Following a brutal year of violence and a not-so-veiled threat to demote his top brass, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown now faces a crisis of confidence among his command staff, sources said.
Four police supervisors all raised concerns in interviews with the Chicago Sun-Times that Brown isn’t fit to serve as the city’s top cop during a particularly tumultuous period for the police department. They all commented on the condition of anonymity so they could speak freely.
“His strategies and his efforts [and] the threatening of command staff shows a lack of leadership,” one source said. “I can’t think of one member of the command staff that is willing to back him.”
As the department sought to recalibrate during a closed-door meeting on Jan. 4, Brown and Mayor Lori Lightfoot effectively threatened to demote members of the police command staff if they couldn’t produce more arrests and community outreach, warning that underperforming tactical officers could be moved to patrol streets and answer 911 calls.
