Chicago Area Local News

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) ― Chicago is about to get a new police superintendent. Jody Weis comes from Philadelphia, where he was the FBI's special agent in charge.

Weis has never been a police officer, but he arrives in January to lead Chicago's police force of over 13,000 sworn officers. Both cops and community leaders who've worked with him as chief of the FBI's Philadelphia office acknowledge the challenges ahead, but they believe he's up to the task.

As CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports, from the start of his tenure in Philadelphia -- a city beset with violent crime -- Weis established he was a different kind of Fed.

"A lot of times when people come here, they're agents and they don't want to be in tune with what's happening locally with the Philadelphia Police Department or the community," said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson. "He didn't have that same type of philosophy."

Weis immediately toured the city with Philadelphia's top cop, devoted more manpower to joint task forces to deal with homicides and drugs, and began to reach out to ethnic communities.

"In effect, we really want to partner with the community in identifying who the bad guys are, and part of explaining what we do, getting to know them is an effective way of doing it," said U.S. Attorney for Philadelphia Patrick Meehan. "And that's one of the things Jody's tried to do."

That became especially important after Sept. 11, and after terrorism prosecutions like the Fort Dix Six who were allegedly plotting to attack U.S. soldiers in New Jersey.

"Today, we dodged a bullet," Weis said then. "In fact, when you look at the types of weapons this group was trying to purchase, we may have dodged a lot of bullets."

Weis met extensively with leaders of Arab and Muslim groups to establish dialogue.

"Jody really opened up the FBI and worked very hard with our community to build relationships and trust. We consider him a good friend," said Marwan Kreidie of the Philadelphia Arab-American Development Corp.

And Weis worked to encourage witnesses of inner city crime to come forward, hoping to change the notion that cooperation with police is snitching.

"It's very important that we break down that code in the community," said Bilal Quayyam of Men United for a Better Philadelphia. "That every life is important and we've all got to take responsibility for each other."

But no one here underestimates what may be Weis' toughest Chicago challenge: cleaning up police scandals for rogue behavior and building trust as an outsider.

"They have to appreciate that there's a new cop in town and there's gonna be accountability for honesty and integrity," Meehan said.

And those who know Weis dismiss criticism that Daley didn't appoint an African American as police chief.

"What he has shown through his work that's been done in his leadership throughout the bureau is he is sensitive to issues that are multi-ethnic," said Mark Harrell of Men United for a Better Philadelphia.

"I'd rather see, and this is just my opinion, a white person in place that's going to benefit 1,000 blacks than a black that's just going to benefit himself. I think people have to realize that," Johnson said.

Johnson says Weis should be judged on his deeds, not his skin color. Johnson, who's retiring, will be succeeded as Philadelphia's chief by another outsider, one who's familiar to Chicagoans: Charles Ramsey, once a high-ranking Chicago police official and the former police chief in Washington, DC.

Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney Meehan predicts Weis could have as big an impact as another outsider who shook up Chicago -- Meehan's close friend, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

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