ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER POLICE MURDER: There is a way to stop police killings and make communities safe

April 28, 2021

Chicago police have executed yet another young person on the streets, following yet another chase, following yet another unexplained attempted arrest. Anthony Alvarez is dead, and his family and Chicago mourns. Police body cam and surveillance video show another execution. We send our heartfelt condolences to the Alvarez family, who now have to endure the loss of their son and the agony of being lied to and stonewalled by the CPD in their search for justice for Anthony.

This is the third police murder in the past two weeks revealed through video since the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder a year ago of George Floyd. This is more proof that the police and the people who run Chicago have learned nothing.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has renewed her call to “revise” policy regarding pursuits by police. She says such killings are "not acceptable [and] shouldn't be acceptable to anyone." Mayor Lightfoot, here’s an idea: how about issuing an order to ban such pursuits -- NOW?

Or, more to the point, how about joining the majority of City Council members who have come out for passing the Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) ordinance, which would give communities the power to determine how and by whom they are policed? How about ending your blockade of the Public Safety Committee and the City Council and allowing this ordinance to come to the floor and be passed?

The question for Mayor Lightfoot is, how much more blood do you want on your hands? Isn’t the blood of Anthony Alvarez, Adam Toledo, and Trevon Chadwell just in the past month enough? Following the conviction of Chauvin, passing the ECPS would send a message to cops everywhere in Chicago that the city means business, that killings by cops must end, NOW!

The question for all of us who live in Chicago is to demand that our City Council pass this bill NOW!