How Many Layers?

Once again, something we were advocating how many years ago?

• The recent firing of two Chicago police oversight officials and subsequent calls for Andrea Kersten, chief administrator of the Chicago Office of Police Accountability, to resign add another unfortunate chapter in the drama that is Chicago policing.

  More importantly, they are symptoms of an obvious failure in Chicago governance. The failure is this: Our policing is political, not professional.

  Professional policing involves constitutional practices and effective community policing. Political policing, on the other hand, is a game of gotcha, conflict and a lack of constructive cooperation.

How bad is it?

• First, there is the Chicago Police Board (with a budget of $602,000). Second, there is COPA ($16.8 million and 157 employees). Third, there is the Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability ($4 million, with 66 elected officials). Further complicating things, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th Ward) in May introduced an ordinance that would place a referendum on the ballot to expand the size and scope of the Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability, while leaving the rest of the entities untouched.

  In addition to these three bodies, the mayor, City Council and Office of Inspector General all play significant roles in policing as well.

And they don't even mention the "consent decree" oversight people with their own budget and personnel. 

Conehead supposedly wants to cut costs, but won't make the easy decisions.