Mayoral candidate Jesus "Chuy" Garcia unveils public safety plan
CHICAGO (CBS) -- U.S. Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia on Friday unveiled his plan for improving public safety in Chicago if he's elected mayor.
Like other challengers seeking to defeat Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Garcia is vowing to fire Police Supt. David Brown, saying he's been ineffective. Garcia said he would replace Brown, who came to the city from Dallas, with someone from Chicago, preferably someone already in CPD leadership.
"[Brown] is not trusted by his officers or by the public. He will be replaced with a leader who shares my vision of modern policing. The new superintendent of police must be a leader who inspires the rank and file, understands modern policing strategies, can lead a cultural and professional transformation, is eager to build trust with our communities, and who understands our city," Garcia said in a statement on his public safety plan.
Chuy for Chicago Public Safety Plan by Todd Feurer on Scribd
Garcia also wants to shift officers from citywide units – like the "community safety team" that reassigns officers from district beats to a centralized unit – to boost neighborhood patrols.
He also wants to move officers out of administrative duties by replacing them with civilian personnel, to get more cops out on the streets.
Garcia also criticized Lightfoot's approach to responding to mental health calls to 911, saying her administration has only paid "lip service" to a co-responder pilot program aimed at having paramedics and mental health professionals join officers trained in crisis intervention to handle such calls.
He claimed those efforts have been undermined by CPD leadership, and he vowed to deploy more civilians trained in mental health and crisis intervention to respond to mental health crises, and free up more officers for crime prevention.
"Chicago's public safety problems have been decades in the making, and the city will not be made safer overnight, but there is work that can and should be done immediately, and if we unite around a set of evidence-informed and promising strategies, we can make demonstrable and lasting progress," Garcia said.