Reducing the toll of gun violence in Chicago is the highest priority of the Chicago Police Department. To dramatically advance that goal the Sue Ling Gin Foundation is making an unprecedented gift of $15 million over five years for the development and implementation of a world class leadership and management education for Chicago’s police supervisors.
Effective leadership and management plays a crucial role in significantly reducing gun violence. This program will focus on effective and ethical leadership practices, performance management, data-driven decision-making, building resilience, officer wellness, and building community trust and partnerships. To carry out this lifesaving work, the Civic Committee is teaming up with the University of Chicago Crime Lab.
Robert Hamada is a former Dean and professor of finance at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, and a trustee of the Sue Ling Gin Foundation. He said that investments in police management training will both make Chicago safer and help CPD attract better candidates into policing.
“Corporations do this kind of continuing education all the time, but government agencies are often unable to prioritize this kind of investment. The partnership among the business, academic and non-profit sectors and the police department reflects Chicago’s collective commitment to reduce gun violence. It will help the Chicago Police Department accelerate reforms, better connect with the community, and be a place where smart, committed people want to work,” Hamada said.
Since beginning its reform efforts, CPD has implemented 40 hours of mandatory annual training for all sworn members. This gift will build on the training CPD supervisors are already receiving, while equipping them with additional management resources and skills.
CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling said, “As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen safety and build trust across the city, we have to invest in the frontline supervisors who are managing day to day operations. We are deeply grateful to the Sue Ling Gin Foundation for its partnership and support in making this a reality.”
The Sue Ling Gin Foundation will make the gift to the Civic Committee, which, through its Public Safety Task Force, has been increasingly active on public safety issues in recent years, releasing a multi-part plan in 2023 to support scaling of community violence intervention programs, hiring from and investing in communities facing high levels of crime, and supporting reforms and increased investment in the police department. The Civic Committee, in turn, will partner with the Chicago Crime Lab at the University of Chicago to set up and run the training programs for CPD.
This initiative is modeled after the Policing Leadership Academy, a national program run by the Crime Lab that provides rigorous training in management and data-driven decision-making to commanders from the country’s most violent police districts. The Crime Lab also runs the Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy, a similar effort focused on building management expertise for CVI leaders from Chicago and around the country.
Civic Committee Public Safety Task Force co-chairs Mark Hoplamazian and Eric Smith said: “This investment in police leadership development is exactly in line with the late Jim Crown’s vision for the Task Force and we are grateful to the Sue Ling Gin Foundation for their dedication and support of that vision. We are excited to be working with Superintendent Snelling, the Chicago Police Department, the University of Chicago Crime Lab and the Sue Ling Gin Foundation trustees on this important project. We believe this training will help police supervisors develop their leadership skillsets and help make all of Chicago safer.”
Crime Lab Executive Director Katie Hill said “Gun violence sits upstream of almost every other pressing challenge facing Chicago and other cities; its ripple effects impact children trying to learn in school, businesses trying to thrive, and the very ability of cities grow. With this unprecedented, evidence-informed investment in the human capital of our police leaders, Chicago is leading the way in meeting this challenge head-on. We are grateful to the Sue Ling Gin Foundation for its bold support of this important work, which we hope will have transformational impact for generations – not just for CPD, but for cities across the country.”
Sue Ling Gin, who died in 2014, was an entrepreneur and businesswoman who founded the Chicago-based airline catering company, Flying Food Group, and had extensive property holdings in the West Loop. She was a major philanthropist, serving on the boards of many nonprofit and civic organizations. She was also a member of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago and the Economic Club of Chicago.
(Content sourced from UChicago Crime Lab news release)
