Live reporting by
Ahmad Sayles
Ahmad Sayles
@ahmad_sayles
Good evening! I’ll be live-tweeting the City of Chicago’s Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability meeting for @CHIdocumenters #CHIdocumenters. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. 🧵
06:27 PM Aug 14, 2024 CDT
The meeting is called to order. A roll call to establish a quorum is underway. A quorum is met. The public comment period begins.
The first public speaker is Shayla Spearman. She's advocating for gun violence reduction.
The next speaker is Kamari Powell. She also wants violence reduction programs in the city.
The next speaker is Willie Griffin. He wants de-escalation programs, GED programs, and mental health awareness programs to address the issue of gun violence.
The next speaker is Celia Colón. She’s a violence intervention advocate. Her sister was killed 3 years ago. She wants the city to make it not mandatory for family members to not have to identify the deceased.
The next speaker is Ms. Cook. She saved a young boy’s life on 80th and Exchange. She wants the city to also entact gun violence reduction measures.
Fmr. CPD Superintendent Eddie Johnson speaks publicly. A cop for 31 years says his family has also been affected by gun violence. He says he wants more police and shot-spotter technology to be used. He says that data and technology save lives.
The next speaker is Kirk Fleming. He wants the city to address gun accessibility. He says he was once the problem in his neighborhood but when given better opportunities, he made better choices.
The public comment period is over. President Anthony Driver now moves the meeting to the agenda and the filling of the vacancy of the 6th district council. Dr. Whitaker is recommended by the commission to fill the position. Her recommendation will be passed on to Mayor Johnson.
The DNC update presentation is over. With no further business before the commission, President Anthony Driver adjourns the meeting.
City of Chicago’s Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability special meeting begins at 7:15 p.m. The meeting begins with public comments. The first two speakers wants the mayor to create an office of gun violence reduction.
The next speaker is Pastor Glover, who preaches on the southeast side. She wants more resources for survivors of gun violence. She says the trauma of consoling the families of gun violence victims has changed her and she wants to city to do more.
The next speaker says that he appreciates the commission’s efforts but CPD was broken before he was born and is still broken. He wants an end to the abuse of cops pulling over Black drivers unjustly. He wants the police to reduce gun violence instead.
The public comment period is over. The panel discussion on the creation of the Office of Gun Violence Reduction is underway.
We have leaders of faith-based and gun violence reduction organizations around the city on the panel. Norman Kerr, Dr. Moses III, and others are answering questions.
The panel is discussing how money should be spent to prevent violence in communities. The panel suggests a better public health strategy, ending the carceral state and an investment of resources in areas that have high violence.
The ending of the carceral state recommendation is getting pushback from a member of the commission. They state that they still want to see criminals held accountable for breaking the law. Dr. Moss III responds that the point of the office should be to prevent that situation.
President Driver asks the panel whether it should be a department or an office of gun violence prevention. Kerr says that we need long-term permanence, so this remains an issue of priority. He wants a department. So that regardless of the mayor or budget, we have resources.
Kerr says that the same public strategy of stopping COVID needs to be employed to address the crisis of gun violence. He says that public awareness needs to be increased.
Dr. Moss III says that a small allocation of resources can dramatically reduce gun violence in the city. He compares our efforts to other American cities and says that we can do better outreach to disrupt violence.
The panel and commentators are imploring the commission to enact a city-wide approach to addressing gun violence. They want mentoring, community engagement, and youth programs to interrupt violence.
President Driver thanks the public speakers, panel, and the commission for their comments. He endorses the Office of Gun Violence Prevention. He says that he has been personally affected by the epidemic.
With no further business before the CCPSA, President Driver adjourns the meeting.
The City of Chicago’s Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability regular/special meeting ends at 8:46 p.m. This ends my coverage for @chidocumenters, find more information through Ayanna Watkins’ notes at chicago.documenters.org
chicago.documenters.org