Garry McCarthy was with the New York Police Department for 25 years and spent the last five years as top cop in Newark, N.J. He’s now at the helm of the Chicago Police Department. ChicagoDefender.com talked one-on-one with the interim superintendent (his appointment has to be confirmed by City Council) about what attracted him to Chicago, his view on community policing and what area he first visited when he was tapped for the post.
ChicagoDefender.com:
Why was the Chicago job offer appealing?
Interim
Supt. Garry McCarthy: I am a person who believes being a police officer is the
most honorable profession a person can choose. On a daily basis we have an opportunity
to make a difference in the world. You have the opportunity to affect a
person’s life in a positive fashion, hopefully not in a negative fashion. An
opportunity to run a major agency like Chicago, it’s an enormous opportunity
for me professionally and personally. My goal for the Chicago Police Department
is to change the way that we police in this country. I know how to reduce
crime. I’ve done it for a long time. I did it in New York City for seven years
as New York’s principal crime strategist. But I’ve also come to realize it’s
not just the police’s job to reduce crime, it’s everybody’s job to reduce
crime. I really see the future of policing in community partnerships to not
just assist us in reducing crime, but to change the course of history.
CDO:
What mentality are you bring from Newark to Chicago?
McCarthy:
Let’s go past Newark and go back to New York City. I spent 25 years in the New
York Police Department. I understand the culture of professionalism in the NYPD
and I’m finding a similar culture here in Chicago, which I’m very, very happy
to see. If I would boil it down to one word –– respect. When I speak to our
commanders and our officers, I talk about respect and treating people the way
you’d want your family to be treated. If we don’t respect each other how are we
going to treat the public.
CDO:
There was some criticism of you drawn from “Brick City.” Do you think the
documentary gave you an unfair advantage with people having preconceived
notions?
McCarthy:
People ask me about “Brick City” all the time and I’m usually embarrassed by it
because that was a very intrusive look into my life. I tend to think of myself
as no greater or no lesser than any other person. It’s kind of embarrassing to
get that much attention. As far as what came out of that, I think that in many
respects it was a positive experience for me because it showed some of the
things I was up against and still willing to fight and trying to do the right
thing. I’m a person that is very forward. What you see is what you get.
CDO:
What key areas in Chicago do you think need the most attention?
McCarthy:
The first place I went when I got here was Englewood. It has the historic high
crime rate in the city. I sat down and spoke with the officers and commander of
the district. When we were looking at where we need the resources more than
others, there’s a myriad of locations. We don’t want to push down on a balloon
so it pushes down here but pops up there. We don’t want that to happen. We have
to look at long-term solutions to crime. Englewood is right at the top of the
list though.
CDO:
Would that revive talks of beat realignment?
McCarthy:
I kind of think of beats as just lines on a map. If I deploy the resources
properly, I don’t think we’ll need a beat realignment. And besides, just
realigning beats in a 911 system will cost millions of dollars. In this time of
fiscal restraint, I’m going to move that to the bottom of the list and work my
way around it.
CDO:
What is the plan to foster community trust?
McCarthy:
The key to community trust is two-fold. It’s communication and it’s
transparency. We can’t be hiding behind cloaks saying we’re not telling you
what we’re doing. We want people to know what we’re doing and why we’re doing
it. That’s communication and transparency. I think that’s where it starts. The
bottom line is I’m going to take the whole issue of community relations to
another level. It’s not just about cops being nice to people because sometimes
we’re not. It’s more about changing the whole landscape that people talk about
the police and the community as two separate entities. I don’t even see it that
way. Officers are part of the community; the point is to make those segments
one rather than two separate entities. There’s this program called the Violence
Reduction Strategy we have here in Chicago that is modeled on the Boston
CeaseFire model, which is different from the CeaseFire model we have hear. That
is a subcomponent of what I want to see here –– using the moral authority of the
community to change criminals behavior, in partnership with the police. I have
a whole community engagement strategy that I put together in Newark that was
created with the community.
CDO:
Will there be changes with the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS)
department?
McCarthy:
I tend to think we don’t want community engagement programs, (instead) we want
a community engagement philosophy. From what I’ve seen about CAPS and I’m not
sure how to change this, CAPS has become a program rather than an institutional
method of doing business in the Chicago Police Department. We shouldn’t have to
tell people that we will engage the public in such a fashion; it’s got to be
part of what we do. I need to take a real close look at CAPS. I don’t want to
throw the baby out with the bath water. Nothing I’m going to do in Chicago is
going to be throwing something out and replacing it with something different.
It will be building on the successful things we have. I know a lot of people
love CAPS and a lot of people are invested in CAPS. I want to see how to make
it work better and reinvigorate it.
CDO:
Would Ron Holt still be part of the CAPS philosophy?
McCarthy:
I haven’t gotten to the point of deciding anything along those lines. I haven’t
gotten down to what I want to do with CAPS or Ron Holt. I was at a community
meeting with Ron a couple of weeks ago. I thought he was very good.
Copyright
2011 Chicago Defender
