McCarthy was heralded for his calm handling of last May’s NATO summit. And, as he is constantly reminding everyone, Chicago’s overall crime rate is down. But homicides are up—and that puts the superintendent on the hot seat. He has shaken up the CPD’s command structure and returned to specialized gang units, but will the new strategy work? And will a notoriously impatient mayor stick with him long enough to find out?

Photograph: JEFF SCIORTINO