CAARPR Statement on Superintendent Search August 2026

CAARPR calls on the CCPSA to remove Sandra Wortham from the Superintendent search process and ensure the process laid out in the ECPS ordinance is followed. 

The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) is in the midst of its search for the next Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. This process of selecting the Superintendent was put in place by the passage of the ECPS ordinance. Prior to ECPS, Superintendents were selected by the Mayor and the Mayor alone, allowing the leadership of the police department to shift only with the political tides and leaving no role for the people of Chicago in this process. The ECPS ordinance was passed as the result of the struggle for justice for those murdered, tortured, harassed, and violated by the police, in an effort to hold CPD accountable. 

At the most recent CCPSA meeting, Commissioners engaged in some back and forth about the inclusion of Sandra Wortham on the committee tasked with overseeing this Superintendent search. Since joining the CCPSA, Sandra Wortham has served to obstruct the progress of the Commission’s work. In her role on the working group responsible for drafting a policy to end pretextual traffic stops, she has stalled all forward motion and refuses to provide updates. Commission President Remel Terry defends this behavior, and demonstrated in the most recent meeting a willingness to circumvent democratic practices to maintain Wortham’s role in the Superintendent search process. 

According to reports from Commissioners, Terry has undermined the democracy of the Commission as a matter of course since taking on the role of President, refusing to add points to the meeting agenda suggested by other Commissioners, shutting down democratic debate. This behavior from Commissioner Terry has specifically prevented Chicago from being able to take action against ICE and CPD collaboration. At the most recent commission meeting on July 30th, Terry cut off commissioners expressing dissenting opinions and used her position as president to dictate a 12 minute monologue attacking the people who showed up for the meeting. We oppose this obstruction of democracy that runs counter to the law we fought so hard to put in place. In the words of Frank Chapman when ECPS was adopted in 2021, “Over 50 years, we crossed rivers of blood to pass this ordinance.”

At the same time, former Commission President Anthony Driver has spoken out publicly calling for the Superintendent search process to be delayed until after the next Mayoral election, joining people like Alderman Brian Hopkins in calling for a return to the status quo. We oppose this anti-democratic position as well. We fought to create this Commission to bring the voice of the people into this process. And we are extremely disappointed to see Commissioners making a mockery of that struggle, and refusing to fulfill the duties they are tasked with. 

The path that Commissioners Terry, Wortham, and Driver seek to lead this Commission down is opposed to the principles written in the ECPS ordinance, and the spirit of the movement that got it passed. We demand a democratic process for the selection of the Superintendent, free of obstruction, and we will not return to the status quo. We continue to demand an end to ICE and CPD collaboration. We will be mobilizing to the next CCPSA meeting to raise these demands, and we ask all those interested in holding the police accountable to join us. All power to the people!