Committee on Public Safety
Chicago City CouncilThis is a virtual subject matter hearing on civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department. No votes will be taken at this meeting.
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Edited and summarized by the Chicago - IL Documenters Team
Hey y’all, I’ll be live-tweeting today’s Committee on Public Safety meeting for #ChiDocumenters @ChiDocumenters! This is a virtual subject matter hearing on civilian oversight of @Chicago_Police (aka #CPAC) and no votes will be taken at this meeting.
09:33 AM Oct 20, 2020 CDT

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 10 AM. Join the livestream via the City of Chicago’s Vimeo page, under the broadcast labeled, “COC Council Chambers” here:
https://vimeo.com/user100351763



For years, activists have been pushing for community control of @Chicago_Police, which is currently under a federal consent decree. #CPAC is also a demand of the @defundcpdchi campaign and organizations like @CAARPR have been canvassing for support of the ordinance this summer.

Ald. Ramirez-Rosa (35) @CDRosa first introduced a version of #CPAC in 2016 and it was rejected by City Council in 2018. The new version of #CPAC, Ordinance 2019-8058, was introduced in Oct. 2019 and has 19 aldermanic co-sponsors. Link to Ordinance below:
https://chicago.councilmatic.org/legislation/o2019-8058/

Check out this article by @a_achaidez of @BlockClubCHI for more background on #CPAC.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/06/18/whats-cpac-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-a-local-push-for-civilian-oversight-of-police/

Alderpeople are starting to join the meeting and are giving a few more minutes for folk to log on. Meeting will begin at 10:05 AM. Vice Chair of the committee, Ald. Osterman (48), says the meeting today is for discussion purposes.


















This concludes the public comment section. The Rule 45 report is approved as Ald. Scott moves to appove it.



Tamer Abouzeid begins the #CPAC presentation with a virtual @CAARPRNow background. He says, “Community control of the police is how the people want to use their power.” He talks about the missing of consent decree deadlines and the large portion of Chicago’s budget for CPD.






He concludes by saying, “You have seen on today’s phone calls and you have seen it on the streets, the people want #CPAC.” He urges alderpeople to work with @CAARPRNow and the hundreds of other orgs in support of CPAC and help pass this ordinance.


Yancy says, if we want to increase safety and build trust, we need to focus on accountability. He says, “We need to do more on the front end before things go wrong.” https://t.co/EWYE6gJcCH

Yancy speaks about the two-tiered structure of #GAPA to increase trust and collaboration between community and police. Here is a pic of what that structure looks like … https://t.co/FnbcdrqduG

The district councils slide shows the make-up of the elected members and the key powers, including woking with residents to develop safety initiatives and working to improve police-community relations. https://t.co/GMLnkDjN8F

What is the #GAPA Commission? It would be made up of seven civilians, with two spots for young people. Yancy says it would play a key role in public safety initiatives. https://t.co/e4parpMnjS

Yancy says #GAPA is the “right and missing piece.” It would fit into the existing system of policing and increase front and back end accountability, with a focus on prevention. https://t.co/jraC5OHarL

Barry Friedman speaks next in support of #GAPA. He is a professor who shares he works with communities and police all over the nation to make sure policing is equitable, and most intensely in Chicago. He goes on to speak about the importance of front and back end accountability.


Now moving onto questions/comments. Ald. Taliaferro (29) starts by saying that changing policing will change communities themselves, so we have to be very careful about implementing any policies that may be a detriment to the communities.







He says when speaking of Los Angeles, “They have been able to make dramatic change because of that collaborative process.” Freidman shares there are cities where this model is working extremely well and we can learn from them.



Ald. Taliaferro (29) speaks about how he thinks a third party can play a pivotal role when the two parties cannot reach consensus.





Osterman (48) says the goal in the way GAPA was drafted was for accountability and collaboration. There are currently 30 aldermanic co-sponsors and they want to get it enacted to use community voice in policing.

Ald. Sawyer (6) @RoderickTSawyer echoes Osterman’s points and says they want to get #GAPA to a vote soon.


Ald. Ramirez-Rosa (35) @CDRosa says, “The city of Chicago has been waiting a long time for true community control of police.” He shares this fight has been going for a long time, since the murder of #LaquanMcDonald and the survivors of Jon Burge torture came together.






We’re getting into the real nitty gritty of the details of #CPAC! Here’s another link to the Ordinance 2019-8058, that was introduced in Oct. 2019 so y’all can follow along :)
https://chicago.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4169358&GUID=D06677DA-F7F0-4036-B525-F577D7A1E849&Options=Advanced&Search=











Ald. Martin (47) starts by calling folks’ attention to a subject matter hearing with experts in January of this year. He shares a few key takeaways from that meeting. First, an ideal civilian oversight model would have policy making power rest within that entity.

Ald. Martin (47) continues key takeaways from the January experts meeting. They said it’s also critical to have a budget for the commission. There should also be an opportunity for the commission and city council to remove certain individuals, such as the superintendent.




Next up is Ald. Vasquez (40) is up next. He first asks that supporters of ordinances send over documents prior to 8 PM the night before the meeting. He shares that alderpeople need more time to read over the documents and adequately prepare for these types of meetings.









Gross explains that GAPA works in the existing system but adds checks in place that don’t exist today. Gross explains that GAPA would place checks on COPA if it’s not carrying out its investigation properly, such as call a hearing, issue reports, make recommendations, etc.






Ald. Sigcho-Lopez also shares how CPD only accepted 5 of 155 use of force recommendations from working group, missed 70% of consent decree deadlines, and the cases of #RekiaBoyd and #LaquanMcDonald. There clearly needs to be action immediately.














Ald. Cappelman shares concerns about the immediate family members of police officers being prohibited, and is concerned about legal precedent and doesn’t think folk should be discounted by family members’ employments, especially if there’s a values disconnect in family.



















Ald. La Spata also says that the larger the distance between the community members and those at commissioner level, the less power community has. He would like to see more power seeded at the direct, community level.





And that wraps up my live-tweeting of today’s Committee of Public Safety meeting on civilian oversight of @Chicago_Police, where #CPAC and #GAPA were discussed. Follow @city_bureau and @ChiDocumenters to stay up to date on future meetings!! #ChiDocumenters
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