Chicago’s Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel plans Monday to name Newark, N.J., Police Director Garry McCarthy as his choice to be the city’s new police superintendent, according to a person on Emanuel’s transition team.
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago’s Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel plans Monday to name Newark, N.J., Police Director Garry McCarthy as his choice to be the city’s new police superintendent, according to a person on Emanuel’s transition team.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt Emanuel’s announcement.
McCarthy would take over a department that suffered from morale problems under former superintendent Jody Weis, who came to the job after working at the FBI and was considered an outsider. McCarthy has years of big-city police experience after working in Newark and New York City. McCarthy has headed the Newark department since 2006.
Weis left the superintendent’s job earlier this year when his contract ended. Former superintendent Terry Hillard took over the job in the interim but said he didn’t want the job.
Emanuel is preparing to take over from retiring Mayor Richard Daley on May 16. He has already picked former Rochester, N.Y. schools chief Jean-Claude Brizzard as Chicago schools chief, and has long said he wants a new police chief ready to go when he takes office.
On Friday, the Chicago Police Board announced three finalists to become Chicago’s next police superintendent, including McCarthy. The other picks were two officials from within the Chicago police department. The board said more than 40 people applied for the job.
Weis has said he thinks McCarthy would be the best choice.
"He’s innovative, he’s creative (and) the city would be well served by him," Weis has said.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP Photo/George Olivar, File)
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