Mayor Brandon Johnson is on the clock.
He faces an Aug. 12 deadline to select the next leader of the Chicago Police Department from a list of three finalists handed to him earlier this month. If he decides none of the candidates fit the bill — a long shot, but not impossible — he could order the vetting process begin anew.
But until the next permanent superintendent is chosen and approved by the City Council, the CPD remains under the direction of Fred Waller, the recently retired chief of patrol whom Johnson asked to lead the department through the city’s historically violent summer months.
Waller is once again on the clock, too.
A Tribune analysis found that Waller, who retired in 2020 after 34 years with the department, will be paid more than $82,000 for helming the CPD in the early months of the Johnson administration. That figure is a combination of Waller’s prorated city salary — $260,004, the same as former Superintendent David Brown’s — and his monthly pension payments of more than $12,000 that kicked in upon his original exit from CPD.
Waller, Johnson’s office and the Chicago police all declined to provide comment for this story.
Pension payments are 75% of the average salary during the officer’s final four years before retirement. Waller, 61, was paid $185,364 per year when he retired in August 2020, according to records from the city’s Department of Human Resources.
The salary-pension “double dip” is perfectly legal in Chicago, an income booster other top public officials have enjoyed when they’ve taken on new roles after retirement.
But it has come under increased scrutiny in recent years as Chicago and Illinois have struggled with massive unpaid pension liabilities and residents have watched their property tax bills and rents go up to cover the shortfalls.
The state General Assembly in 2019 voted to prohibit elected officials who draw pensions through the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund from also collecting salaries for serving in the same positions.
Then-Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2017 signed a law preventing retired police officers from accruing credit toward a second pension if they return to the force in a new position while already collecting their first pension.
Waller is enjoying his months of simultaneous salary and pension after employing a common bit of Police Department bureaucratic jujitsu upon his retirement.
Just before he left CPD, Waller voluntarily returned to the rank of lieutenant, clearing the way for him to rejoin the union that represents CPD lieutenants. The self-demotion — often undertaken by retiring members of the command staff — allowed Waller to sell back unused vacation days and qualify for more retiree health care benefits.
Even on an interim basis, Waller’s mid-May hiring was seen by many in CPD as a shrewd maneuver by the freshmen mayor. In selecting Waller, a CPD lifer who remained popular among rank-and-file cops as well as supervisors after his 2020 retirement, Johnson extended an olive branch to the city’s police officers after an election in which his previous statements in support of defunding the police were put front and center.
At the same time, Waller has provided Johnson a shield from criticism during the hottest months of the year when violent crime spikes. From May 15, the day Johnson was sworn in, through July 25, Chicago recorded 147 killings while another 633 people suffered nonfatal gunshot wounds, according to city data. Those totals are down slightly from the same time period in 2022, when 156 people were killed citywide with another 715 shot and wounded. Violence totals have fallen each year since 2020, though they still far outpace pre-pandemic levels.
Shortly after retiring, Waller started working at Monterrey Security, the politically connected private security firm that often hires CPD brass after they leave the department. After he returned to the department, he told reporters that he did not apply to become the next permanent superintendent.
The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, a new police oversight body born out of a 2021 city ordinance, presented Johnson earlier this month with the three finalists to become the next head of the CPD. Johnson has until Aug. 12 to make his selection. The three finalists are CPD’s chief of counterterrorism, Larry Snelling; CPD’s chief of constitutional policing and reform, Angel Novalez; and Madison, Wisconsin, police Chief Shon Barnes.
Snelling has emerged as the most likely candidate to be chosen by Johnson, favored by a mix of conservative white officials and Black South Siders who campaigned heavily on his behalf.
It is unlikely Johnson would select Barnes, the Madison chief. Novalez is considered a potential candidate, as he is well respected by many who know his story of having been shot in the line of duty. But Snelling is the favorite of many within and outside City Hall.
Chicago Tribune’s Gregory Royal Pratt contributed.
