Weis Would Like to Make Chicago Home

By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 28, 2011 3:20PM

Police Superintendent Jody Weis may be privately hoping beyond hope that Mayor-elect Emanuel will retain him once he takes office in May. Publicly, Weis isn't showing his hand. With his contract set to expire tomorrow, Weis said that he hasn't had any discussions with Emanuel since the election regarding his status. The question about Weis's future was broached yesterday during a news conference to announce the appointment of a police officer to a federal task force along the U.S-Mexico border.

“Hopefully I can be able to do something here in Chicago," Weis said. "If not, I’ll go to where a career would lead me.” Weis said he's also taking a wait-and-see approach to staying on until a replacement is named.

Mayor Daley has already said that he'll keep Weis as Police Superintendent until his time as mayor is up. If Weis does desire to remain as superintendent, he'll have to do some serious persuading of Emanuel. Weis's appointment as superintendent, the first from outside the department in over a half-century, was never well-received by the rank-and-file, who believe that Weis has never had their collective back, Weis was selected by Daley to reform the department after a series of officer misconduct scandals under his predecessors. He's also had to contend with the perception that crime is on the uptick, despite statistics from the department showing major crimes actually decreasing, and has faced criticism for his August sit-down with gang leaders warning them that the department would crack down hard on gangs if murders didn't stop.