Larry Snelling, ‘son of this city,’ confirmed as next Chicago police superintendent

CHICAGO — Larry Snelling was confirmed as Chicago’s next police superintendent in a City Council vote Wednesday, finalizing Mayor Brandon Johnson’s choice for the longtime insider and South Side native to lead the department with a vision of rejuvenating officer morale and repairing community relations.

Aldermen voted 48-0 to approve the department’s current chief of counterterrorism and a longtime instructor at the training academy as the next leader of the nation’s second-largest police department. Snelling was then formally sworn in as superintendent at a City Hall ceremony Wednesday afternoon before heading into his first day in charge.

After outgoing interim Superintendent Fred Waller handed off the superintendent’s badge, Snelling addressed aldermen and urged a unified approach in addressing the city’s public safety challenges.

“We have to find a way to stop this,” Snelling said in