Chicago Police commanders transition into their new roles in the community
By Patrick Butler
Most of the commanders in this area appointed by Police
Supt. Jody P. Weis in what has been described as “the biggest housecleaning
in the department’s history” are no strangers to their new districts.
Roberto Zavala, for example, not only grew up on the West Side around Lexington St. and Sacramento Blvd. but already had been in the 10th (Ogden) District for three and a half years when he became its commander.
“That was a big advantage to me; I was very lucky,” said Zavala, who during his 31 years on the job was a captain in the 11th (Harrison) and 13th (Wood St.) districts and previously worked organized crime, narcotics, and internal affairs.
Dennis Keane, the new boss in the 12th (Harrison) District, started his 31-year career in the 10th as a patrol officer before moving on to Monroe in 1999 as a sergeant and later serving in the Area 2 and Area 4 homicide units.
Judith Martin, the new 13th District commander, worked with Zavala in the 10th District, where both were captains. “Bob was captain on days, so we’re familiar with each other," she said. "Although our districts don’t meet, we’ll collaborate whenever we can.”
Martin's 26 years in uniform
also included patrol duty up in Foster Ave. (20th) on the North Side, the
Internal Affairs Division, and the citywide Organized Crime unit.
“So I guess you can say I’ve had a well rounded education,” Martin chuckled.
John Doty, the new commander of the 21st (Prairie Ave.) District stretching from Hyde Park to Chinatown, started there 22 years ago as a patrol officer and moved on through a variety of assignments, including the 1st deputy superintendent’s office and a stint at the Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy in Quantico, VA. While he is sure Weiss “looked very carefully at everything in our backgrounds,” Doty suspects his new boss was far more impressed with what he did in the “very proactive” 6th (Gresham) District than his grades at Quantico.
Doty believes a lot of the credit for his getting noticed by Weiss really belongs to the 6th's “hard-working officers and active community residents,” he said.
Eric Washington, who
now leads the 11th (Harrison) District, could not be reached for comment. He
is expected to continue the district's successful Police and Residents In
Drug Enforcement (PRIDE) program, in which highly visible uniformed police
are stationed at sites in which previous drug sales have been reported.
Washington scheduled a roadside safety check April 18 and 19 in an effort to
apprehend drivers operating motor vehicles under the influence of alcohol or
drugs.
Besides many of them seeing their latest assignments as a kind of homecoming, the new commanders appear to share the same challenges and priorities as the communities they serve, where gentrifiers moving in among longtime residents can raise tensions.
“It’s changed dramatically since I was here last," Keane said. "A lot of new buildings, the redevelopment of Lake St., and the Randolph-Fulton Market. You still have some gang issues, but just in one part of the district. In the Illinois Medical District you’ve got a lot of thefts and burglaries. Other areas you may get more narcotics.”
Keane credits his predecessor, Cmdr. Ron Sodini, with “doing a great job” that will make his all that much easier.
With gentrification “there
are a lot more community organizations in this district than there were
before, so it’s easier to go to association meetings and address issues
quickly instead of letting them fester for a long time,” said Keane, who
almost immediately noticed much less street crime in the 12th than he saw 17
years ago during his last posting in the district.
Zavala finds a similar situation. “We have a strong participation in CAPS [the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy, which brings citizens into the law enforcement process], and we have 77 schools in our district, which is more than any other police district in the entire city,” he said. “And while some of our challenges transcend district boundaries, such as gangs and substance abuse, for example, in the end people are most concerned about what’s going on right in front of their houses. They want to know about those boys in front of their house. They’re not concerned about citywide issues. They’re concerned about localized problems.”
Ditto for Doty, who also is seeing far less street crime thanks to upscale development and concerned residents, but concedes “there are still pockets of concern, like around some of our high schools.”
As he did in the 6th District, Doty intends to continue forging strong bonds with community and business groups any time he can.
For Martin, the 13th is likewise a welcome change. “In the 10th I experienced a lot of violent crime," she explained. "Here it’s shifting more toward property crimes.” She believes that difference is due partly to changing demographics but also “a lot of active civic organizations as well as a group of very hard-working police officers.
“It’s a lofty goal, but I want to have officers who are happy and productive. I want us to be responsive to the community and have a wonderful partnership,” she said.
Martin added, however, that because many of those property crimes can be prevented easily, she expects to spend plenty of time teaching people some common sense.
“Simple things like don’t leave your laptop in the back seat,” she said.
