Chicago police seek public’s input on slew of proposed policy reforms

Jadine Chou, chief safety and security officer for Chicago Public Schools, listens in during a discussion about police officers in schools led by Chicago police last July at Eckhart Park in Noble Square. | Matthew Hendrickson/Sun-Times

Starting next month, Chicago police will hold a series of community meetings that will give the public an opportunity to weigh in on a range of proposed department policies, including on officers’ use of force and response to hate crimes.

The meetings are a requirement of a federal consent decree that seeks wide-ranging reforms to the police department as part a scathing review by the U.S. Department of Justice following the 2014 murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke.

The three-hour meetings, the first of which is set for 6 p.m. on Feb. 4 at Truman College, 1145 W. Wilson Ave., will address 14 police department policy topics across two rounds of conversations at each meeting, the police department said.

Additional meetings will be held:

• 6-9 p.m. Feb. 5 at Kennedy King College, 740 W. 63rd St;
• 6-9 Feb. 6 at JLM Abundant Life Center, 2622 W. Jackson Blvd.; and
• 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. Feb. 8 at Daley College, 7500 S. Pulaski Road.

For the first time, the public will also have an opportunity to review the department’s proposed policies online on the police department’s website before the meeting is held.

The policy topics include use of force; the department’s response to hate crimes and mental health incidents; interactions with people with disabilities; interactions with the transgender community; and the role of police officers in schools.

At previous community meetings on the reforms, officers set up tables for each of the topics to be discussed and allowed community members to pick which topic they wanted to offer their input on. The department said changes to the way the meetings were previously run will allow community members to more easily move between topics.

Notes taken during a community input meeting with Chicago police last July at Eckhart Park on court-ordered policy reforms.

The department is asking that anyone interested in attending the meetings register beforehand with the department on their website.

For those unable to attend, the department will also solicit feedback on the proposals via email to community.affairs@chicagopolice.org.

Following the meetings, some community members may also be invited to participate in smaller working groups that will dive deeper into the topics in the coming months, the department said.