City Council Panel Approves Mayor's Pick To Head Police Review Board
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A City Council panel has approved a former federal prosecutor as the new head of the Chicago Police Board reports WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore.
The City Council's Police and Fire Committee is recommending lawyer Lori Lightfoot for president of the Police Board. She once ran the police department's Office of Professional Standards.
Lightfoot acknowledges she would take the job at a time when relations between police and people of color have been tense. She vows to foster an atmosphere of trust and she says if any officers accused of serious offenses lie about the matter, they should be fired.
"Police departments all across the country, and this one is no different, have a lie-you-die rule," Lightfoot said. "We're going to take the evidence as it comes and I'm not going to pre-judge any case, but if the board finds that an officer has lied, obstructed the investigation or otherwise somehow violated rule 14, I regard that as a very serious matter."
Lightfoot would replace Demetrius Carney, who has run the Police Board for 19 years.