Oct. 07--Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy got a vote of confidence Tuesday from Mayor Rahm Emanuel before facing a barrage of criticism at a City Council budget hearing from black aldermen who just a day earlier called for his firing.
McCarthy's annual afternoon in the hot seat in the council chambers Tuesday took on an added element of drama after 15 of the 18 African-American aldermen said Monday that he had failed to address violence in their wards and to increase diversity in the upper ranks of the department, and urged Emanuel to replace him.
The hearing started out as they usually do, with South Side Ald. Howard Brookins, 21st, pressing McCarthy for statistics on crimes, crime victims and the racial makeup of the Police Department.
But then Far South Side Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, took the microphone, calling out McCarthy for not including aldermen in a recent listening tour in city neighborhoods. "We are the elected officials in our communities, the voice in our communities, and you strategically excluded that voice from your listening tour," Beale said.
The alderman blasted what he described as McCarthy's autocratic leadership style.
"Superintendent, you've been extremely disrespectful to every member in this body," Beale said. "You haven't returned phone calls, and you haven't listened to what we have to say to change the quality of life in our communities.
"That's why the Black Caucus stood up yesterday and asked for your resignation and for your firing. That's why. So if the mayor chooses to keep you around or if you decide to stay around, I'm hoping you are hearing the cries of this body, because the cries that you hear from this body are the same cries that we hear every single day in our communities. We all want the same goal, but you are not the smartest person in the room all the time."
Beale also accused McCarthy of taking credit himself when crime goes down, then blaming state lawmakers when it spikes.
McCarthy did not directly respond to Beale's comments.
Ald. Emma Mitts, 37th, a strong backer of Emanuel, said she's "fed up" with the ongoing violence in her West Side ward, and told the superintendent his policies are failing.
"I put this blame on your shoulders," Mitts told McCarthy. "My community had over 160 violent crimes reported in the last month. The number of shootings skyrocketed around the city. Children are being victimized. Superintendent, our babies are dying. Our communities are afraid to come out."
The superintendent laid much of the responsibility for continued violence with Springfield, comparing what he called weak Illinois gun laws to the stronger, well-coordinated response to the problem he said led to success when he worked in the New York police department.
"I said four-and-a-half years ago when I got here, what our biggest challenge was," McCarthy said. "We can create a better-functioning police department, but if there's nothing that's happening when we're seizing those guns, don't expect it to change. We're drinking from a fire hose."
That didn't sit well with Budget Committee chairman Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th, who banged on the desk as she criticized the superintendent for repeatedly leaning on statistics and pleaded with him to give aldermen specific suggestions for dealing with violence in their neighborhoods. "If you get the law changed, if it gets changed, what is it still that we can do as elected officials that's going to better our communities and allow our children to have a life to live?" Austin asked.
McCarthy hewed to his response that there's "no magic solution" to the problem, and there's a need to "hold the entire system accountable."
The criticism didn't come just from aldermen representing higher crime areas. Wrigleyville Ald. Tom Tunney, 44th, complained crime is up in his ward as the number of officers in the local police district has fallen from 468 to 333 in recent years. McCarthy apologized for the manpower shortfall, and said the department will work harder to move officers into Tunney's ward to replace those that retire.
It wasn't all bad news for McCarthy. Southwest Side Ald. Michael Zalewski, 23rd, praised the superintendent for quickly responding personally to a gang disturbance at a park in his ward. "I think the fact you came out and the fact it was addressed so quickly... the community saw there was going to be intense pressure out there if it ever happened again," Zalewski said. "It meant a lot to our community."
And Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, proclaimed him "the best big-city police chief in the country."
The Police Department budget hearing took place hours after Emanuel told reporters he supported the superintendent.
"I'm standing by him," Emanuel said after appearing with McCarthy at a police awards ceremony in the City Council chambers that was attended by a dozen aldermen but none of the ones who called for his firing.
"I understand (aldermen's) frustration. Like many weekends, this weekend I was on the West Side and the South Side, and you have communities and families whose lives are affected by gun violence," the mayor said. "And I understand the frustration that builds up in that effort."
"My focus -- and I want everyone's focus -- is on gangs and guns, not on Garry."
McCarthy departed while Emanuel spoke to the media and was not standing with him during the comments.
Afterward, McCarthy said he had no intention of stepping down, saying that "eventually I will be out of this job, but I'm not going to do it in the very near future. Too much work to do."
"Look, I've been around this business for a long time. Every once in a while, these things happen. I went through situations like this in Newark, so it's something I'm experienced at," he said of aldermen calling for him to be fired. "The biggest issue was to make sure we understood each other, and I feel that the alderman feel at this point that I understand what they're talking about. I certainly hope so."
McCarthy said he didn't know why aldermen wanted him out now as opposed to other times during his tenure when violent crime in the city has spiked.
Asked if it came as a surprise, McCarthy responded, "A little bit, because I had just met with the Black Caucus for a couple of hours a few days ago, and the same conversations we had in here were had in that room. It did catch me a little off guard, but you know, you have to be prepared for surprises in this business. I certainly know that."
As McCarthy worked his way past reporters and toward a back City Hall stairwell, he was asked if he was going to change anything about how he approaches his job. McCarthy didn't mince words: "We're going to continue doing what we're doing."
Aldermen often use the police budget hearing as a chance to publicly air their grievances about the continuing crime in their neighborhoods, the need for more cops on the streets and the ways in which the superintendent should change tactics. It was unusual, however, for so many black aldermen to stand together just before the hearing to publicly call for McCarthy to be fired, especially since several of them have been strong supporters of Emanuel's agenda.
The calls for McCarthy's ouster came from most of the members of the Black Caucus on Monday, hours after the department's highest-ranking African-American, Alfonza Wysinger, 53, announced his retirement after nearly 30 years of service. McCarthy named Chief of Detectives John Escalante, who is Hispanic, to succeed Wysinger as first deputy police superintendent.
"As aldermen of these communities, we are on the front lines of the work to keep our streets safe and secure. We have been troubled by the superintendent's lack of responsiveness to our concerns and requests as we face this crisis," Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th, chairman of the caucus, said Monday. "In addition, we have been deeply concerned about the superintendent's failure to place African-Americans in a position of leadership throughout the department, as well as the reduction in new African-American police recruits despite our repeated efforts and inquiries."
The command changes were made as Chicago continues to be hit hard by violence, with September posting the most homicides for that month in 13 years and the most killings for any month in 2015. Through Sept. 27, homicides and shooting incidents had risen 21 percent from the year-earlier period, official department numbers show.
Sawyer said the timing of calling for McCarthy's firing had less to do with the fact that an African-American no longer serves as his second in command than with the long-standing failure of the superintendent to respond to the concerns of black aldermen.
Emanuel said Tuesday that he also stands by the changes in the Police Department's top brass.
"If you look at all the promotions yesterday, they represent in one level the diversity of the city, but they stay true to the principle ... which is your record of professionalism, your record as a police officer over your tenure, and what you've done to improve the safety we want to see throughout the city of Chicago. And of course I support John Escalante's promotion. As head of the detectives unit he's brought a level of professionalism to it."
jebyrne@tribpub.com
