Chicago’s new top cop’s rocky relationship with police reform activists in former hometown

By La Risa R. Lynch, Contributing Writer | Last updated: Apr 30, 2020 - 10:07:34 AM

CHICAGO—Chicago City Council approved the appointment of David Brown as the new police superintendent, but police reform activists back in his hometown of Dallas rang a bell of caution about their former top cop.

Mr. Brown was unanimously approved 50-0 during city council’s first virtual meeting on April 22 that quickly became combative over concerns to extend the mayor’s executive powers to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

But speaking at a press briefing afterwards, Mr. Brown said he was humbled and proud to serve the city of Chicago. He takes over the reins when Chicago and the nation is in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic and a police department that is under a federal consent decree. Serving as acting superintendent since mid-April, Mr. Brown said he is “not here to do average.”

“Chicagoans deserve a moonshot—the lowest murders on record, the lowest number of shootings on record; the highest level of trust in its officers from residents. Buckle your seat belts. We are headed to the moon,” he said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot selected Brown to helm the Chicago Police Department (CPD) in April. She cited his efforts to reform the Dallas Police Department. The 33-year-veteran of the Dallas police force rose through the ranks to become the city’s police chief in 2010. During that time, he retooled the department’s foot patrol policy to end deadly chases. He increased transparency by releasing data on officer-involved shooting. He rolled out the department’s body cameras policies that align with American Civil Liberties Union’s recommendations. He implemented bias and de-escalation training and was readily available to the media.

But community activists back in Mr. Brown’s hometown say his record isn’t so clear cut. Many were critical of some of his policies that seemingly diminish police accountability. They also raised concerns about Mr. Brown’s attempts to stonewall efforts to revamp the city’s decades old police review board, which investigates police misconduct.

Changa Higgins, lead organizer of the Dallas Community Police Oversight Coalition, said groups like his wanted to change what he called a “toothless” and “police-centric” review board. The review board, he noted, had no subpoena power, no prosecutorial power, no budget, no input to review department policies or to make recommendations.

ctivists wanted a civilian oversight board that would investigate critical incidences like shootings, police brutality claims as well as low-level complaints. Similar efforts are underway in Chicago but have been stalled in city council. Mr. Higgins noted Brown fought these reforms while publicly admitting to wanting to work with activists on these measures. It wasn’t until Mr. Brown left the department that “we got all of those things,” Mr. Higgins said.

“On the surface, Chief Brown was really good at looking like a community-based chief. He had a lot of town hall meetings. He knew a lot of people in the community. He was vocal. He was visible,” he said. “But we could never get meetings. We could never get to the table to talk about it. It was always about what we [activists] can do to stop protesting. What we could do to take the heat off his department.”

As the Dallas police chief, Mr. Brown drew further criticism when he quietly implemented a 2013 policy that an officer involved in a shooting must wait 72 hours before making a statement to investigators. The policy also gave officers the right to review any video of the incident but drew the ire of residents.

Previously officers were required to give a statement to the investigators within hours of the shooting. That policy changed after police shot a mentally ill man whom they said lunged at them with a knife. But video footage from a neighbor’s camera show the man standing still when he was shot.

“It’s pretty much a cheat sheet for an officer to be able to get his story right before he gives his statement,” Mr. Higgins said.

Bowing to community pressure over the policy the department ended it in August 2016. But during the controversial shooting of Bothem Jean by then Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, Mr. Higgins was surprised to discover it was still on the books.

“David Brown was firmly a Blue Lives Matter type of police chief,” said Yafeuh Balogun, who’s been working in the anti-police brutality movement for nearly 20 years and is chairperson of Community Movement Builders, a Dallas-based community organizing collective. “Any type of police reforms that could potentially hold the police accountable, he was very much against.”

Mr. Brown came to national prominence over his decisive handling of a 2016 mass shooting during an anti-police brutality march that became one of deadliest for Dallas police officers. A military vet opened fire on police killing five and wounding several others including civilians. But Mr. Brown’s decision to use a bomb robot created a rift in the community over excessive force.

Mr. Brown used a remote controlled device to take down the alleged suspect, Micah Johnson, with a pound of C-4 explosive, according media reports. Three months after the sniper shooting, Mr. Brown unexpectedly retired from the department.

The use of the bomb robot shows the militarization of police departments, said Sara Mokuria, co-founder of Mothers Against Police Brutality. She lost her father to police violence in 1992.

“I find it problematic that our police force is so militarized without our knowledge, and that the three times those weapons were ever used are on the Black community,” she said.

Dr. Fred A. Jones, of Jones 2000 & Beyond, wrestled with the chief’s decision to use the bomb robot. During that time, he said, the country was riling from a rash of police shootings of unarmed Black men. Then, Mr. Jones realized the response was in proportion to the attack carried out against the officers.

“The officers who were killed were good men,” said Mr. Jones, whose group serves Dallas’ at-risk population. “You do have good police trying to do the right thing. That changed my opinion. …But it was an emotional thought process that I had to weigh for myself during that particular time.”

But Mr. Jones earned greater respect for Brown early on his tenure as police chief. Just weeks into his new post, Mr. Brown suffered a personal tragedy. His son, who suffered from bipolar and in manic episode, shot and killed a suburban Lancaster police officer and another man before being fatally killed in a shootout, according to news reports. Mr. Brown didn’t resign. He continued to lead the department after his son’s death in 2010.

“You mourn then you come back, and you are still on the job doing what you are supposed to do. To me that gave him a little bit of credibility,” Mr. Jones said.

That wasn’t David Brown’s only brush with tragedy. In 1988, he was responding to an officer shot call only to discover it was his partner and police academy classmate. Nearly three years later, Mr. Brown would lose his younger brother killed by drug dealers in 1991.

Still Mr. Jones believes Brown will be a good fit for Chicago since the city and Mr. Brown’s hometown share the same political dynamic. Brown, Mr. Jones noted, has the ability to straddle that tricky relationship between city politics, the unions and community residents. It’s one reason why Mr. Brown lasted six years as police chief while others last three or four, Mr. Jones noted.

“I think he has grown and matured since he has stepped back for a couple of years,” Mr. Jones said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a losing relationship with the city of Chicago and Chief Brown. Just challenge him; keep him accountable.”

The council approval was the last leg in confirming Mr. Brown as superintendent . Mr. Brown went before the city’s public safety committee in mid-April. There, aldermen quizzed the incoming superintendent on a myriad of issues including merit promotions, community policing, crime reduction and the federal consent decree to address systematic civil rights violations arising from the 2014 police shooting of Laquan McDonald.

During that three-hour meeting Mr. Brown talked about the decision to use the bomb robot. He said the department exhausted its options and efforts to negotiate with the suspect to surrender failed. He said the suspect killed the fifth police officer from his location barricaded in a building downtown, a detail not previously released. He noted that an independent grand jury found that the department’s actions were justified.

“All the options involved more officers being seriously injured or killed,” Mr. Brown said … “and given the same circumstances, I will make the same decision to save more lives.”

When asked about his take on Chicago’s effort to have civil oversight of the police, Mr. Brown said he supports the idea if it builds trust and community partnerships.

“I have a long track record of calling it like I see it, and I won’t hesitate to follow the same approach in Chicago,” he said. “There must be real partnership with the community and community oversight can serve as one of the mechanisms to build that partnership and, quite frankly, build trust. I favor that approach.”

Dallas activists have been following developments in Chicago since Mr. Brown’s name surfaced as a contender for the job. Many hoped the city would have went another direction but advised their Chicago counterparts to hold Mr. Brown accountable.

“Don’t confuse availability with progress,” Mr. Higgins said. “He is great when it comes to community engagement. But community engagement ain’t progress and that don’t mean he is gonna be a champion for oversight, 21st century policing or reform of his police department.”

Some Chicago activists raised concerns about the selection process to fill the top cop job. Others are taking a wait and see approach with the new superintendent like long time violence prevention activist Tio Hardiman, president of Violence Interrupters Inc.

Brown, Mr. Hardiman said, has a steep learning curve because Chicago is not like Dallas when it comes to gun violence. The violence is not always gang related. It’s more interpersonal with people having beef with folks, which, Mr. Hardiman said, makes up a lot of the neighborhood violence.

“In order to learn Chicago, one must learn the block by block dynamics of what takes place in Chicago,” Mr. Hardiman said. “The verdict is still out on him. Give him an opportunity to visit the different neighborhoods in Chicago and see what else can be done.”

Amika Tendaji, co-leader of Black Lives Matter Chicago, was critical of the process in which Mr. Brown was selected. She called the decision “rushed” giving little time for public input. Mr. Brown was the clear favorite among the three finalists the Chicago Police Board recommended to Mayor Lightfoot. She chose Mr. Brown less than 24 hours after receiving their names.

That left no time for residents to vet Brown’s record, Ms. Tendaji said. She noted in 2015, Dallas was third in the nation for police brutality and police terrorism during Mr. Brown’s rein. Between 2010-2016 Dallas police shot 118 people, 43 fatally and five of them unarmed, according to a review of police involved shootings from the city of Dallas’ open data portal.

“We don’t need more cops focused on shooting the working poor,” Ms. Tendaji said.

Also critical of the selection process was Frank Chapman, the acting executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. He too believes the process should be more democratic, which could be achieved with CPAC or Civilian Police Accountability Council. It’s one of the stalled civilian oversight legislations in City Hall. His group has long championed for civilian oversight of the police.

“Black people are still completely powerless when it comes to having any voice in who polices our communities and how our communities are policed,” Mr. Chapman said. “Until we get that voice, the superintendent of police is just a figure head and the FOP [Fraternal Order of Police] is still running the show.”

The Final Call