When I ran for this office, one of my core platforms was establishing a Civilian Police Accountability Council because what I understood then, and I hope that many more understand now, is that as a society, we need to completely re-envision public safety. In the past week, I have received over 10,000 emails from neighbors who want the city to implement CPAC immediately. I understand their concerns. I support city budgets that prioritize health and human services over police spending, and I am a co-sponsor and strong supporter of the CPAC ordinance for immediate police oversight.
We need true accountability and to invest in proactive safety measures while divesting from reactive ones that have proven to not only be ineffective, but have also led to the deaths of far too many innocent Black lives. We need an elected board of neighbors from communities that have been most impacted by police crime to be involved in the process and to help hold police officers accountable for all criminal behavior.
Since the 40th Ward was already a “no” vote on the previous budget and is already a sponsor of CPAC, here are some other steps interested folks from our Ward can take to help police reform in Chicago move forward in this moment:
- Talk to friends in other Wards! Encourage them to contact their Adlers. The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) CPAC
ordinance webpage has the list of current sponsors, as well as information about the bill itself. - Contact the Mayor’s office and urge her to support budget changes and CPAC — there is no publicly listed number, so the City just instructs people to call 311 and tell the operators you’d like to leave a message with the Mayor’s office.
- Sign up to speak publicly in favor of budget changes and CPAC at the next City Council meeting (currently via phone for the videoconferences). Requests to speak publicly at the 6/17 City Council have to be made between 12:01am on Monday 6/15 and 8:00am on Tuesday 6/16 by calling the City Clerk’s office; the full process can be found on the City Clerk’s webpage.