Meet the highest ranking Black female officer in the Chicago Police Department.
Meet the highest ranking Black female officer in the Chicago Police Department.
Tina Skahill is the acting Chief of the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategies Project Office. She is also a licensed attorney.
The Loyola University and DePaul College of Law graduate told the Defender her law degree, coupled with her criminal justice background, affords her the opportunity to move within the ranks as she has.
During her first five years on the job, she patrolled the 2nd, 5th and 12th districts before being promoted in 1987 to Youth Officer for the Area 4 Youth Division. There she investigated cases concerning physical and sexual child abuse, missing persons and juvenile arrestees.
She was promoted again in 1994 to sergeant in the 5th District before moving up the ladder again in 2001 as lieutenant of the 21st District.
While Skahill was a lieutenant, she served as commanding officer of the Office of Legal Affairs, and managed discovery, equal employment opportunity and police litigation units. She also headed the Risk Management Section to reduce liability via training and revisions in the department policy, concerning such areas as use of force, vehicle pursuits and domestic violence, among others.
In 2003, she was named commander of the 7th District, and two years later was promoted to Deputy Chief of Patrol, and served in that capacity for three years before adding another notch in her belt.
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