Less than two weeks on the job and Waller is saving Chicago millions of dollars
Interim superintendent shows the value of experience for a rookie mayor
Analysis
In most political campaigns there is generally an array of cohorts that break into the following camps: those who are friends of the candidate and want to see him or her succeed (this includes family members), professionals who are getting paid to carry out key functions; and hangers-on. This latter group also is often overloaded with those who believe if they keep themselves highly visible during the campaign they might be “rewarded” with a government job.
Often the winning candidate will draw his or her first administrators from the last group. The newly elected person sees the need for loyalty as outweighing experience and/or competency. When there is on-the-job-training for the candidate and the inexperienced new hire, progress takes a long time to arrive.
Mayor Brandon Johnson who rode into office on the shoulders of two titans -the Chicago Teachers Union and the Service Employees International Union- is being watched particularly closely on his choice to head the Chicago Police Department(CPD). He grabbed the brass ring with his decision to reach out to retired CPD Commander Fred Waller and make him the interim superintendent. Waller is two years removed from the department, however; his first major decision doesn’t reflect that he has been away.
Waller, this week, laid out the path to saving Chicago millions of dollars by terminating the contract of a Dallas, Texas-based police training company. The company’s contract officially ends June 1, thanks to Waller.
Professional Law Enforcement Training already has received more than $1.3 million from Chicago. You might recall that Waller’s predecessor David Brown, was a former Dallas Police Department chief. He also signed the contract on behalf of CPD about a year after former Mayor Lori Lightfoot hired him. His tenure was fraught with controversy. The training company is owned by a former Dallas Police colleague of Brown’s.
The familiarity that Waller brings to the job allowed him to immediately assess where the cash-strap city might be needlessly spending money. The training dollars equals a bonanza. It was better than a swwetheart deal for the training company as it charged $16,500 per month for three two-day training sessions per month. The company also stood to be paid another $4,950 for every additional training session. This contract was for one year. However, with nearly 12,000 officers it stands to reason subsequent contracts would be signed and cover several years. Waller’s experience and understanding of how policing works can’t be underestimated or overappreciated.
Migrant issues and the budget is where Johnson needs to focus-stay out of CPD
How Waller quickly and efficiently handled a contractual matter he didn’t see as beneficial to the city should be a starting point for the mayor. It also should be resounding evidence he needs to stay away from police matters.
Candidate Johnson pledged he would get end the contract with the company providing ShotSpotter. The technology has proven to have adamant supporters particularly in the police community. It also is seen as a detriment by others. While campaiging Johnson said he thought there were better ways to spend city dollars. He relied on only one report to make his assessment. He noted that the report concluded that the technology rarely resulted in evidence of gun crimes. That is the case because police vehicles are not always nearby when the system alerts a dispatcher shots have been fired
What Johnson’s critique is missing is that in many instances civilians also hear the shots and do call 9-1-1 for an ambulance to be sent to that location. The fast response of the EMTs results in saving lives. The mayor would be wise to allow the system to stay in place and learn if it can deliver what he wants juxtaposed what the company promises. No one benefits from a knee-jerk decision.
Migrant issues and the budget is where Johnson needs to focus-stay out of the health department
When we shift back to candidate Johnson there is the memorable declaration that he would not retain Dr. Allison Arwardy in her role as Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.
The only explanation he offered at the time was that she was at odds with the leadership of CTU about when Chicago Public Schools students should return to the classroom rather than continue hybrid learning.
Hopefully, by now Johnson has gained an understanding of what a huge gaffe his statement was. It is obvious he relied on uninfomed people around him to evaluate Arwardy who brings one of the most distinguished resumes that department has ever seen. Just a snipet of her background on the city’s website shows “Dr. Allison Arwady, MD, MPH, is the Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), charged with leading the nation’s third-largest city’s health department. Dr. Arwady has been at CDPH since 2015, where she initially served as Chief Medical Officer, overseeing the disease control, environmental health, emergency preparedness, and behavioral health divisions, before being confirmed as Commissioner in January 2020. Prior to CDPH, she worked for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer. With CDC, she worked on HIV and tuberculosis in Botswana, and international outbreak responses in Saudia Arabia (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and Liberia (Ebola). While based at the Illinois Department of Public Health, she responded to disease outbreaks across the state. “
This is not the kind of medical expertise one finds by asking a few friends who have never been near a medical school classroom.
Hopefully, sooner rather than later, Mayor Johnson will gain a thorough understanding that he comes into office in a city that has some long festering problems, and an incredibly broad range of special interests. He is setting himself up for failure if he tries to put his arms around all of them simultaneously and too soon.
It is not possible for him to do it all. That is why it is critical that he be overly diligent about what he says, who he says it to, and who he enlists to help. And all of the help he needs won’t necessarily come from within the confines of city government.