AndrewBlakeChicago, IL – The now-former head of the Chicago Police Board who suggested getting rid of sworn honesty requirements in police complaints, is running for mayor.
Lori Lightfoot announced her candidacy on Thursday and she would run against Mayor Rahm Emanuel, according to the Chicago Tribune.
It was Emanuel who appointed Lightfoot to the head of the independent civilian body that oversees some aspects of the Chicago Police Department.
Lightfoot resigned her post from the Chicago Police Board on May 7 so she could run for mayor, according to WLS-TV.
Lightfoot said she didn’t owe Emanuel anything.
“In order for Chicago to remain a world-class city, we need to forge a new path, in which equity and inclusion are our guiding principles. By almost every measure, we currently are headed in the wrong direction,” Lightfoot said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “All over Chicago, people feel the effects of the us-versus-them style of governance. Investing here, but not there. Providing advantages to some, but not others. Listening to a few, but ignoring far too many. That mentality and style of governance ends the day I am sworn in as mayor.”
Lightfoot made news in her tenure as the president of the civilian police board.
She was opposed to mandating that all people who file a complaint against police sign a sworn affidavit that their complaint is truthful, to the best of their knowledge.
Complainants could be prosecuted if it was discovered they intentionally provided false claims against the officer, and an Obama administration DOJ report said that this requirement resulted in unsigned complaints being dropped instead of investigated.
Lightfoot also believes that anonymous complaints against officers should be allowed.
However, even if it is determined an anonymous compliant about an officer can’t be proven, it could stay on the officer’s record.