The competition to become Chicago's next police superintendent has come down to a three-man race between a veteran Chicago cop and a pair of outsiders, with a final decision possible this week, reports the Chicago-Sun Times. The top three are: Newark Police Chief Garry McCarthy; White House drug czar R. Gil Kerlikowske and Chicago's deputy chief-of-detectives Al Wysinger.
Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel was asked Monday whether an outsider can improve the morale problems that dogged career FBI agent Jody Weis. “My No. 1 goal [ ] is what do we have to do to reduce violent crime in the city,” he said. If Emanuel chooses to go with an outsider, McCarthy appears to have the edge. That's because of his background as a street cop and the role he once played as the driving force behind the CompStat program credited with dramatically reducing New York City's homicide rate. Kerlikowske is a former Seattle police chief. His current job as drug czar would likely make him more of a federal bureaucrat in the eyes of rank-and-file Chicago Police officers. That could be a liability after Weis. A hitch for McCarthy could be a 2005 disorderly conduct conviction stemming from his attempt to get his daughter out of a parking ticket.