Sources: Police Supt. Eddie Johnson To Announce Date Within Week For Planned Retirement
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Multiple sources tell CBS 2's Brad Edwards that Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson will announce a date when he plans to retire within the week.
Johnson's pension will be 75 percent of the highest-paid four years of his last 10 – which would mean three and a half years of his superintendent's salary of $260,004 and six months of his prior and somewhat lower chief's salary of $185,364.
He would have to make it to May 1, 2020 to get a full four years as superintendent, which sources said "he won't," Edwards reported.
The news comes a day after Johnson acknowledged that he has given retirement some thought, but did not confirm that he's planning to step down.
"I've been toying with it for some time," Johnson said Monday at City Hall. "I love this job, I love this city. I have given 31 years now to this city, and almost four as superintendent. You know, but I recognize also that at some point it's time to create a different chapter in your life."
The superintendent said the first time he thought about possibly retiring after more than 31 years on the force was while attending the Chicago Bears game against the Oakland Raiders in early October.
"That's the first vacation like that that I've had since I became superintendent, and I looked at my family and it made me realize how much of a sacrifice you make," Johnson said.
Johnson noted he took over as superintendent at a tumultuous time for the department. Public trust in the department was in tatters after the release of video showing the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, morale at the department was "a mess," and murders in 2016 were surging to levels Chicago hadn't seen in 20 years.
"We had activists trying to chain themselves to the door of Police Headquarters, and now those same people are partnering with us to make this city better. Now, are we where we want to be? No, we're not, but I think we've made significant progress," he said.
The superintendent's comments come amid a Chicago Inspector General's office investigation into an incident in which he was found slumped over in his car, but Johnson said he's not concerned about the probe, and said it has nothing to do with why he's contemplating retirement.
Johnson was found asleep behind the wheel of his SUV early on Oct. 17, after he had gone out for dinner with a group of friends the night before. The superintendent blamed the incident on a mix-up in which he failed to take his blood pressure medication, but Mayor Lori Lightfoot later revealed Johnson had admitted to her in a phone call that he'd had "a couple of drinks with dinner" that night.
Hours after the incident, Johnson requested an investigation by the Internal Affairs Division, citing the need for transparency. Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson later took over the investigation.
