Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle on Thursday named Michael Masters, former police Supt. Jody Weis' chief of staff, as the head of the county's Department of Homeland Security.
In his new role, the Harvard University-educated lawyer and former U.S. Marine will be tasked with "bringing transparency, accountability and efficiency to the department," Preckwinkle said during a Thursday afternoon press conference.
Project Shield, the county's long-delayed plan to equip squad cars with cameras capable of feeding live video back to a command center, has come under scrutiny and will now fall under Masters' purview.
"As public servants, we all have a responsibility to the taxpayers and whenever there is an abuse of taxpayer money or mismanagement, it’s a violation of the public trust and that is always disappointing," Masters said.
He replaces former chief David Ramos whom Preckwinkle fired almost immedately after she took office in December.
