Overview
- The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability will vote at a public meeting on Thursday to narrow a 46-person applicant pool to three finalists and submit those names to Mayor Brandon Johnson.
- The commission ran a four-month, city-ordinance search that included eight public listening sessions, 11 focus groups, 22 expert interviews and more than 400 online responses to shape candidate priorities.
- CCPSA hired national executive search firm Ralph Andersen & Associates to help recruit and evaluate candidates as part of the formal process.
- The appointment process is governed by an ordinance that gives the mayor 30 days to pick one finalist for City Council approval or return the entire slate with a written explanation, after which the commission must name replacements in 30 days.
- The commission identified key priorities for the next superintendent — cutting violent crime, rebuilding police-community trust, strengthening community policing, advancing consent-decree compliance and improving officer morale — and the February 23, 2027 mayoral election creates a real possibility that a new mayor could seek a different leader, affecting how long any pick might serve.