By Mecole Jordan-McBride
This piece originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on November 16, 2021.
I’m a lifelong Chicagoan. I’m also a community organizer focused on racial equity and social justice — and in many ways, that career chose me.
In the wake of the murder of Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer, and after scathing reports from then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s police accountability task force and the Department of Justice, it was evident that Chicago’s public safety and oversight system needed bold, structural changes. The lack of transparency and public accountability in how the Chicago Police Department and its oversight bodies’ policies interacted created conditions ripe for poor policing and review — both for residents and front-line officers.
Subsequently, the task force made a series of recommendations to strengthen Chicago’s public safety system. One of these recommendations was the development of a community oversight board that included strong community input.
In response, community members came together to organize around the change they wanted to see. This recommendation was long overdue but presented the opportunity to bring equity within a public safety system that had been deaf to the outcry of residents. Following the national trend of oversight bodies for police, we demanded a say in how police would function in our communities.
In July, after years of organizing and advocacy by community groups and elected officials across Chicago, City Council members passed an ordinance to create the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability. For the first time in Chicago’s history, we have an assurance that community input will help shape public safety approaches and outcomes.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot signed this ordinance in fulfillment of a campaign promise, but the work is not done; in some ways, it is just beginning.
She is obligated to nominate an executive director for the body by the end of this month. Likewise, council members were given the task of identifying the interim commissioners for the mayor to select from by the end of the year. Now that the budget has passed, this must be Chicago’s top priority.
It is time for the City Council to announce a call for names for the commission, and for the council’s Rules Committee to lay out how the nomination process will proceed. After all, this interim commission must lay a strong foundation for future commissioners to build upon. That’s why council members owe it to their constituents to develop a process by which well-qualified Chicagoans can be identified and considered to serve.
The commission’s success, especially in its interim state, will rest in identifying candidates who are able to appreciate the complexities of policing in Chicago. They must have the capacity to pay close attention to the issues at hand, and they must demonstrate a commitment to service and equity.
Most importantly, these individuals must be willing to work with public safety leaders and City Council members to build a public safety system that reflects the perspectives and needs of all Chicagoans.
Bottom line: We need experts from a variety of fields, including law, organizing and public safety. And we must demand that the mayor and council members find the best residents, as there may be no more important issue facing the city than the safety of our residents.
This commission is not simply here to respond when things go wrong. Their role is to ensure that, on the front end of policy creation, community members have a seat at the table. There is no better expertise on the public safety needs and priorities of Chicago communities than communities themselves, and communities deserve a meaningful say in how they are policed.
Citizens should be able to provide input on issues such as the ways in which CPD identifies and tracks individuals it believes are gang members orhow officers are deployed across the city. Let’s be clear: The establishment of this commission will not undo the historical context of policing in Chicago. But it can create the pathway forward for a better Chicago — adding to programs such as the Neighborhood Policing Initiative, which community members help implement — that build partnerships and trust between police and the communities they serve.
That is, if the commission is given the attention it deserves.
This is the moment we have been waiting for. We have the written model for policing oversight in Chicago. Now we need the City Council and the mayor’s office to staff it with the best, brightest, and most committed from across our diverse city. We can’t let this moment pass us by.
Mecole Jordan-McBride is director of advocacy for the Policing Project, a not-for-profit assisting with Chicago’s Neighborhood Policing Initiative. Previously, she was coordinator for the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability, working on the initial development of the ordinance.