(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — As some Chicago aldermen prepared to grill the city’s top cop during an emergency meeting Friday, both Police Supt. David Brown and Mayor Lori Lightfoot inferred there is more to the gathering than meets the eye.
Some critics of the Lightfoot Administration called the 11 a.m. meeting, ostensibly to clear the air about violent crime.
Lightfoot has said Brown regularly briefs council members, though not everyone says that is accurate. On Thursday, the mayor openly accused indicted Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward) of being behind the drama and referred to him as “Burger King Ed” — a reference to federal charges that he tried to shake down two fast-food executives who wanted to remodel a restaurant in his ward.
“‘Burger King Ed’ and his minions — a guy who’s an indicted criminal — we’re not going to let him stand in the way of getting work done for the people of this city,” Lightfoot said.
Brown on Thursday insisted crime is down. He said, for example, there were 20 fewer murders in Chicago last month than in June of last year.
With the holiday weekend looming, Brown said he has canceled days off for police officers, who will work 12-hour shifts. There will be a special focus on high-crime areas, the lakefront and anywhere large crowds are expected to gather, he said.
As for criticisms from aldermen, the superintendent declined to touch that when pressed by the media.
“Ours is not to question why, but to do or die,” he said.
The paraphrase of “Ours is not to reason why/Ours but to do or die” is from Tennyson’s poem The Charge of the Light Brigade, in which soldiers bravely follow orders at their peril.
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