City Council Passes Civilian Oversight Group For Chicago Police

CHICAGO — The Chicago City Council passed an ordinance Wednesday to create a civilian oversight committee to oversee the Chicago Police Department.

The ordinance, once signed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, would allow seven elected community members to recommend police policy and leadership positions, but would not give them final say on key issues like personnel.

The ordinance cleared the full council by a vote of 36-13.

Police accountability advocates have been pushing for increased civilian oversight of Chicago police policies and practices since the 2014 killing of Laquan McDonald by former CPD Officer Jason Van Dyke.

While the city became one of the first areas to implement an office of police accountability after McDonald's death — the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, or COPA — many grassroots and community organizations wanted to reserve more power in choosing a police superintendent.

"I think that we finally have a mechanism, another tool in the toolbox that will connect the community and the police so we can get the clearance rate down, we can solve crimes," said 6th Ward Alderman Rod Sawyer.

The seven-member Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability will be able to make recommendations on police policy, recommend candidates for police superintendent and COPA administrator and be able to fire the COPA chief. It will not, however, be able to hire or fire the CPD superintendent, a right still belonging only to the city's mayor.

Supporters say the ordinance will help restore public faith in CPD, but some aldermen said the commission will just be a formality among multiple other oversight groups.

"We don't need police reform we need family reform, families need to start taking ownership and watching over their children and protecting their community," said 38th Ward Alderman Nick Sposato, a former firefighter. "We can't be blaming the police for everything. We already have 11 oversights that I see."

While Lightfoot said it will not fix every police problem, she thinks the council is a step in the right direction.

"We've absolutely made progress but there's much more work to be done, and none of us can outsource our responsibility to get that work done," she said.

The process to nominate the board will have three tiers. The interim commission, set to begin January 2022, will be chosen by the mayor. But the following year, elections will be held in each of the city's 22 police districts. During those elections, community members will choose three people to serve as the first tier of district council members. Each group of three people will choose one person to join a nominating committee which will be in charge of searching for and nominating 14 people for the mayor's consideration. Of the 14 names submitted to the mayor, seven will be chosen to serve on the Community Commission.

The president of the commission would be paid $15,000 per year, and the other six members would get $12,000.

One spot on the commission has to be filled by an experienced attorney. Another must be filled by someone will at least 10 years of experience as a community organizer.