Larry Snelling has been superintendent of the Chicago Police Department for two years, and his strong performance in that role is one of the very few public-policy matters on which people in this fractious city generally agree.<\/p>\n
This page has described him as far and away Brandon Johnson\u2019s best decision as mayor. But we hadn\u2019t had a chance to meet and speak with him until last Friday, when Snelling sat down with us for an hourlong discussion with no topic off limits and nothing off the record.<\/p>\n
We came away from that session convinced all the more that the Police Department is in excellent hands and has a leader who strikes the difficult balance between supporting his officers and respecting the immense responsibility his department shoulders as it enforces the law in what this native South Sider described as a \u201ctough city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are the highlights of that discussion.<\/p>\n
Snelling places an extraordinarily high priority on keeping himself and his rank and file out of the white-hot political disputes that are tied to the state of public safety in Chicago. At the same time, he greatly values his department\u2019s ongoing partnerships with federal law enforcement. He credits that cooperative relationship for a good chunk of the reduction in homicides and shootings in Chicago.<\/p>\n
Clearly, Snelling, 56, is enjoying the job and he convincingly stated he hasn\u2019t thought about where his career might lead from this point. We think that if Snelling were to consider running, say, for mayor, he would be a formidable candidate to say the least. We\u2019re confident that\u2019s not going to happen \u2014 certainly not in the upcoming election.<\/p>\n
Recruitment is a challenge, but the department is better staffed than it was when he took the helm. There are 978 officer vacancies versus roughly 2,000 when he began, with 11,668 positions filled. Snelling to our minds has done much to restore officer morale that was in the dumper during and immediately after the \u201cdefund the police\u201d madness that followed the killing of George Floyd in 2020. We have little doubt the improved crime stats, as well as much improved homicide clearance rates (73% this year, Snelling told us), owe much to a police force that feels more valued now and is being ably led.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love leading this department right now,\u201d Snelling told us. \u201cThis isn\u2019t something that I dreamt of doing. The opportunity was there. I saw a need for \u2026 change in the department. \u2026 (Our officers) want people who are going to back them when they\u2019re right, but they also understand that when they\u2019re not right, they\u2019re going to be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
As to the possibility of National Guard troops, which President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would deploy to Chicago in the near future after previously appearing to demur in the face of opposition from Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker, Snelling said, \u201cUntil we have some concrete information that someone is coming, I really don\u2019t have an opinion about it one way or the other because I\u2019m a believer that I have to stay away from politics. In policing we have to be politically neutral to make sure we\u2019re performing our duties as responsibly as we can and that we\u2019re following the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inflamed as they are about Trump\u2019s saber-rattling, there surely are many in the city who would prefer Snelling be more outspoken. But he\u2019s right to be sticking to his lane. He is smart to leave politics to the politicians and deal with challenges when and if they actually come, not when they\u2019re the news of the day thanks to a president who likes to be the center of attention.<\/p>\n
Snelling made clear, though, that federal assistance with Chicago\u2019s crime issues, which he knows remain acute, is more than welcome. And, in fact, is occurring concurrent with all the needless Trump-induced drama, as it was before Chicago began taking its turn in the Trumpian glare. He had particular praise for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.<\/p>\n
In Chicago, we don\u2019t hear a lot about ATF, with all the focus on immigration enforcement and the National Guard, but ATF agents in our city have played a critical role in reducing gun violence, Snelling said, citing examples that he said had \u201cworked miracles\u201d when it comes to solving shootings.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur Crime Gun Intelligence Center, working directly with the ATF, where we can push through shell casings, guns, gets DNA testing back a lot quicker than we had in the past. This is helping us get charges, locate offenders a lot quicker and build a much stronger case for the state\u2019s attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cook County state\u2019s attorney\u2019s office now has an employee embedded in the CGIC center, a clear example of how State\u2019s Attorney Eileen O\u2019Neill Burke\u2019s cooperative relationship with Snelling and CPD is paying dividends in terms of keeping people safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of intelligence-based work going on, and I\u2019m just scratching the surface,\u201d Snelling said.<\/p>\n
Snelling\u2019s concern with his officers\u2019 mental health struck us as well in our discussion. Instances of suicides of Chicago police officers have raised concerns about wellness. The department has invested in providing more counseling to officers who routinely witness things that would traumatize many of us if we experienced them a single time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came on this job over 33 years ago. When I came on, it was \u2018Suck it up. Deal with it. Don\u2019t be weak.\u2019 That\u2019s not the narrative anymore,\u201d Snelling said. \u201cThe narrative around mental health is, if you feel you need to talk to someone, there\u2019s no weakness in it. As a matter of fact, it\u2019s more courageous to say that you need help and to seek it out than to suffer in silence. And we want to make sure officers are doing that because of what they see on a regular basis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strong words. We can only hope the destigmatizing of counseling and therapy within the police ranks truly is taking hold. Chicago values you, officers. Take care of yourselves.<\/p>\n
Lastly, we strongly endorse Snelling\u2019s emphasis on foot patrols. Before he arrived, the department had officers sitting in their cars by design, particularly downtown, to serve as deterrents \u2014 something we criticized.<\/a> The dystopian vibe often made people feel less safe. That\u2019s changed. <\/p>\n We\u2019ve also noticed officers at 31st Street Beach at all hours, standing and observing. They haven\u2019t had to do much while we\u2019ve been there, but they truly do serve as deterrents.<\/p>\n Not coincidentally, we\u2019re sure, we\u2019ve read of far fewer summertime shootings at a location rife with gun use in past years.<\/p>\n \u201cYou haven\u2019t seen the teen gatherings like you\u2019ve seen in the past also,\u201d Snelling noted.<\/p>\n Come to think of it, we hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cWhen we get information that there\u2019s going to be a gathering, the key is to get there before they do. \u2026 When they know we\u2019re there, they\u2019re less likely to form in groups.\u201d<\/p>\n Police these days are getting better intelligence on teens\u2019 plans and are able to discourage hooliganism without impeding anyone\u2019s right to go where they want. An issue of intense concern last summer and for several years before that suddenly seems to have faded. Credit is due to smart tactics and solid execution.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a long way to go to make Chicago a truly safe city, and Snelling is the first to say so.<\/p>\n \u201cWe still have a crime problem. We do,\u201d he said. \u201cIs it as bad as everyone says? Absolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n We\u2019re glad Superintendent Snelling is on the beat.<\/p>\n Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here<\/a> or email letters@chicagotribune.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Larry Snelling has been superintendent of the Chicago Police Department for two years, and his strong performance in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":233702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,6083,5386,1818,1269],"class_list":{"0":"post-233701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-editorials","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-opinion"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115219417379299512","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}