Chicago’s top cop clarifies CPD’s role in incidents involving federal officers

Chicago?s top cop clarifies CPD?s role in incidents involving federal officers

Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling has been relatively quiet about the federalization of law enforcement, but on Monday, he broke that silence.

CHICAGO - Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling has been relatively quiet about the federalization of law enforcement, but on Monday, he broke that silence.

Snelling spoke for the first time since immigration enforcement ramped up in Chicago and responded to events of this past weekend when groups of vehicles allegedly followed and rammed federal immigration vehicles.

What we know:

Federal agents shot a woman who allegedly tried to use her car to hit agents on Chicago’s Southwest Side on Saturday.

Snelling offered a timeline of events:

• 10:36 a.m. - Chicago police officers respond to a dispatch that the woman was shot. They and Chicago Fire Department personnel accompanied her to a hospital while other officers secured the crime scene.
• 12:12 p.m. – A separate incident featuring cars allegedly ramming into ICE vehicles.
• 12:28 p.m. – CPD received a call from a federal ICE agent for assistance.
• 1:09 p.m. – CPD was on the scene assisting those agents.

Snelling responded to viral social media reports that an order was given by Chief of Patrol Jon Hein to not respond to that 12:28 call. Snelling said no such order was ever given.

The Chicago Police Department logo is seen on the outside of the Chicago Public Safety Headquarters on Dec. 1, 2023. (Trent Sprague/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Although there might have been miscommunication because the superintendent said Hein did not want to send CPD officers there unprepared without riot gear and gas masks. Officers eventually responded to the scene 40 minutes later.

There have been breathless posts calling for Snellings removal, which the superintendent said was all politics.

"When we show up to a scene, and a crowd gathers, CPD is going to step out there," Snelling said. "We're going to make sure that we maintain that scene and we keep people calm. This is our city and we're going to make sure that we bring some type of calm resolution and whatever's going on at that scene."

Snelling also hit back at criticism that the police aren’t arresting federal agents. He said they do not arrest other law enforcement and also made clear that ramming or following federal law enforcement vehicles is plainly illegal and risks endangering the lives of officers and the public.

"If you ram any vehicle, especially … one that contains law enforcement agents, and that's any law enforcement, local, state, federal, county, and you do this intentionally, this is considered deadly force," he said. "Deadly force is anything that can cause great bodily harm or death."

He added that officers can then use deadly force "to stop you."

The superintendent also reminded people of Chicago’s Welcoming City Law, which was first passed back in the 1980s.

Under the law, Chicago police cannot assist federal agents in immigration enforcement, nor can they impede, putting the agency in a tough position.