Live reporting by
Briana Madden
The Policing Project presented on alternative response and community policing programs in Chicago. Councilors and attendees discussed what expanding these programs in Chicago could look like.
Hi I will be live reporting today's Police District Council 020 Regular Meeting, hosted at 5630 N Lincoln Avenue from 6-7pm
06:10 PM Mar 17, 2025 CDT
The meeting is called to order at 6:07pm. There are 10 people in attendance, as well as 3 officials (Dierdre O’Connor, Darrell Dacres, Anna Rubin).
The first public commenter, Patrick, speaks on gun crimes. He says that some gun misdemeanors have been manufactured against certain populations to "manufacture felonies."
Today's presentation will be given by Jose Abonce, Senior Program Manager for a nonprofit called the Policing Project from the NYU School of Law. The project is designed to imagine what community engagement in policing might look like.
Abonce is discussing a report titled "Neighborhood Policing Initiative and Reimagining Public Safety Report", which is a report on Chicago's use of alternatives to traditional policing and police response.
This report focused on surveys of folks on the South and West Sides of Chicago. Some ideas surveyed included safety, policing, resources and community interactions.
Abonce says that Chicagoans surveyed differed from other areas in that people here feel that public safety is largely in their hands. People feel both "over policed and under policed."
Some perspectives of the police include "threat to public safety" and "racialized policing." Some perspectives on elected officials included a disconnect between officials and communities.
Darrell Dacres asks why the North Side was excluded from the project. Abonce says the police department felt they needed to pilot this initiative in areas where there is more police activity or crime.
Some perspectives on alternatives to policing include "want alternatives but have little faith in the city to deliver them" and "skeptical that existing programs exist and/or will actually serve them."
Dacres asks how participants were selected for the project. Abonce says their team engaged folks both 1-on-1 and in community groups.
Abonce says people were surprised that some programs intended to be alternatives to policing already exist, and that speaks to the disconnect between police and communities. "Why haven't we been told about this," was largely the sentiment.
There is a discussion about the CARE program, which aims to send civilians who work for the Chicago Department of Public Health to handle mental/behavioral health calls instead of CPD.
According to the data from the project, CPD handled over 33k calls with mental/behavioural health components in 2023. CARE was dispatched to 779 of those calls, and most were a co-response.
Over 2 years, CARE handled around 1400 calls. Abonce says this is due to the limitations of the CARE program, including call selection and working hours of CARE participants.
Abonce says about 34% of 1.2 million 911 calls in 2023 could've been handled in an alternative way. The project aims to show the ways contact between police and communities could be reduced.
Abonce says there are models for diversion programs already in existence, including within the LAPD. There are many types of calls that police in LA have chosen not to respond to.
Other cities such as San Jose, Long Beach, and Berkeley in California; Virginia Beach, VA; and Fort Worth, TX have already been hiring civilians to respond to low level calls instead of policing.
Dacres asks if there is a "reduction in crime" or reduction in arrests in places where these programs are in place.
Abonce says other cities are ahead of Chicago in this area, possibly due to the focus on community collaboration. "Chicago is not really keeping up with these bigger cities," they said. There is money being saved in other places on police lawsuits alone.
Dierdre O'Connor says one option is to increase the staff at the Department of Finance to respond to parking violations. "People need to be a little more forward thinking," said O'Connor.
The Neighborhood Policing Initiative (NPI) proposed by the project has 2 components: restructured operations and community collaboration. Abonce highlights the lack of regular beats for officers, and the lack of familiarity between communities and police.
Abonce says NPI attempts to create a collaborative policing structure for CPD to learn what community members perceive to be the challenges in their neighborhoods.
4 proposed changes for CPD include: realigning police roles, assigning violent crimes detectives to work with beat officers/community, changing protocols to facilitate new response approaches, and district-wide engagement with service providers to resolve issues collaboratively.
NPI currently includes 10 Districts, and should allow officers to spend more time on community engagement. This engagement time should include "following up with residents that have experienced traumatic events" and connecting residents with resources that could reduce 911 calls.
According to the presentation, some elements needed for successful implementation of NPI include sufficient staffing, training, addressing crime patterns, and coordination with City agencies and communities. Abonce says sometimes police departments don't follow through on these.
"There's no reason why we have way more tactical unit officers than beat cops," says Abonce. They say that it's a shame there are some officers at lower levels taking this seriously, but NPI is not being taken seriously at an institutional level.
O'Connor asks where the money being put into NPI is going, if it's not being fully implements. Abonce says it's hard to say because this program is operating within the existing program and budget.
An attendee asks about 311 as a solution for some community issues. O'Connor says 311 is understaffed and a flawed program, and that there is a massive push to modernize the system to be more effective.
Abonce says it's up to CPD to adopt these recommendations and policies. There is a discussion about the lack of representation of North Side districts in these initiatives and discussions around community policing.
According to Abonce, O'Connor and some attendees, the current superintendent (newly in office) has not committed one way or another to NPI or similar programs.
Another attendee says there is a new Commander for the 20th District of police, yet no one from the department is present today to represent CPD.
There is a discussion on the lack of power in these District Councils. O'Connor says we need to audit the CPD budget, which is the largest in the City, and redistribute the resources.
One attendee brings up the amount of hours spent by police handling calls that could be diverted to civilian response teams instead. They estimate that 4 years of manpower were spent responding to non-fatal traffic accidents in 2023, based on the NPI data.
Attendee Karen says that these programs seem to be avoided by CPD and wonders what can be done to see some actual progress and change. Another attendee says there have been reductions in "violent crime" in areas like Ravenswood.
There is a discussion about the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) contract and its propensity to allow these discussions to revolve in circles with nothing changing.
Abonce says we have the "most democratic" policing system in the country, with these District Councils. An attendee asks what is actually being sent up to higher officials from District Councils. They say there are frustrated with the lack of progress.
O'Connor again stresses the need for auditing the City Budget, and to take a critical look at the CPD budget, which never decreases. One cost that could be eliminated from CPD is the mounted horses, which were brought back for purely PR reasons, according to an attendee.
According to Anna Rubin, this 20th District Council has already made an official proposal to increase the staffing at the Department of Finance to reduce calls to 911 for parking violations.
Rubin says the CARE program is on the "chopping block" as far as funding in the next budget season. The 20th District Council is pushing for this program to continue.
The 19th District Council meeting will be having a presentation on the CARE program at 630pm this Weds, March 19 at Lane Tech High School.
There is a discussion around public comment. O'Connor says Superintendent Snelling previously said they want community members to speak on issues, instead of the elected District Council members. "It's working the way they want it to work," says one attendee.
Some upcoming meetings that the public can attend are: Meeting with Commissioner Morita, Friday March 21 at 3pm on Zoom Meeting with Commissioner Degnen, Thurs March 27
There will be a CCPSA meeting on traffic stops in communities at 6:30pm. Public comment is available in person and viewing is available on Zoom
There will be a community conversation on the Community Mediation Pilot Program (via COPA) on March 25 at 6pm at Sulzer Branch Library. This is a program to facilitate mediation between communities and police.
The next monthly meeting for this body, the 20th District Council, will be held at 6pm at Bezazian Library on April 7.