Ghian Foreman, President of the Police Board, takes roll. Foreman is also President and CEO of Emerald South Economic Development Collaborative, a non-profit generating community wealth in the mid-South Side.

Up first is Ephraim Eaddy presenting on the Civilian Office of Police Accountability @ChicagoCOPA’s Police Academy. Ephraim is 1st Deputy Chief Administrator of COPA.

COPA is the independent agency within City of Chicago that is in charge of taking in all complaints of allegations of misconduct by CPD members and investigations into such allegations. Learn more here — chicagocopa.org

Ephraim’s presentation will focus on how COPA accomplishes two things - 1) advancing the culture of policing and 2) building trust in civilian oversight. https://t.co/tUkVSx6yq0

Ephraim details the training of new members in COPA. “There’s a perception that people are just coming in off the streets, have no experience, no background… and are not trained to do this work. That is far from the truth” https://t.co/LB8CEHDsdN

“Over 230 training hours are provided to staff” to prepare them to investigate police misconduct. Ephraim says near 200 COP staff members have completed the training. 141 hours (61%) are dedicated to Investigative Concepts, such as trauma-informed interview techniques. https://t.co/4N7ofkxbu3

30 hours are dedicated to Legal Concepts and 22 hours are dedicated to site visits. Training closes with 7 hours of application of skills via a case study practicum. “We take training very seriously and it is something we are committed to for every investigator at COPA.”

Ephraim segues into the launch of @ChicagoCOPA People’s Academy, which will bring the aforementioned investigative skills training to the public. Launch date for the first class is 3/21/23 at the Bauer Plummer Public Safety Training Center.

Note - this training center is the same site where CFD and CPD have their emergency trainings. The center opened last month on the West Side and sparked controversy over its pricey $170M price tag. abc7chicago.com/chicago-fire-p…

COPA’s People’s Academy is a “6-week condensed version of COPA’s Training Academy for the public (civilian or sworn) and orgs around the country interested in learning about Civilian Police Oversight, Investigative and Legal Concepts.” Offered in-person & virtual.

Why is the People's Academy necessary? Ephraim says this transparency into the training process “will dispel the myths that we are jumping to conclusions or we’re not using evidence and video and things of that nature.” https://t.co/HDBVtygW3W

Details of the first Academy training - starts on 3/21/23, meets once a week on Tuesdays from 6-8pm CST for 6 weeks. Courses include How to Use COPA’s Website, Data and Dashboard, and a new course on sexual misconduct.

Ephraim shares examples of Investigative Concepts Courses, such as Intro to Officer Involved Shooting/Death Investigations, Analyzing Video, Scene Management, Field Interviews and Documentation, and more. https://t.co/Iap7rG2LgA

COPA uses/teaches the preponderance of evidence standard (usual for civil cases), where at least 51% of the presented evidence is needed to prove the plaintiff’s argument is true. This is lower than the beyond reasonable doubt standard.

There will be a specific class for 4th Amend. Search and Seizure Foundations, which Ephraim states is the most common type of investigation at COPA. An unreasonable search and seizure is unconstitutional.

“Although we may not be able to conclude investigations as fast as the public would want or maybe share information along the way, we can at least make sure that people understand the processes,” says Ephraim

Sign up for the People's Academy by filling out this form- chicagocopa.org/community-outr… There are two rounds of full People’s Academy training planned for 2023 and other shorter modules throughout the year.

“COPA Chicago is the first [in the country] to do something like this for civilian oversight.” Ephraim clarifies that COPA is completely separate from Citizen’s Academy, which is run through CPD @Chicago_Police

Ephraim emphasizes again - “We are independent [from CPD] and all 100 employees of COPA are not affiliated with the CPD. We are as independent as the Inspector General...We are not affiliated with the CPD at all”

Is COPA out to get the police dept? Ephraim responds, “No we are not…Law enforcement by and large are doing a phenomenal job. Let me just say that we want a healthy, well police dept…We want them to understand the things that we’ve seen as it pertains to complaints.”

“We are not out to get officers. If anything we can corroborate and exonerate their actions when they are interacting with the public. But if there are times when they step outside their training and misconduct is there, we will hold them accountable. That is our mandate.”

Board Member and senior pastor at People's Church of the Harvest Michael Eaddy @Mister_Chairman asks if this will be incorporated into CPD training, and if this training can be made available to high school students?

“Everything at COPA has a track for young people,” says Ephraim. COPA already has CPS bring students to the site for field trips. CPD are invited but not mandated to participate in People’s Academy.

The meeting segues into the one disciplinary ruling on the agenda. Board Member Max Caproni, Police Board Secretary, presents the ruling on behalf of Board Member Mareilé Cusack.

The Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten recommended that Officer Shawn Bryant be discharged for violating CPD policy on use of deadly force when Bryant shot and wounded an individual while on duty. The Superintendent disagreed with the rec and recs it be filed as unfounded.

Useful infographic on what happens in this case, pulled from chicago.gov/content/dam/ci… https://t.co/JGZJ0lWfNo

Here’s the story about the incident dating back to Mar 9, 2018. msn.com/en-us/news/cri…

Board Member Cusack ruled that the Superintendent did not meet the burden of overcoming the Chief Admin’s decision to discharge. An evidentiary hearing before the Police Board is necessary to determine if Bryant violated code of conduct, and the appropriate conduct.

Written opinion by Cusack will be posted after the meeting as mandated by municipal code.

First Deputy Super Eric Carter reports that the number of shooting victims city-wide has fallen 8% since this time in 2022 - the 12th consecutive month of double digit declines in gun violence. CPD has taken 1,370 guns off the streets since Jan 1st.

Carter announces new hire of Director of Wellness, Dr. Aaron Chatman. Official announcement here: cbsnews.com/chicago/news/c… Note that last year, eight Chicago Police Officers died by suicide.

Ephraim Eaddy presents Feb COPA Report. Follow COPA @ChicagoCOPA on twitter for notifications of when there’s an officer-involved shooting, press release, and release of new investigation information. Final summary reports, annual report etc. are publicly found on COPA website.

COPA has current job opportunities for a Senior Performance Analyst and Project Manager, due 2/24 and 2/23 respectfully. chicagocopa.org/careers2/caree…
Residents of Chicago are invited to apply.

Members of the public are now invited to share comments. Speakers signed up in advance to speak.

Jennifer Edwards shares on the area of 75th St between State and Cottage Grove (located b/w 2 police districts, 6th and 3rd). Residents are deeply affected by drunken behavior, trash, illegal parking due to the bars located there. They’ve requested cameras and shotspot.

1st Dep Super Carter states he will followup and get the information from Board Member Max.

Elijah Hudson calls about being arrested for an expired license plate that resulted in his legal firearm being confiscated. Charges were dismissed but he has not received his firearm back. Ghian Foreman responds that they will look into it.

Meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m last Thursday, Feb 16. This concludes the Chicago Police Board meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 16, 7:30pm. For more meeting coverage, check out documenters.org 👋🏽👋🏽👋🏽