By Frank Main and Fran Spielman
The Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — New police commanders have been installed in most of Chicago’s 25 police districts in one of the biggest department shake-ups in recent memory, sources said Thursday.
Supt. Jody Weis — who was hired away from the FBI last year at more than $300,000 a year to reform the scandal-bruised department — appointed new commanders in 22 of the city’s 25 districts, sources said.
Police brass were streaming into headquarters at 35th and Michigan this week to learn of their new assignments.
The major changes include appointment of Thomas Byrne as chief of detectives and Debra Kirby as Weis’ new general counsel, sources said.
Byrne was previously commander of the Belmont Area detective headquarters and Kirby was in charge of the Internal Affairs Division.
Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue said he questioned some of the changes.
“There is always a concern in making such a big change all at once,” Donahue said, adding that Weis is replacing some seasoned commanders with untested ones.
“It’s his prerogative to make these changes,” he said. “I hope he’s doing it on sound advice.”
Mayor Daley said he supported the moves.
“That’s up to Supt. Weis,” he said. “I hope he’s going look at structural changes. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Asked if Weis has his blessing, the mayor said: “Oh, definitely. Sure. Yes. Definitely. Yes, he does... He has the responsibility as superintendent…He’ll take that responsibility very seriously. He has to make difficult decisions.”
Last month, Weis accepted the resignations of three of his top deputies and replaced two of them by dipping down into the ranks of district commanders. A few days later, Chief of Detectives Maria Maher joined Hiram Grau, Charles Williams and John Risley in announcing her retirement.
The Chicago Sun-Times also reported that Daley-favorite and gang crimes expert Mike Cronin was asked to leave the Police Department.
Daley thought so highly of Cronin — a decorated Vietnam War veteran hired by former Mayor Richard J. Daley in spite of a debilitating war injury — that he arranged for the Chicago Police Department to hire Cronin as a civilian after he retired to take advantage of the fact that Cronin had “more intelligence than anyone else” on street gangs.
Daley named Weis as his new police superintendent in November. Weis replaced Phil Cline, who oversaw a major decline in crime during his tenure but was unable to weather a series of scandals that angered the mayor.
Last month, Weis named Harrison District Cmdr. James Jackson as his No. 2 man as first deputy superintendent. Jackson is a 23-year veteran who commanded one of the highest-crime districts in Chicago. The West Side district had roughly 25 fewer homicides last year under Jackson’s command.
Marquette District Cmdr. Beatrice Cuello, a 51-year-old Hispanic, last month became the first woman to head the Bureau of Patrol.
Deputy Chief Michael Shields was selected last month to run the Bureau of Strategic Deployment and Harrison Area Detective Cmdr. Steve Peterson was appointed as the head of the Bureau of Investigative Services. Shields is black. Peterson is white.
Weis also created a new Bureau of Professional Standards and chose former FBI colleague Peter Brust to run it.
Copyright 2008 The Chicago Sun-Times