The city agency in charge of the Chicago Police Department’s oversight bodies announced Thursday that the interim leader of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability would be nominated to oversee the office permanently.
LaKenya White has led COPA since March 2025, following the resignation of former Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten. At Thursday’s monthly meeting of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, commissioners moved to nominate her to be approved by the full City Council.
“This work is deeply personal to me—I’ve spent over 25 years working in police oversight and I’m proud to do that work in the city where I’m from and the city that shaped me to be who I am,” White said in a statement. “I’m incredibly grateful for the dedicated staff at COPA and their continued support, and I look forward to building on the progress we’ve made together to strengthen our integrity, transparency, and accountability, while standing alongside our community to continue building public trust.
White’s selection from more than two dozen applicants followed a series of citywide listening sessions and meetings with vested groups, including COPA staff and members of the Fraternal Order of Police, the union representing rank-and-file CPD officers, commissioners said.
“COPA’s work requires leadership that understands both the technical demands of complex investigations and the human impact those investigations have on families, officers, and communities,” CCPSA President Remel Terry said in a statement Thursday. “LaKenya has spent her career inside Chicago’s police accountability system, and she understands how this agency operates at every level. That depth of experience is exactly what COPA needs in the next Chief Administrator.”
In 2000, White joined the Office of Professional Standards, one of COPA’s predecessors, as an intake aide, according to the mayor’s office. Seven years later she worked as an investigator for the Independent Police Review Authority, where she was later promoted to shooting specialist.
In 2017, White became a major case specialist at COPA and, later, a supervising investigator.
The relationship between CPD and COPA can often be adversarial, but speaking last month, police Superintendent Larry Snelling said one of CPD’s goals for 2026 was to bolster the public’s understanding of police accountability and discipline systems.
“If we need accountability, if we have officers amongst us who are not here faithfully, then we need to do what we have to do to ensure that we maintain a reputation of our hardworking officers who are out there every day doing the work faithfully,” Snelling said. “And I will work closely with COPA and any other investigative body to make sure that we do that.”
Resentment among COPA staff was a main driver in Kersten’s departure last year, and CCPSA planned to issue a no-confidence vote on her leadership prior to her resignation.
