The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is adding management-level positions to oversee reform and strategy. The newly-created positions will be charged with implementing a strategic plan for the police department and making sure reforms are delivered by specific deadlines, according to the Sun-Times. CPD Superintendent Eddie Johnson acknowledged the civilian jobs are a break from the past for the police department.

“For a long time, CPD and law enforcement probably all over the country, never really embraced civilian experts in terms of doing things of this nature. What we’re good at is fighting crime and locking up bad guys. What we’re not good at is long-term strategies in terms of the direction that the organization may go,” the superintendent said.

“We made a commitment to change the way CPD does business and to put these reforms into place. We weren’t just saying we were going to do it. We’re actually going to do it. So this is just another mechanism for us to ensure that we’re basically policing ourselves. I need the sworn personnel to focus on the crime fight. For so long, what law enforcement would do is pick a police officer and say, ‘You’re in charge of this’ with little or no expertise.”

In related news, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan launched a website allowing the public to have a say in CPD reform. Madigan’s office says the public input will help inform the court-ordered oversight of CPD, also known as a consent decree, according to the Associated Press.

These stories are about the Police Reform and Community Relations strategy of the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities.