Live reporting by
Sarina Shane

Meeting was called to order at 6:09 pm. The agenda is available here chicago.gov/content/dam/ci…
chicago.gov/content/dam/ci…

all 3 members are present: Thomas McMahon, Ponchita Moore, and Robert McKay. DCM Robert McKay starts us with public comment.

There is no comment from the public so he takes time to explain how the time can be used before moving on to a review of previous minutes for review.

DC Moore talked about the mental health on 114th Indiana facility and invited them to come and talk about how the council can assist them in the future. Officer Williams clarified officers are familiar with and using the facility.

Residents talked about their support of keeping shotspotter. A resident offered to create flyers of crimes happening in the area. DC Thomas offered to bring COPA reports. I will try to get a picture of the previous meeting minutes. They are only available in print for CM.


The facility is called HRDI (Human Resources Development Institute, Inc) & located at 200 E. 115th Street*** They're able to help re-house up to a family of 10.

"the police department is not working with them to get the word out” recounts DC Moore from a conversation with their director.

Starting in Jan, a 7 person committee started their search for the New Chief Administrator of COPA. They received 112 applications, interviewed 34 people, then riddled it down to the 15 individuals to be given to the mayor for final selection. “it’s quite an array” - DC McMahon

Each interview lasted about an hour. The Mayor has 30 days to pick the from the list presented to him. If it goes outside the 30 days the process recycles and the nominations committee must re-submit names from the narrowed of 34.

Next we talked about the unreliable Gang Database being removed from use. It had to be dismantled because it was used in the wrong way” - DC Moore. cbsnews.com/chicago/news/o…
cbsnews.com/chicago/news/o…

“if the database has been dismantled is there another way they are being tracked?” - Pullman resident. Their question of 'what was/is the replacement' was unsatisfactorily given the answer of nothing.

The Minutes were approved and we moved on to the business of the day, reviewing the COPA report. chicagocopa.org/wp-content/upl…
chicagocopa.org/wp-content/upl…

“The consent decree has 799 [items] and we are not compliant yet.“ DC McKay goes on to say "The consent decree should be a priority.” goals include increased public safety, relationship between the department and public, funds are used responsibly chicago.gov/content/dam/ci…
chicago.gov/content/dam/ci…

DC MaMahon clarifies "the consent decree is not taught fully to recruits but the policies and procedures are incorporated in their training.”

COPA is the clearing house. All complaints go through them. The following statistics and info will center the 5th district.

Complaints are up from 2022 to 2023. COPA took on 908 of the most egregious. 41 of those complaints come from the 5th district. This is the middle of the pack for reference.

1 incident can have multiple allegations. The total allegations for the 5th district is 159.

citywide “sizable increase in total number of complaints registered and officer shootings” - DC MaMahon

87 officers had 1 compliant in the 5th district. This is middle of the pack. District 24 has the lowest with 47 and District 7 is the highest with 109.

residents are wondering about the parameters of a compliant by the end of the COPA report share out. We have numbers with no context.

Residents Karen and Joe Citizen want a followup on outcomes from the COPA report. Others still have lingering questions about the gang database.. The atmosphere is a bit tense.

"Any database to follow has to down under the scrutiny of the community” - MC MaMahon in response an impromptu constituent poll (surveying by hand raise) who is interested in a gang database replacement. 4/13 yes! 2/13 (not including the 2 MC (Moore and Robert) are against it.

Residents are concerned about police becoming less responsive. The OEMC is the over shotspotter and 911. Cindy resident asks for a representative from the OEMC to be present at the next meeting.

"shottspotter is a tool! if you’re a bad actor then you need to be tracked.” - Cheryl a resident of the 9th ward’s final reflection on the gang database and shotspotter

"There’s still a gulf between the parameters of influence this organization has” reflects Joe Citizen on the different feels about civility. “What degree of technology do we use to arrest somebody?"
