Chicago Police Department Realigns Senior Leadership Team

As the Chicago Police Department continues to deal with public backlash over the release of a dashcam video showing an officer shooting a teen 16 times, and the search for a new superintendent gets underway, a new leadership team was put into place on Sunday.

Interim Chicago Police Superintendent John J. Escalante shuffled the deck putting new leaders into key positions through a series of command staff promotions, leadership assignments and organizational realignment.

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The moves build upon the police department’s public safety efforts, filling critical vacancies as the department continues to fight gun violence and as urban centers around the world manage heightened awareness around terrorism, a Chicago police press release said.

Sunday’s appointments also bring diversity among the department’s senior command ranks to a historic level, as Chicago police work to restore public trust, especially in communities of color.

Fifty percent of police chiefs and 50 percent of deputy chiefs are African-American and more women are in serving in executive leadership roles.

Escalante, the grandson of Mexican immigrants, said the new leadership team draws on the strengths of the entire city.

“These men and women represent the very best of the Chicago Police Department, and I know they will continue to serve our city and our residents with honor,” Escalante said in a written statement. “At the same time we are working to recruit a class of officers that better reflects the makeup of our city, we will now have the most diverse leadership team in department history …”

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Escalante also announced the realignment of the department’s gang enforcement teams to concentrate police resources to the city’s 22 police districts. The gang enforcement teams will now be organized under the three police service areas -- Area North, Area Central and Area South -- who will be accountable to the area deputy chiefs.

The existing structure, which was organized under one centralized unit, will enable service areas to better target gang violence on a localized level.

The Chicago Police Department is also in the middle of its first recruitment campaign in two years and is making a special effort to increase minority participation in the written exam. The application deadline is Jan. 16, 2016, and the test will be administered on April 16, 2016.

The Chicago Police Board, an independent entity from the police department, announced the application period for the new superintendent to fill the vacancy left by Garry McCarthy’s dismissal.

The new superintendent is expected to be named in late February, and will have full authority to run the police department, including operations and personnel.

Senior command promotions include:

First row, left to right

Eddie Johnson, chief of patrol; Eugene Roy, chief of detectives; Barbara West, deputy chief of patrol; and Melissa Staples, deputy chief, Area North.

Middle row, left to right

Kevin Ryan, deputy chief, Area Central; James Jones, deputy chief, 11th District; Maria Pena, deputy chief, street operations; and Dave McNaughton, deputy chief, bureau of support services.

Bottom, left to right

Roger Bay, commander, Area North; Al Nagode, commander, Area Central; Cornelia Lott, commander, inspections division; and Kevin Navarro, commander, Area South detectives division.

Interim Supt. Escalante also announced the following promotions to city’s police districts:

• Robert Klich - Commander of the 1st District
• William Looney - Commander of the 16th District
• Sean Loughran - Commander of the 20th District
• Noel Sanchez - Commander of the 4th District
• Anthony Escamilla - Commander of the 25th District
• Darren Doss - Commander of the 3rd District
• Thomas Lemmer - Commander of Youth Investigations Division