[in-person] 1st Police District Council - Downtown/South Loop/Near South Side

Criminal Justice

Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024
6:00 p.m. — 7:30 p.m. CDT

1800 S Prairie Ave Chicago, IL 60616 (Directions)

Glessner House

This meeting must be documented in-person for which you will receive an additional hour of pay. PLEASE DOUBLE CHECK the meeting details on the day of your assignment, as dates and locations sometimes change.

Pre-Research Resources

City Bureau: “Can the Neighbors We Elect to Police District Councils Redefine Public Safety?”
City Bureau” “Chicago’s New Police District Councils, 4 Months In”
Find My Beat and District: Interactive map of police district boundaries
Chicago Reader/Block Club Chicago: Information about the candidates who ran for this council in the municipal elections
The TRiiBE: “ECPS coalition wins a wide majority of Chicago’s new Police District Council seats”

Check the source website for additional information

Reporting

Edited and summarized by the Chicago - IL Documenters Team

Note-taking by Jacqueline Thomas

Guest speakers from the DNC were no shows ahead of the DNC

View notes

Live reporting by Morley Musick

Guest speakers from the DNC were no shows ahead of the DNC

Morley Musick @MorleyMusick

Hello all, Morley here, I was live tweeting the 1st Police District Council meeting for @CHIdocumenters but Twitter deleted my entire thread. I can't seem to recover it, sorry. I'll do my best to summarize the very brief meeting. It's held in the historic Glessner house.

06:39 PM Aug 6, 2024 CDT

Morley Musick @MorleyMusick 2/10

Top line: The Police District Councils are elected bodies meant to increase community accountability over the police and transparency. There are 22 District councils, each with 3 elected members.

Morley Musick @MorleyMusick 3/10

According to @city_bureau reporting, the district councils are: "the result of years of organizing for accountability in response to police corruption and brutality."

Morley Musick @MorleyMusick 4/10

"Two groups advocating for different models, the Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) and the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA), joined forces in 2021 to get the Empower Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) ordinance passed that summer."

Morley Musick @MorleyMusick 5/10

This meeting concerns a district covering the Chi river to 31st, and the lake to the highway. A huge district covering 7 different Aldermanic wards. Its three elected officials are Sarah Kammerer, Adrienne Johnson, and Jamie Brown. Sara and Adrienne present, Jamie no.

Morley Musick @MorleyMusick 6/10

The DNC was supposed to send a member to this meeting, but they canceled. Instead, Sarah recommends that we instead attend two DNC safety briefings on zoom tomorrow. QR codes here.

Morley Musick @MorleyMusick 7/10

The meeting begins with public comment. A man named Jeff says the "police have been disabled", prevented from being able to do their jobs. Jeff laments the presence of "loiterers, gangs, and drugs" on Roosevelt ave.

Morley Musick @MorleyMusick 8/10

Another public commenter complained about traffic blockages around the Regis hotel.

Morley Musick @MorleyMusick 9/10

No more public comment. Sarah exhorts everyone to get the word out about the existence of the council. She explains its purpose, highlighting many of the same points as above. All done within 20 minutes.

Morley Musick @MorleyMusick 10/10

The next meeting is September 5th, 6pm at Innovation High School 17 N State #300. That's all folks!

View thread

Attachments

Notice of Regular Meeting Schdule

By Grace Del Vecchio 8/6/2024

Meeting Details

By India Daniels 12/5/2023

Agency Information

Chicago Police District Councils

See meeting notes for details

www.chicago.gov

See Documenters reporting

Each of the 22 District Councils is made up of three people elected by residents of the police district in regular municipal elections every four years, though anyone can participate in District Council work, and the more people who participate, the more effective the District Councils can be. The first District Council elections occurred in February 2023. Just as Chicagoans vote for a mayor and a local ward Alderperson, they also vote for up to three people to serve on the District Council.

The District Councils have several key roles:

Building stronger connections between the police and the community at the district level, where the community is a true partner in making the neighborhood safer. They can work with the police to address problems and set priorities.
Collaborating in the development and implementation of community policing initiatives.
Holding monthly public meetings, where residents can work on local initiatives rooted in community concerns and priorities. They can also raise and work to address concerns about policing in the district, and increase accountability.
Working with the community to get input on police department policies and practices. Working to develop and expand restorative justice and similar programs in the police district.
Ensuring that the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability gets input from the community, so that the Commission’s work will be based on what people in neighborhoods across the city are concerned about.
Nominating members of the Community Commission. Anyone who serves on the Community Commission must first have the support of elected District Council members.

(Source: Municipal Code of Chicago, 2-80-070(a) and (e))

For a map of police districts, visit https://www.chicagocityscape.com/maps/index.php#/?places_type=chipolicedistrict.