Escalante Leaving CPD for University Police Chief Job

CHICAGO, IL -- John Escalante, the police executive who took over following the Laquan McDonald protests, is leaving the Chicago Police Department. CPD’s second-in-command will retire from the force after 30 years and take over as chief of police at Northeastern Illinois University.

“John Escalante has a national reputation in the field of law enforcement for his experience, integrity and leadership,” Northeastern Illinois University President Sharon Hahs said in a news release. “We welcome him to the Northeastern Illinois University community as we work together to ensure a safe and healthy environment for our students, faculty and staff.”

Escalante was selected from a field 140 candidates to the nationally posted job opening. A nine-member search committee interviewed ten preliminary applications. Escalante was one of the final four to participate in all-day interviews with the search committee, police officers, dispatchers, upper-level administrators, and the university’s behavioral concerns and the emergency management teams.

In addition, the finalist interviews included a question-and-answer session open to all faculty, staff and students. Everyone who attended had the opportunity to provide feedback about the finalists.

Escalante started as a patrolman in 1986 and worked all the way to the top, serving as interim superintendent from Dec. 1, 2015, to March 28, 2016. His last patrol for CPD will be over Labor Day weekend.

CPD Superintendent Eddie Johnson called Escalante’s departure bittersweet.

"As police superintendent and a resident of Chicago, I have bittersweet emotions on John's decision to accept this incredible opportunity as our Police Department will lose a very dedicated and intelligent crime fighter who cares deeply about the people and safety of our city," Superintendent Eddie Johnson said in a statement to the Chicago Tribune. "However, as a friend and father of college-aged children, I would be grateful knowing that John Escalante is the man safeguarding their college experience and future. The students and faculty of Northeastern Illinois University couldn't have chosen a better candidate for the position of chief of police, and on behalf of the entire Chicago Police Department, I wish him the very best and thank him for his invaluable contributions to the city."

Escalante assumes his new role on Sept. 7. He replaces James Lyons, who served as NEIU’s chief of police for ten years.