Brown vows cop overhaul to end Burge 'shadow'
In 2003, Daley turned his back on a campaign promise to realign Chicago's 279 police beats, arguing that it would undermine community policing and deprive middle-class neighborhoods of the officers they need to deter crime. Instead of picking a fight with aldermen from middle-class wards by enlarging police beats, Daley chose the path of least resistance.
He changed how the city's 400 gang officers are assigned and established an elite unit of officers deployed to crime "hot spots" based on crime reports funneled into a new deployment operations center.
On Thursday, Brown re-opened the issue of beat realignment. She said she would seriously consider it to permanently redeploy officers to high-crime neighborhoods and reverse a 3 percent uptick in Chicago's homicide rate.
"We don't have adequate policing in some communities. . . . There is a need to have the Chicago Police Department to be fairly and equitably placed throughout the city of Chicago. I have heard from many citizens . . . that beats [are not] being patrolled in some communities," she said.
Last fall, the director of the Police Department's Office of Professional Standards, which investigates police misconduct, was forced out in the wake of the cops-as-burglars scandal in the elite Special Operations Section to improve the image of an agency that's been a lightning rod for criticism in the black community.
To restore public confidence shaken by allegations against Burge -- accused of allowing widespread torture of suspects -- Brown said she would appoint a professional standards director recommended by civic and community groups and have that person report directly to the mayor, not the police superintendent.
Brown also promised to: install more cameras in squad cars; order "cultural sensitivity training" for police officers; breathe life into community policing, and intensify the recruitment of minority officers. She wants to bridge a "racial divide" of police mistrust.
During Thursday's news conference, Brown also revealed plans to spend the night at the home of an Englewood senior citizen to get a feel for the security concerns that area residents live with. Brown denied the sleepover was a publicity stunt akin to former Mayor Jane Byrne's infamous move to Cabrini-Green.
fspielman@suntimes.com