Ensure Police Accountability In The City Of Chicago
For many years, Community Renewal Society (CRS) has been working to hold the Chicago Police Department (CPD) accountable for excessive use of force and violence against our communities. One of the most important areas for securing real reform of the CPD is the police contracts between the City of Chicago and police unions.
Now, as part of the Coalition for Police Contracts Accountability (CPCA)--which is composed of community, policy, and civil rights organizations--CRS is taking action to ensure police accountability in the City of Chicago.
CPCA proposes critical changes to the police union contracts and mobilizes communities to demand that new contracts between the City of Chicago and police unions do not stand in the way of holding officers accountable. We want reform because the current contracts:
Make it too hard to identify police misconduct;
Require officials to ignore and destroy evidence of misconduct;
Make it too hard to investigate and be transparent about misconduct;
Allow police officers to lie about misconduct; and
Allow repeat abusers to cost taxpayers money without accountability.
Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars have been used for settlements for misconduct cases against the CPD. The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 7 and the Illinois Policemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (PBPA) union contracts with the City of Chicago are currently under negotiation and must be reformed.
We still have a voice! Even though the City and the unions negotiate these contracts, our aldermen must vote on the final contracts. We call on the Mayor’s office to negotiate a contract with the CPCA’s 14 recommendations. We call on aldermen to reject a contract without these changes.
At CRS’s recent Martin Luther King Faith in Action Assembly, we asked our aldermen to take a stand.
Thank you to Aldermen Jon Arena (45th Ward), Walter Burnett, Jr. (27th Ward), Pat Dowell (3rd Ward), Jason Ervin (28th Ward), Ricardo Muñoz (22nd Ward), Roderick Sawyer (6th Ward), and Chris Taliaferro (29th Ward) for making commitments to support Police Contract Reform! See their commitments below:
Do you support the CPCA recommendations to reform Chicago’s police union contracts?
Will you ask Mayor Emanuel and the City’s law department to support and negotiate on the CPCA recommendations?
View a Facebook Live Video of the Aldermanic Commitments on Police Contracts Reform at the Martin Luther King Faith in Action Assembly.
Want to get involved?
Make a commitment: Let us know if you are interested in working with your CRS organizer to meet with your alderman regarding police reforms.
Take Action: Contact your alderman and ask them to publicly support the CPCA’s 14 recommendations.