The Eighth Call to Action after the Last Seven Calls to Action

The Eighth Call to Action after the Last Seven Calls to Action

Northwest-Siders for Racial Equity and Justice

On January 31, 2019, Federal Judge Robert M. Dow, Jr., approved the consent decree that the Illinois Attorney General and City of Chicago filed. The consent decree governs what the Chicago Police Department (“CPD”) must do to reform training, policies, and practices in a number of important areas, such as use of force, community policing, impartial policing, training, accountability, officer wellness, data and information systems, and more. Part of the consent decree requires periodic reporting of measurements taken to comply with it. Simply put, to date CPD has not earned a passing grade in addressing the requirements of the consent decree.

The problems that triggered the investigation and the need for the consent decree is reflected at the Chicago Police Consent Decree website, which notes:

[T]hat CPD has a history of serious problems endangering the lives of both residents and police officers. That history has had terrible consequences for both police and residents. African American and Latino communities in particular have felt targeted by racially discriminatory policing, and city taxpayers have paid more than $930 million in settlements for improper police conduct.

According to recent reports, CPD has not met deadlines. WTTW reported:

The Chicago Police Department has missed more than two-thirds of its consent decree deadlines, according to a new report (released June 18, 2020) by the independent monitor tasked with overseeing the CPD’s mandated reforms.

The CPD met just 22 of 74 deadlines between September 2019 and Feb. 29, 2020, according to Independent Monitor Maggie Hickey.

This lack of compliance by CPD is not acceptable. As the nation struggles with the most recent police conduct, such as the George Floyd murder and the Rayshard Brooks murder, and the City of Chicago struggles with budgetary issues and a rise in gun violence, missing two-thirds of consent deadlines suggests strongly that the CPD was not fully engaged in addressing the issues that triggered the consent decree in the first place, COVID-19 and civil unrest notwithstanding as these did NOT occur during the period of the Independent Monitor’s 2nd report.

Hence, it falls to Chicago’s residents to once again stand-up and become engaged to ensure the necessary attention, push, and pull is given to the Consent Decree. Even with the widespread protests and marches regarding the murder of Mr. George Floyd, nothing substantively new has yet resulted from them (although momentum is building around some specific proposals such as an elected-civilian police board that had already been around before) and so that leaves the existing Chicago Police Consent Decree as still the only actual police reform and accountability tool around. To that end, on Tuesday, July 7 at 7 PM we are launching “Northwest-Siders for Racial Equity and Justice,” to move forward on police accountability through the Chicago Police Consent Decree. Click here to RSVP and for full information:

Our purpose is to ensure that police operations are grounded in racial equity and that the police are just in their conduct.

Our mission is to educate, engage, and mobilize Northwest residents to 1) ensure equitable,

rapid, and full implementation of the Chicago Police Consent Decree, and 2) build equitable and

wide avenues for community voices in policing.

Chicago has been here before, seven times before in the last century to be exact, with a police reform narrative, vows of action, political outcry, and always on the heels of yet another controversy. As a result, we will not say the words “no more” as that phrase has been used the last seven times. Instead, through Northwest-Siders for Racial Equity and Justice we are joining together to create a massively large community of Northwest-side neighbors who will speak not with our lips but with our actions. And, we will go the distance. Indeed, if we as Northwest-side residents do not do this right now, we know we will find ourselves right back here again, with something horrible yet having returned us to this very same place. RSVP now here to join us on Tuesday, July 7 at 7 PM so we will NOT have to speak these words “we should have done something”.

Jac Charlier, Dan Cotter, and Rick Graham are community leaders on Chicago’s Northwest side and some of the organizers and co-leads of Northwest-Siders for Racial Equity and Justice. For more information, contact Jac.Charlier@gmail.com or click on our name: Northwest-Siders for Racial Equity and Justice.