A top federal prosecutor whose ideas about combating gun violence captured the attention of Mayor Richard Daley will become the mayor’s liaison to the Chicago Police Department, with a mandate to lower the city’s murder rate, the mayor’s office confirmed Wednesday.
Daley will announce Matthew Crowl’s appointment to the job of deputy chief of staff for public safety issues Thursday, mayoral spokeswoman Jacquelyn Heard said Wednesday night.
Crowl, an 11-year veteran of the U.S. attorney’s office, currently heads Project Safe Neighborhoods, a federal task force working to reduce gun violence in Chicago.
Daley’s current liaison to the Police Department, Norma Reyes, has been promoted, Heard said.
Heard said the job’s scope is being expanded on Daley’s orders.
Chicago finished 2002 with 646 slayings, second only to Los Angeles in total homicides. But Chicago’s murder rate is the highest among cities with a population over 1 million. And Chicago led the nation in murders in 2001 with 665.
Daley decided that Crowl was the man to lead the city’s effort to combat the murder rate after hearing him speak at a luncheon last year, Heard said. His job will include the traditional role of keeping lines of communication open between the Police Department and City Hall, but Heard said his mandate would be broader and would tap into his experience running Project Safe Neighborhoods.
“When you have someone who has the expertise that Matt has, you want to capitalize on that. He obviously has a lot of ideas,” she said.
Crowl, who will start Feb. 3, said he looks forward to working on crime and violence problems from a different perspective.
“It’s exciting, for me, to see if we can try to address gun violence at all levels, as opposed to just prosecution,” Crowl said Wednesday night. “One of the effective parts of working for a city mayor [who] has power and cares so deeply [is the ability] to address [the problem] at all levels–ways to keep it so people don’t re-offend.”
In addition to vigorous police work and prosecutions, Crowl said communities must find ways to offer alternative lives to former convicts to keep them from committing new crimes.
As a federal prosecutor, Crowl tried 30 jury cases, including several prosecutions of high-ranking Gangster Disciples that stemmed from the federal investigation of the gang.
Colleagues said Crowl has a knack for bringing together members of law-enforcement agencies to cooperate on joint investigations.
Federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies often struggle to avoid turf battles over jurisdiction and cooperation in joint investigations, but Crowl has won over everyone with whom has worked, said Ron Safer, a former high-ranking prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office who is now in private practice.
“He had a tough time at first with police officers on the Gangster Disciples [investigation],” Safer said. “He’s not a prototypical Chicagoan. Looks like he’s about 12, from Iowa, and yet they grew to love and respect him.”
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Safer, who led the Gangster Disciples prosecution and worked closely with Crowl, said Crowl has thorough understanding of the complex problems that lead to the level of violence that has plagued Chicago.
“He’s done a wonderful job of connecting the Police Department, the community and the U.S. attorney’s office in an unprecedented effort to discourage people from using guns in Chicago, to make sure the worst offenders are punished severely and held up as an example,” Safer said.
“That is something that historically has failed. [Crowl] has brought an energy and enthusiasm and passion to that project that has set it on the right road.
“I think the mayor is a demanding person. He’s found someone who will meet his demands because Matt is a tireless worker and as high-energy as anybody.”