Earlier this week, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Lisa O. Monaco traveled to Chicago for a series of engagements that focused on the integrity of the Department of Justice as well as the department’s ongoing partnerships with law enforcement and community leaders to promote public safety.
On Monday, DAG Monaco returned to her alma mater, the University of Chicago Law School where she met with a group of law students to talk about her career path and the role the Department of Justice serves in maintaining the rule of law. She also met separately with a group of students from the Institute of Politics (IOP) to highlight the importance of public service.
That evening, the DAG participated in the IOP’s Speaker Series, for a discussion on how the Department of Justice “enforces the rule of law in a highly polarized world” and how the department is working to defend our democracy, including with respect to the January 6th investigation. The DAG fielded a range of questions about how the department strikes a balance between transparency and promoting public confidence while simultaneously protecting the integrity of the department’s investigations, consistent with its norms and traditions. A full link of the DAG’s session is available here: Justice in the Spotlight: A talk with Lisa Monaco, Deputy Attorney General of the United States.
On Tuesday morning, the DAG participated in a conversation with University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos to launch the University’s new Community Safety Leadership Academies, which will help to train the next generation of police and community violence intervention leaders from across America. In her conversation, the DAG emphasized the need to prioritize investments in both policing best practices and community violence intervention in order to keep our communities safe. A full link of the DAG’s session is available here: University of Chicago Community Safety Leadership Academies.
Afterwards, the DAG visited the headquarters of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), where she toured the Crime Prevention & Information Center (CPIC), to see how CPD is using cutting-edge technology — in coordination with federal law enforcement partners — to fight crime in Chicago. The DAG also met with CPD Superintendent David O. Brown and his First Deputy Superintendent Eric Carter to discuss trends in violent crime as well as the coordinated efforts between state, local and federal law enforcement to protect Chicago communities.
From there, the DAG went to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois (NDIL), where she met with U.S. Attorney John Lausch and his leadership team, and where she received a series of case briefings from NDIL attorneys. The DAG also convened a roundtable with state, local and federal law enforcement leaders where they discussed a variety of public safety issues and how to best partner together to address them.
The DAG’s trip concluded with an all-hands meeting at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where she had a chance to hear from and talk with the dedicated men and women of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.