The rank and file voted no confidence in Police Chief Eddie Johnson so it was time for him to go.
He announced his retirement today focusing on the fact that he reached out to Black Lives Matter and other activist groups to help him run the department. That was his first mistake. He said he embraced community policing with the Police Community Task Force lead by leftist Mayor Lightfoot. She wants hands-off on illegals and spoke against President Trump in bitter terms during the press conference on Johnson’s retirement:
Johnson’s fellow officers also recently saw him sleeping in his car at a stop sign:
Mayor Lori Lightfoot recently told the Chicago Sun-Times that Johnson — following the Oct. 17 sleeping incident — confessed to her that he had “a couple of drinks with dinner” before getting behind the wheel that night.
“I know what the superintendent told me, which is that he was…changing medication…He’d been out to dinner with some folks. He told me he was driving home,” Lightfoot said to the newspaper. “He felt ill and pulled over to the side of the road, which he believed was the prudent thing to do…[Internal Affairs Divison] will sort out the rest.”
Also, the controversy over his refusal to appear with President Trump was frowned upon by his fellow police officers.
Johnson spoke today against police officers who would rely on “prejudice and intimidation”
"Like too many children in Chicago, I experienced the trauma of gun violence firsthand as a child," said Eddie Johnson, who announced his retirement. "I also saw how those who were sworn to protect our city instead relied on prejudice and intimidation." https://t.co/elggRlU4Ad pic.twitter.com/qgHEPFAjXG
— CBS Chicago (@cbschicago) November 7, 2019
Former LAPD Chief Charlie Beck is reportedly going to be the interim police superintendent:
BREAKING: Former LAPD Chief Charlie Beck to meet with Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday per source. Lightfoot reportedly wants him to be interim police superintendent. Eddie Johnson expected to resign Thursday or Friday @ABC7Chicago pic.twitter.com/SsiIueOknG
— Craig Wall ABC 7 (@craigrwall) November 6, 2019
Johnson had been with the CPD for 31 years. Time to go.