Three finalists chosen for Chicago Police Department superintendent

Chicago’s next police superintendent will be either the woman running the Aurora Police Department or one of two men: the retired Dallas police chief or a fast-rising Chicago police deputy chief.

Kristen Ziman, David Brown and Ernest Cato are the finalists chosen by the Chicago Police Board after a nationwide search, according to a City Hall source.

Ziman is white and would deliver the biggest culture shock as the first woman to serve as Chicago’s police superintendent. Brown and Cato are African American. Cato, the only insider, was promoted recently by interim Supt. Charlie Beck.

City Hall sources say Mayor Lori Lightfoot is a fan of Cato, who has been described as “very polished in his personal presentation.” But Cato’s rapid rise through the ranks has led some to suggest he would probably benefit from more seasoning.

That may be particularly true given the rapid rise and unhappy departure of police Supt. Eddie Johnson. Lightfoot fired Johnson on Dec. 1, a month before his scheduled retirement, after accusing him of “lying” to her and to the public about an embarrassing drinking-and-driving incident in mid-October.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

The odd man out in the Police Board’s search is Sean Malinowski, the former chief of detectives for the Los Angeles Police Department who once served as Beck’s chief of staff in L.A.

Malinowski knows the Chicago Police Department intimately, having lived through a consent decree in Los Angeles and having served as a consultant to the department in the furor that followed the court-ordered release of the Laquan McDonald shooting video.

Malinowski helped create Strategic Decision Support Centers in districts across the city that allow police and civilian analysts to monitor shootings and crime trends in real time.

Early on, Malinowski appeared to be a front-runner and a favorite of Beck’s after a polished video that “blew people away” on the Police Board.

But sources said he ultimately fell out of favor; he has been viewed as having campaigned for the job in a way some at City Hall see as heavy-handed.

That paved the way for a dark horse in Ziman or Cato.

Patrick Kunzer/Daily Herald

Ziman recently tested positive for the coronavirus and is leading her suburban department — about the size of one Chicago police district — from her home.

She also made headlines for the leadership she exhibited during the mass shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. in February 2019. A disgruntled employee killed five co-workers and injured six people, including five police officers, before he was killed by police.

If Lightfoot is most concerned about rebuilding public trust shattered by the McDonald shooting, she could choose Brown.

A source close to the Police Board search has described Brown’s strength as his “amazing personal story” and willingness to “use that story to connect” with citizens. His brother was murdered by drug dealers, his son was killed in a police shootout and his partner died in the line of duty.

Brown is a seasoned leader who ran a big-city department that also dealt with gun-violence problems but wasn’t under a civil-rights consent decree like Chicago. His weakness: He doesn’t know Chicago and could be devoured, as other outsiders have, by the city’s unique brand of politics.

Over the years, the Police Board process has been a sham. Nationwide searches were conducted while the mayor conducted his or her own back-channel search. The mayor’s pick, communicated to the board, would magically appear on the list of three finalists.

Associated Press

The only time in recent Chicago history that script wasn’t followed was four years ago, when then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel rejected the three finalists chosen by a Police Board led by Lightfoot and plucked Johnson out of obscurity, though he hadn’t applied.

Lightfoot has promised this time will be different. On the November day she chose Beck as interim superintendent, she laughed when asked if she’d conduct her own back-channel search.

“The process only has legitimacy if you follow it,” she said then. “I’m gonna make my decision based upon the options that are presented to me by the Police Board. I’m open to any possibility.”

Pressed then to describe her ideal superintendent, the mayor said it was someone with experience running a “big and complicated” police organization who can “motivate the troops” and understands the value of “constitutional policing.”

She also described the need for a “bridge builder” who understands the need to build “strong and deep ties to the community” and the “opportunities” for change created by a federal consent decree.

Asked whether the new superintendent must be African American, the mayor said: “You know that I hate the racial and tribal politics of the city. It is a reality. But I’m gonna pick the best person, whoever that person is.”

The mayor reiterated her long-stated view that there are fewer than 10 people in the entire country who have the combination of law-enforcement experience, crime-fighting expertise and leadership skills that make them capable of doing the $260,044-a-year job.

She said she was mindful that the Chicago Police Department never has had a woman as superintendent and “under the right circumstances” she would love to make history and break that gender barrier.

At a news conference Tuesday to announce South Loop hotel rooms for first-responders, Lightfoot said she does not plan to choose a new superintendent in time to introduce the appointment at the April 15 virtual City Council meeting.

Unless a special City Council meeting is called shortly thereafter, that guarantees that the confirmation process required by law will drag on well into May.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, Lightfoot had hoped to have a new Chicago police superintendent appointed and confirmed in plenty of time to draft a plan to combat the traditional summer surge of violence.

The mayor insisted Tuesday that her game plan has not been altered because of the pandemic.

“We started our summer planning back in January. Obviously, we are very focused like a laser beam on making sure that we are responding to the immediate needs and challenges that this virus gives us every single day. But we fundamentally still are focused on the incredibly important issue of keeping our people safe. And that planning still continues,” the mayor said.

“The work that we’re doing in neighborhoods all over the city is actually giving us helpful additional insights into what we need to be doing and thinking about this summer. But we’ll be ready for summer.”