Chicago City Wire

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown is approaching a crossroads, facing mandatory retirement but earning Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s on-the-record pledge to retain him should she win re-election Feb. 28.

“Mayor Lightfoot has said time and again that she has full confidence in Superintendent David Brown and the brave and dedicated officers who work day in and out to keep Chicagoans safe,” mayoral spokeswoman Kate LeFurgy said in a statement the Sun Times received. “That has not changed.” 

The race for mayor has a full field, with nine running. The other eight candidates have all vowed to replace Brown, citing the increase in violent crime in the city and claiming he has lost confidence among the rank-and-file police officers. Chicago last year recorded more than 800 homicides, marking 2022 as one of the deadliest years in a generation.

Chicago has a policy that stipulates that city police officers and firefighters retire by the age of 63, the Sun Times said. Brown will turn 63 in October. 

In the face of the upward trend in violent crime, Brown and Lightfoot recently embraced a strategy that calls for flooding Chicago’s most violent areas with additional officers, violence interrupters and other city resources, as homicides and shootings have remained significantly higher than before the pandemic hit, the article said, but some have criticized his job performance.