CHICAGO, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Chicago's police superintendent is defending his performance against protests by the rank and file, saying he reduced public "distrust."
In a letter to the editor of The Chicago Sun-Times Saturday, Jody Weis, whose term is likely to end along with Mayor Richard Daley's in March, said he will not let the force revert to "business as usual."
A career FBI agent, Weis was tapped as the first outsider to run the department in a half-century after a series of misconduct scandals.
"When I arrived, there was distrust between the residents of our city and the police department," he wrote. " ... I have worked hard to repair that trust."
Mistrusted from the start by many officers, Weis was criticized for wearing a uniform even though he had never been a street cop, and for replacing 21 of 25 district commanders, the first deputy and other top brass soon after he took over.
The Fraternal Order of Police is planning a protest rally outside headquarters Wednesday.
Despite his offer to make suggestions to improve policing and morale, the union has not offered any constructive criticisms, "no ideas, no lists, no issues," Weis wrote.
