Chicago Police update

An AP story out of Chicago today says that officers there are "working the streets less aggressively out of resentment toward their new chief and fear of being second-guessed by him."

This is, on balance, probably not good.

Jody Weis is the new head of the police. He was brought in as an outsider to "clean up" the mess and legacy of abuse that is the CPD. I don't know much about him, but I'm on the optimistic side, and certainly skeptical of resistance to him from the police union. Are there actually cases they can point to where an officer acted within guidelines, was criticized somewhere, and was then not supported by the boss? Not that I know of, and I doubt there are any.

These people are used to impunity. That's what there has been for decades. These things are going to take a long time to change, and only through intense opposition. The CPD is worlds apart from, say, the comparatively sophisticated, disciplined and accountable NYPD.

The tricky thing here is what to make of these officers "working the streets less aggressively." To the extent that that means not putting people in jail for drug crimes, that's probably a positive thing. But not enforcing gun laws, that's probably a bad thing. The article didn't explain enough about what has actually changed in what they do; that will be something interesting to watch in the coming months and years. I wonder if this guy will keep the mayor's support or not.