contract.

In an interview, Catanzara also had a warning for the 29 Chicago aldermen who voted last week to pass Lightfoot’s $12.8 billion budget, which eliminates 614 police vacancies and includes only $100 million of the more than $300 million needed to cover retroactive pay raises for officers whose contract expired in 2017.

“Those 29 aldermen who voted for that budget, there isn’t a damn one of them that’s going to be safe from the 2023 election,” he said.

Brown is the retired Dallas police chief who took over the police department April 22 with the “moonshot” goal of holding the annual murder total under 300 for the first time in 60 years. Instead, it is Chicago’s most violent year in decades, with 716 killings through Nov. 30. Killings are up 55% from the same period last year, while arrests have plummeted.

After being caught flat-footed by civil unrest and rounds of looting that damaged giant swaths of downtown, River North, Wicker Park and commercial corridors on the South and West sides, Brown shifted police officers from districts to downtown to prevent more damage there. Catanzara says Lightfoot called the shots on those and other moves.

The union president pointed to the decision to “force out” Barbara West as head of constitutional policing and replace her with Bob Boik, a civilian initially chosen by City Hall to serve as Brown’s chief of staff. Another example was the transfer of Shakespeare District Cmdr. Mel Roman to an intelligence unit, the Crime Information and Prevention Center.

According to Catanzara, Roman was “punished” after complaining about the large number of officers assigned to protect Lightfoot’s Logan Square home and refusing to make mass arrests of protesters there. Lightfoot has said the police presence was justified by “specific threats” made “every single day” to “my person, my wife and my home.”

Last month, Lt. Patrick Quinn was removed from CPIC after a recent one-day trip to Chicago by Attorney General William Barr caught City Hall and CPD brass by surprise. Quinn — who has top secret clearance with federal agencies — was then reassigned to the Rogers Park District on the North Side. Roman was on furlough at the time of Quinn’s ouster.

In the days after Quinn’s reassignment, Roman tried to take responsibility for the lack of communication, according to police sources. Soon after, Roman was demoted to the rank of captain and assigned to the Lincoln District on the North Side.

The CPD declined to comment on the move.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia / Sun-Times file

‘Walled off’

Sources say Brown is less accessible to his commanders and rank-and-file officers than his predecessors, including Eddie Johnson and Garry McCarthy. He’s close to his first deputy superintendent and chief of staff, but doesn’t have an open-door policy like other superintendents.

“He’s kind of walled off,” one source said.

Brown also isn’t as visible to the public as Johnson or McCarthy, preferring to communicate through social media rather than news conferences. McCarthy and Johnson would regularly go on Friday night patrols to stay in touch with the community, but sources said Brown likes to have his calendar clear on Friday nights.

Sources said some of his early personnel decisions — such as when he demoted several ranking police officials — were carried out on behalf of Lightfoot.

Still, those same sources say he’s not a “yes man.” He has a quick temper and won’t hesitate to reassign someone when he disagrees with them or feels they made a mistake, sources said.

Through a spokeswoman, Brown declined to comment.

Mayoral involvement in the police department isn’t anything new. Over the years, Chicago mayors — including the last mayor, Rahm Emanuel — have been accused of meddling in police affairs at various levels.

But the fiery FOP president doesn’t buy that Brown has shown an independent streak.

“I know for a fact that everything is getting cleared on the fifth floor of City Hall,” Catanzara said. “You can’t even release a police department statement on anything major without City Hall saying OK to it. What does that tell you?”

As for police contract negotiations, Catanzara said they’re stuck in the mud. Lightfoot waited until Catanzara’s deadline of 3 p.m. last Tuesday to reject the FOP’s latest offer to accept 11.5% raises over four years, nearly all of it retroactive, with a promise that the union would consider at least some of the reforms the mayor has demanded.

“We probably came to agreement on 35 to 40% of what they were looking for and they didn’t do a damn thing on their end. ... When the economy rebounds and they get their bailout from the federal government, she can’t cry poor anymore. They’re going to end up paying more than 11.5%,” he declared.

Catanzara fails ‘every day,’ mayor’s office says

The mayor’s office said Catanzara is to blame.

“It has been almost 1,300 days since the FOP contract expired and if Catanzara put in the same energy at the bargaining table that he does in stoking falsehoods in the media, his members would have a new contract with thousands of dollars in back pay to each member. Instead, they have nothing, and he continues to fail every day,” Mullane said.

As for that budget vote, the FOP plans to recruit and bankroll challengers against aldermen voting “yes” — including Ald. Nick Sposato (38th), a longtime FOP ally — with the goal of electing a more police-friendly City Council. The union made similar threats against Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, but she easily defeated Republican Pat O’Brien last month.

Catanzara said most Black Caucus members “sold out” to Lightfoot for a $10 million increase in violence-prevention funds and a promise she won’t “screw them over” on projects for her five-year, $3.7 billion capital plan. In the frenzied lobbying that preceded the budget vote — the closest in decades — Lightfoot had a warning for African American aldermen who might not have her back. “Don’t ask me for s--- for the next three years” on capital projects, she had said.

“She’s as much of a dictator as Rahm ever was,” Catanzara said. “She’s just more blatant about it.”