Chicago mayor names the police department’s counterterrorism head as new police superintendent

CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Sunday stayed throughout the ranks and named Larry Snelling, the police division’s counterterrorism head, as his selection for police superintendent of the nation’s third-largest metropolis.

The announcement comes after a monthslong search led by the Group Fee for Public Security and Accountability. The number of Snelling, 54, to move the division, is topic to Metropolis Council approval.

Snelling will succeed David Brown, who in March introduced that he would step down the day after Chicago’s mayoral major election during which crime was a central situation. Then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot misplaced that major and Johnson went on to win the mayoral race in April.

“Right this moment, a brand new chapter begins in our journey to create a greater, stronger and safer Chicago,” Johnson stated in a information launch. “Chief Snelling is a confirmed chief who has the expertise and the respect of his friends to assist guarantee the protection and well-being of metropolis residents, and deal with the advanced challenges all of us face associated to group security.”

Snelling was raised on town’s South Facet and attended its public faculties. He has a bachelor’s diploma in grownup training from DePaul College and joined the division in 1992 as a patrol officer.

“It’s a great honor to reply the decision to serve my hometown and the folks of Chicago as superintendent of the Chicago Police Division,” Snelling stated in a press release. “It’s also an amazing accountability, and one which I don’t take evenly.”

“With the intention to proceed to make progress as a division, we should embrace innovation, proceed to strengthen morale, and go additional in strengthening bonds of belief between police and group,” Snelling stated.

He has been chief of the division’s bureau of counterterrorism, which coordinates with the Workplace of Emergency Administration and Communication and different metropolis businesses, since 2022.

Whereas crime in Chicago usually focuses on murders and shootings, the numbers up to now in 2023 are down in each classes by 5% and 10%, respectively, based on the newest division crime statistics. Nonetheless, general main crime charges are up 35% up to now this yr over 2022.

Snelling was one among three finalists nominated by the Group Fee for Public Security and Accountability. The opposite two finalists had been Shon Barnes, the police chief in Madison, Wisconsin; and Angel Novalez, Chicago police chief of constitutional policing and reform.