Philip J. Cline was named Superintendent of Police on November 5, 2003. As Superintendent of one of the nation’s largest police departments, Cline’s priority has been to reduce violent crime brought on by gangs and narcotics activity. In doing so, Superintendent Cline introduced a series of violence reduction strategies that have led to unprecedented decreases in homicides and shootings in Chicago. Superintendent Cline has also driven new efforts to honor fallen police officers, strengthen diversity throughout the ranks and to develop and nurture the future leaders of the Chicago Police Department.
In a career that has spanned more than three decades with the Chicago Police Department, he has held assignments in the Patrol Division, the Narcotics and Gang Investigation Section and the Detective Division. He has also served with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force for seven years.
Prior to his appointment as Superintendent, Cline served as the Department’s second-in-command from April 2003 through October 2003. In his role as First Deputy Superintendent, he instituted new accountability measures and strategies to address the problem of gangs, guns and drugs in Chicago’s neighborhoods. These changes included integrating technology into daily police work, which put up-to-the-minute crime information into the hands of officers, detectives and commanders. The shift has enabled the department to deploy police resources more effectively to reduce and prevent crime.
A 34 year veteran of the force, Cline began his police career as a cadet in 1968. He became a patrolman in 1970 and was promoted to detective in 1972. Other promotions followed. He made sergeant in 1977, after which he joined an elite narcotics task force headed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. After leading a series of successful federal narcotics investigations, Cline was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1985 and assigned to Chicago’s South Side, where he investigated violent crimes and built cases on street gangs.
In 1994, Cline was promoted to Commander of the Area Five Detective Division on Chicago’s Northwest Side. In 1998 he became Commander of the Narcotics and Gang Investigation’s Section. While there, he developed the Department’s Street Corner Conspiracy Initiative, which uses undercover drug buys and video surveillance to build strong cases against the gangs that operate open-air drug markets. These long-term investigations have become the backbone of the Chicago Police department’s fight against gang and drugs. They have led to felony convictions against 97 percent of the offenders facing criminal drug conspiracy charges.
Cline was promoted to Deputy Chief of Organized Crime in February 2000, followed a year later by his promotion to Chief of Detectives. While Chief, he served as a member of the U.S. Attorney General’s Initiative on DNA Laboratory Backlogs and a member of the IACP DNA Summit Advisory Group Board. He also implemented a total reorganization of the Detective Division, making detectives more effective at solving crimes.
In 2003, Superintendent Cline played an instrumental role in establishing the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, which is raising funds to build a world-class memorial honoring Chicago’s fallen heroes and establish a permanent endowment to support families of deceased officers.
Since becoming Superintendent, Cline introduced new recruiting strategies to further diversify ranks of the Chicago Police Department. He also established the Chicago Police Department’s Executive Development Program which provides sergeants intensive instruction on both practical and theoretical application of the knowledge, skills and abilities to become 21st Century law enforcement leaders.
A proponent of CAPS, Chicago’s nationally recognized community policing program, Cline leads the second-largest municipal law enforcement agency in the United States, overseeing 13,500 sworn officers and 3,000 civilians. As Superintendent, he continues to work to reduce the crime rate, improve police services and safety and integrate new technology into everyday operations.
For these reasons, I am honored to present the second of this evening’s “Community Service Award” to Philip Cline, Superintendent of Chicago Police Department, in Grateful Recognition for his unique dedication to Service to the Chicago Community.
