One of the city’s police oversight commissioners on Wednesday asked the City Council to extend the deadline in the ongoing search for the next Chicago police superintendent until spring of next year, “after Chicago has certainty regarding its executive leadership.”
“Our responsibility should not simply be to meet a statutory deadline,” Anthony Driver Jr., a member of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability who formerly served as president, told members of the City Council in a letter Wednesday. “Our responsibility should be to conduct the strongest search possible and present Chicago with the best candidates available.”
The search for the next leader of the Chicago Police Department commenced earlier this month with the retirement of Superintendent Larry Snelling. Driver said that city ordinance requires the CCPSA to submit its three finalists for the job to the mayor by Nov. 12, with the full City Council expected to vote on the mayor’s selection in February 2027 — the same month as Chicago’s mayoral election.
Mayor Brandon Johnson has yet to say if he’s running for a second term. Several challengers have already declared their candidacy.
“I respectfully believe this timeline deserves thoughtful reconsideration,” Driver wrote. “This is not a political argument, nor is it an indictment of the current mayor, civilian oversight, or the ordinance itself.”
Driver further called for interim CPD Superintendent Fred Waller to remain in the position until the next permanent leader of CPD is approved by the City Council. Driver and current CCPSA President Remel Terry led the 2023 superintendent search that culminated with Snelling’s assumption of the office in September 2023 after months of public meetings and listening sessions across the city.