Commentary: When Brandon Johnson was asked about interim Chicago police leader Fred Waller's ties to a scandal, he talked past the question.
Former Chicago police Sgt. Ronald Watts, right, leaves the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse after getting sentenced to 22 months in prison Oct. 9, 2013., Fred Waller described himself as “old school.” Presumably, this was meant to reassure the department’s rank and file and city residents concerned about crime.
For more than a decade, Sgt. Ronald Watts and a team of officers under his command preyed on vulnerable public housing communities in the midst of the city’s Plan for Transformation — the demolition of high-rise public housing and forced relocation of residents. Early in his career, Waller worked alongside Watts in CPD’s Public Housing Section. When that unit was disbanded in 2004, Watts and his team were reassigned to the 2nd District. From 2010 to 2013, Waller was commander of the 2nd District, and the Watts team was under his command.
In any case, the only action Waller is known to have taken — after Watts and his partner, Kallatt Mohammed, were caught in an FBI sting in 2012 — was to recommend the promotion to sergeant of Alvin Jones, a key member of the Watts team. Jones would later resign from the department after the Civilian Office of Police Accountability recommended he be terminated., saying that he had “extensive” conversations with Waller about his career and was “confident” he was the right person for the job.
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