CHICAGO — A Chicago Police leader who was pushing for department reforms will leave the job, according to a CBS report.
Anne Kirkpatrick, the organizational development chief, was hired in June to oversee police reform in Chicago after high-profile police-involved shootings, including the killing of Laquan McDonald, led to protests in the city and criticism of the department.
But Kirkpatrick will leave the department after just seven months to become the police chief in Oakland, California, according to CBS.
Kirkpatrick led the team that proposed changes to the Chicago Police Department's use of force policy. The changes pushed for officers to place a "heavy emphasis on the sanctity of life" and avoid using deadly force, police said after revealing a draft of the changes in October.
Kirkpatrick was a finalist for Chicago Police superintendent last spring, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel eventually picked current Supt. Eddie Johnson.
When applying to be Chicago's police superintendent, Kirkpatrick wrote in an essay that she would push for police to think of themselves as "guardians" instead of "warriors."
"As a former chief of police, my mantra was that we are in the business of regulating other people's conduct, so I expect us (the police) to regulate our own conduct. ... At times, corrective action includes termination in order to maintain a highly effective and well-run organization," Kirkpatrick wrote.
Before coming to Chicago, Kirkpatrick had been the chief of police in Spokane, Washington, and was an instructor at the FBI's academy.
