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Chicago's interim top cop sits down with FOX 32 to discuss his brief tenure
Interim Chicago Police Superintendent Charlie Beck sat down with FOX 32 Wednesday to discuss his brief tenure in office and what he is hoping for the future of the department.
CHICAGO - Interim Chicago Police Superintendent Charlie Beck will soon be leaving the department in the hands of a new superintendent.
He sat down with FOX 32 Wednesday to discuss his brief tenure in office and what he is hoping for the future of the department.
Charlie Beck is still in office, presumably for a few more weeks until David Brown is confirmed by the Chicago City Council.
“I’m not a caretaker. I was here to make some specific changes,” Beck said.
Among those changes, he says, is fixing the way officers are promoted, making sure CPD complies with the consent decree and enhancing officer training.
We asked Beck what he thought was the biggest problem within CPD?
“I think its community trust. I think the rebuilding of community trust, just like in LA after the Rodney King riots…That’s what the focus of this organization has to be,” Beck said.
He says a silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic could be a rebuilding of trust.
“I hope that you watch your police department during this pandemic and recognize how much they’re putting themselves at risk for you,” Beck said. “If the city understands that, then I think it can begin to build that bridge that has been torn down.”
He says Superintendent David Brown will also help in that regard.
“He’s a great choice. Not a good choice. A great choice,” Beck added, calling him a strong leader with a steady hand and a personal story many will connect with.
“COVID will be raging when he gets here. He has to understand what he can do to make the department safer and to make it more effective. And to make the CITY safer not just from crime, but from this pandemic,” Beck said.
We asked Beck what’s next for him in life.
“I got grandkids to raise, motorcycles to ride, horses to care for and a wife that I’ve been inattentive to for 4.5 months,” he said.
His wife, and those horses, in Ventura County, California are going to likely have to wait at least a week for Beck’s arrival home. Incoming Superintendent David Brown still has to be confirmed by the City Council, which may be next week when it is planning on holding its monthly meeting virtually, via Zoom.