THE NEXT STAGE OF THE FIGHt:
REFERENDUM: COMMUNITY POWER OVER POLICING
Demand Your Alderperson Support The Referendum for Community Power Over the Police
WHY WE NEED THIS REFERENDUM
With each of these gains we have made, we have faced attempts by the Fraternal Order of Police and those opposed to holding the police accountable to undermine our progress.
The FOP ran candidates in the District Council elections, and we beat them in 14 of the 22 districts across the city.
The FOP negotiated an arbitration option into their contract that would allow them to circumvent the public Police Board proceedings and have cases of severe misconduct heard behind closed doors. The people fought for that measure to be separated out from the rest of the contract and voted down by the City Council. We won that vote twice, but the FOP sued the City and a judge ruled that officers should be provided the arbitration option, with the requirement that those proceedings take place in the public.
The FOP stacked the rest of their union contract that was passed through City Council with anti-accountability measures such as
The ability for officers to review footage of an incident before giving a statement
Requirements for the destruction of records related to instances of police misconduct after a certain time frame
The ability for investigations by the Civilian Office of Accountability that take greater than 18 months to instead be referred to an arbitrator to decide.
Raises of up to 35% over the course of the 10 year contract and time and a half overtime pay doled out in 15 minute increments
Our gains in the fight for accountability have been great, but until we gain control over the contract and the budget, we will continue to see the FOP erode the accountability we are able to achieve. Community control of the police is about asserting our democratic right to determine who polices our communities and how our communities are policed.
WHAT THIS REFERENDUM WOULD DO
The Referendum for Community Control of the Police would increase the power of the existing city-wide Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability and make it directly elected. The text of this referendum will appear on the ballot as follows:
“Shall the City of Chicago make the Commission created by Chapter 2-80 that oversees the Chicago Police Department (CPD) an 11-person body consisting of 9 Elected Commissioners and 2 Appointed Commissioners, and give the Commission authority over the following: CPD budget; hiring and firing (for cause) the Superintendent of Police and members of the Police Board; CPD, police board, and COPA policies; and police union contracts, in addition to any powers the commission already has or that are listed in Section 5 of the Ordinance that created the Commission?"
When passed, this referendum would:
Make the Commission a truly democratic body with 9 elected positions and 2 appointed positions. The 2 appointed positions are reserved for youth and those with a history of incarceration who are otherwise excluded from running for public office
Give the Commission power to negotiate the Fraternal Order of Police contract, set the CPD budget, directly appoint and remove the Superintendent and members of the Police Board
This means putting the people in charge of who polices our communities and how our communities are policed.
HOW WE GET THIS REFERENDUM PASSED
In order to pass this binding referendum, we need to:
Pass the referendum ordinance through City Council by winning a majority of votes
Mobilize voters across Chicago to vote YES on the referendum
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Call your alderperson to demand they support the referendum for community control of the police. Go to bit.ly/findmyalder
Are you a part of an organization or a local business that would like to get involved in this campaign?
CONTACT US AT
312-939-2750
6353 S Cottage Grove Ave, Chicago IL 60637
For more information, read below.
WHY DO WE NEED MORE COMMUNITY POWER OVER POLICING IN CHICAGO?
Add your voice! Click the button below to record a video of yourself, your friend, loved one, or comrade answering this question. The referendum would give us a directly elected Commission with the power to:
hire and fire the superintendent
set the CPD budget
negotiate the contract with the Fraternal Order of Police
HOW WE GOT HERE
Cover Story in the Chicago Reader - January 2023
The Chicago Reader has published a piece with CAARPR Field Organizer, Frank Chapman, which outlines the 50 years of struggle for the democratic right of the people to have a say in who polices their communities, and how their communities are policed.
The Chicago Reader has also published an outline about what the District Councils will do, and a voter guide for the candidates running for District Council in their communities.
PAST STATEMENTS
Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) Coalition Statement on the City Council’s Historic Rejection of FOP Arbitration Provision
December 15, 2023
On Wednesday, Dec. 13th, Chicago City Council voted 33-17 to reject Arbitrator Edwin Benn’s ruling that would have dragged the struggle for police accountability back into the shadows. This provision came out of contract negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police and would have given officers accused of crimes or misconduct warranting a year of suspension or more the option to have their cases heard in private arbitration behind closed doors. It was a people’s movement that secured this defeat in City Council, and it is the first time in history that the people of Chicago have been able to assert our say over any provision within the FOP contract. It was the collective force of our movement that struck this decisive blow against the forces of police tyranny and defenders of police impunity.
We have wedged a crack into one of the foundation walls of this racist, corrupt system, and we will not stop hammering away.
The fight is not over. After yesterday’s vote the decision will return to the arbitrator, who has already committed to maintaining his position. It will then return to the City Council for a vote. We must ensure the City Council rejects the provision again and support the legal fight that ensues.
Speakers from the FOP and other anti-accountability forces within the City Council insisted that this fight was impossible to win, but they said the same of the fight for ECPS. The system has deemed many efforts impossible that the people have made possible through struggle.
The fight also continues for greater public input into the FOP contract as a whole. City Council members were not provided adequate information about the provisions in the negotiated contract prior to voting on it. Information about the contents of the contract were only publicized as the result of FOIA requests submitted by the Better Government Association. This contract, like every FOP contract before it, included additional provisions designed to shield police from accountability. One example is the ability for investigations of misconduct to be dropped if they take more than 18 months to conclude. The vast majority of investigations carried out by COPA currently take longer than 18 months. This is only one example of the clearly demonstrated need for the power of the people to push back against the FOP’s constant attempts to evade accountability.
In total, this struggle shows us that the people of Chicago have the power, the ability, and the need to insist on a say in the contracts negotiated with the Fraternal Order of Police. We have won greater power, we will not allow that power to be stripped away, and we will continue to fight until we have full community control of the police and have swept the defenders of the racist status quo into the dustbin of history. We must unite in decisive action to continue gaining ground against the reactionaries and the status quo. All Power to the People!
Statement on Results of the Police District Council Elections in Chicago
Statement from Frank Chapman, Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, on the Results of the Police District Council Elections in Chicago
MEDIA ALERT - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Frank Chapman, 312-513-3795, chapmanfrank74@gmail.com
March 3, 2023
On the 28th of February, for the first time in the history of this country, the people of Chicago elected people into Police District Councils in 22 police districts to serve as community representatives with the power to hold police accountable for what they do and don’t do. We have been fighting for years to create the democratic option to say who polices our communities and how they are policed, and now it is a reality. This past Tuesday, we won a decisive majority in the Police District Councils. In each district, representatives could be elected to three seats. We won all three seats in 8 districts and 2 of the 3 seats in 6 districts, meaning the people’s movement won a total of 14 districts across the city outright. We were overjoyed to see that, as our candidates won in 13 districts across the city, Brandon Johnson secured his spot in the run-off election for mayor, another historic accomplishment of the progressive people’s movement. Winning this majority in the District Councils required continuous struggle. The Fraternal Order of Police sought to get candidates elected who would distort and undermine the purpose of the District Councils as stated in the law. Those attempts failed.
We supported these District Council candidates in every way possible. Through months of work on the ground, we were able to get 71 candidates on the ballot in 21 districts across the city. The Fraternal Order of Police only managed to get 17 candidates on the ballot. And of those 17, only 8 of their candidates were elected. They hold a majority in only three districts, and there is not one district where they hold all three seats. In short, we knocked the FOP out. And we did it with people. Our candidates were grassroots people who had no campaign office, no big donors, and no independent field operations. All they had was the movement, the support of their communities, the support of the ECPS coalition, and the support of the Brandon Johnson campaign. The working class and oppressed people in the Black and brown communities who make up the newly elected District Councils won their votes door by door and block by block.
This decisive victory for the people of Chicago represents the culmination of decades of continuous struggle in the fight to stop police crimes and bring about community control of the police. From fighting for CPAC, to passing ECPS, to implementing it, we mobilized hundreds of thousands of working class and oppressed people moved by the demand for justice. This struggle, sparked by the murders of Rekia Boyd and Laquan McDonald, has been guided from its outset by survivors of police crimes and their loved ones. Our people, through self-organization have, by way of legislative fiat, enhanced their capacity to hold the police accountable for the crimes they commit against us. Fundamentally, this is a great step forward and moves us in the direction of community control of the police. Now, in this moment following the Black-led rebellion that put 25 million people in the streets across the country, we can rightly claim that we are the blossom bloomed from the seeds of this rebellion.
It’s only through the power of the people that we can end the police tyranny in Black and brown communities and bring about justice for the people. These councils are a tool to consolidate that power. People across this city should celebrate this victory, knowing it will bring us that much closer to the city we deserve.
All Power to the People!
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The Chicago Alliance was born in 1973 out of the movement to free Angela Davis and all political prisoners. Since then, the Alliance has defended the rights of workers and oppressed people in Illinois and around the world.
We defend the rights of workers and oppressed people. We struggle against white supremacy, the prison-industrial complex, and state violence. We demand community control of the police and full representation for Black people and other poor and oppressed people at all levels of government.
PAST VICTORIES!
THE EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES FOR PUBLIC SAFETY (ECPS) ORDINANCE
On July 21 2021, we won the Empowering Communities for Public Safety ordinance in City Council! While we recognize this victory by the people for the people, we will continue to fight in laying the pathway for community control of the police in Chicago. Find out more about the ECPS ordinance and our next steps in the campaign by reading below.
WHO IS THE ECPS COALITION AND WHAT HAVE WE WON?
The Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) Coalition formed out of negotiations between the Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) campaign and the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA), who had been fighting separately for police accountability for years.
We are a coalition of community-based organizations, faith-based groups and labor organizers rooted in Black, Latinx, Arab, Filipinx, East Asian and South Asian communities. We are driven principally by Black-led organizations, such as Black Lives Matter Chicago and the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR). Centering the needs and demands of oppressed communities, we have engaged and mobilized over 65,000 Chicagoans in our movement through canvassing and tabling. Our support has come overwhelmingly from Black communities on the South and West sides, from the Latinx neighborhoods of Little Village and Pilsen, and from diverse local groups on the North Side and elsewhere.
Through the strength of this coalition, we launched grassroots movements in some 17 wards during the campaign for ECPS. Our determination to reach our common goal resulted in the most democratic and transformative police-accountability legislation ever passed in the United States.
Following passage of the ordinance, we fought to implement it, identifying Commissioners and District Council candidates who would carry forward the demands of the people. We now have a strong Community Commission ready to take on police crimes, and elections resulted in pro-accountability majorities on 14 out of the 22 District Councils.
The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, and District Councils
What powers does the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability have?
The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability is a citywide body with power over the new system for police accountability in Chicago.
Commission Powers and Responsibilities
final say over policy for the Chicago Police Department (CPD), the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) and the Police Board, as well as oversight of CPD’s compliance to policy
appointment of the head of COPA
power to assess the qualifications of – and nominate – candidates for Police Superintendent and members of the Police Board
ability to propose changes to the police budget and methods to ensure CPD resources are used appropriately
promote community and evidence-based solutions to violence
access to information, data, documents and records necessary to fulfill these duties
hold a vote of no confidence for any Police Superintendent, Police Board president or COPA head who fails in their duties
gather community input from the District Councils and engage in open, democratic practices like public comment and petitioning
Community Commissioners are currently serving on an interim basis, but in 2023, the newly elected District Councils will nominate members for a full term.
Qualifications to serve on the Commission:
must be a resident of the City of Chicago for at least five years prior to appointment
must have five years of combined experience, lived or professional, in one of the following areas:
law or public policy
social work, psychology or mental health
public safety
community organizing, civil rights or advocacy on behalf of marginalized communities
cannot have been an employee of CPD, COPA or the Police Board in the last five years
What powers do Police District Councils have?
Police District Councils are bodies directly elected within each police district with power over local public-safety concerns, providing input to the citywide Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability. They are the eyes and ears of this new system, and they carry the people’s mandate to represent the needs of their communities.
There are 22 councils, each with three elected councilors, totaling 66 positions.
You can find information on your local District Council at bit.ly/yourdistrictcouncil
Each District Council member receives a stipend of $500/month while serving in this role.
Police District Council Powers and Responsibilities:
nominate members of the Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability
hold monthly public meetings to gather community input about policing in their district
develop and implement community policing initiatives
work to develop and expand restorative-justice programs in their district
attend quarterly meetings of District Councilors across Chicago
report findings to the Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability
WHY TO GET INVOLVED
The only way to end the police tyranny plaguing Black and brown communities is for the people to gain control over how we are policed and who polices us. Those who have faced the brunt of racist policing will be the ones who determine how it finally ends. We now have a structure at the local level through which residents can present their grievances, demand justice and bring about change. For the District Councils and the citywide Commission to be the forces against police crimes that we need, community members must actively participate. We now have the means to end status quo policing, and we must use them.
We encourage all those who support justice to play their part in this new era of struggle. The power of the people achieved these gains, and it’s that power that will make this Commission and these District Councils a force against our opponents: the Fraternal Order of Police, their defenders and enablers, and the system of racist terror they uphold.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
Find your police district with this link: bit.ly/yourpolicedistrict
Find information about your local Police District Council meeting at bit.ly/yourdistrictcouncil
Attend your monthly District Council meeting
Volunteer with your local District Council
Table to engage your neighbors in the struggle for police accountability
If you would like to join us tabling in communities across the city, you can come by the Alliance office at 6353 S Cottage Grove Street. Or contact:
Frank Chapman (312) 513-3795 chapmanfrank74@gmail.com
Jasmine Smith (773) 727-5228 activistjasminesmith@outlook.com
Find out more info at: http://chicagoecps.com/
Not Familiar with your police district?
Use this interactive map to see how wards fit into police districts
EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES FOR PUBLIC SAFETY IS ENDORSED BY THE BROADEST COALITION OF COMMUNITY, FAITH, AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS AS WELL AS LABOR UNIONS IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO, INCLUDING THESE CITY COUNCIL CAUCUSES:
CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL BLACK CAUCUS
An Injustice system
A short film by CAARPR
AN INJUSTICE SYSTEM - The Closed Loop of Police Power in Chicago
Every city has a specific power structure which protects murderous police and facilitates the endless brutalization of Black, Brown, and working class people. AN INJUSTICE SYSTEM, now playing on all our platforms, illustrates how this “closed power loop” worked in Chicago, why the community fought and won ECPS, and why we must continue fighting to have power over the police.
