Safety vs Civil Rights - a perspective from Chicago’s West Side
If you go by what you hear in the news, you might think that every African-American who lives in low-income, mostly Black neighborhoods doesn’t trust the police and thinks they are out to get them.
The reality, of course, isn’t quite that simple. “Urban blacks” aren’t a hive mind, and you are going to get a whole range of opinions and perspectives. And, as someone who has been writing for Austin Weekly News, I got to see those perspectives more than most people, even most reporters.
West Side aldermen tend to organize community meetings at least once a month. It’s a way to let residents know about programs and initiatives, and let residents make suggestions and complaints directly to aldermen. The majority of the people who speak at those meetings make no bones about it - they want police to do more. And while I’ve heard plenty of African-Americans saying that police are too quick to arrest people, the residents who speak at the meeting tend to feel that police needs to arrest more people, not less.
So every time I hear activists talking about how police is an occupying force in the black communities, or that police should be abolished altogether, a big part of me wishes they could be teleported to one of the community meetings I attended - just to see what would happen.
Having said all that - I was still taken aback by what unfolded during Ald Jason Ervin’s (28th) Garfield Park community meeting last month.
East Garfield Park, near Union Pacific West line railroad tracks
Originally, I was just going to link to the article I wrote about it, but since it doesn’t look like it’s going to be published, I decided to copy-paste it in its entirety.
The meeting room at the Garfield Park field house (100 N. Central Park Ave) was nearly standing room only on the evening of April 11 as representatives of American Civil Liberties Union and the Chicago Police Department gave their perspectives on some of the recent controversies regarding police treatment of African-Americans.
In order to get as many questions in as possible, Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) asked residents to submit all the questions on index cards, and her read them aloud as he received them. Many residents agreed with Melissa Conyers-Ervin, the alderman's wife and recently elected Illinois State Representative, who said she was worried that ACLU's efforts may have hindered police ability to combat crime. Others wondered how much the police cared about the black communities, and expressed skepticism about whether any change in police practices was possible.
There were three major issues on the table - the police response time in minority neighborhoods, its stop-and-frisk practices and the impact of the Department of Justice report released in January. Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) said he wanted to use his March neighborhood meeting as a venue where residents could ask questions and get perspectives from both sides.
The ACLU was represented by Karen Sheley, director of the organization's Police Practices Project in Illinois, and Khadine Bennett, its state Advocacy and Government Affairs Director. On the CPD site, District 11 Commander Kevin Johnson was joined by Tina Skahill, the department's Deputy Director of Legal Affairs.
In her presentation, Sheley touched upon the DOJ report, saying that the future of the reform was in doubt because new Attorney General Jeff Session is on record as opposing consent decrees, and Sheley wasn't convinced that there would be reform without one.
“Currently, there is no one person who is in charge of the reform effort,” she said.
That was something Skahill forcefully disagreed with.
“The Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department is spearheading [the reform], and it's important tht it starts from the top,” she said, adding that a CPD liaison unit to the Department of Justice “isn't going away.”
Sheley's presentation also touched on the police response times. As previously reported by Austin Weekly News, in 2011, Central Austin Neighborhood Association and ACLU of Illinois filed a lawsuit alleging that 911 response times for predominantly African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods are slower than response times in white communities, due the fact that police isn't deployed equitably. The subsequent analysis of the data found that not only did it take longer for police to respond to calls in majority-Black and majority-Hispanic neighborhoods, but each officer was asked to handle more calls if they were stationed in minority neighborhood.
“Police officers [in minority neighborhoods] have more to do, and they don't have the time to do this kind of community caretaking, let alone respond to complaints and 911 calls,” Sheley said.
Skahill responded that Chicago has a long history of community policing, and that, contrary to what Sheley said, many officers in minority neighborhoods do contribute time and money to help the community - though she acknowledged that it may not be true across the board.
“It's not a [question] of time - it's important to make it a priority,” Skahill said.
Bennett responded that, while there were individual officers who worked with the community, that “has not been the culture of the CPD.”
Since the lawsuit was filed, the city hired Dr. Alexander Weiss to do a study on the best police deployment practices.
As for stop-and-frisk, Sheley said that August 2015, ACLU and CPD signed an agreement that required officers to make stops only when there is “reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.” And, since 2016, former U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys would review CPD policies and practices, and issue reports two times a year.
Sheley said that the most recent report, the January-June 2016 report, showed some troubling trends.
“About 77 percent of people stopped were African-Americans,” she said. “Once you're stopped and frisked, it's more likely that you find a weapon on a white person.'
Sheley added that stops that involved African-Americans and Latinos were more likely to be unjustified.
Skahill argued that Sheley's summary of Keys' report don't paint the whole picture.
“Judge Keys shows that, overall, good stop rate is between 90-94 percent,” she said. “I haven't been in school for a while, but I thought it was an A, or an A-.”
That said, she said that it was worth looking into why minorities were more likely to face unjustified stops.
Skahill also said that one thing that she believed ACLU didn't consider was that police respond to resident complaints, and those complaints tend to be about quality of life issues - and the police stops reflect that.
Ultimately, she encouraged residents to read Keys report and make their own conclusions.
Conyers-Ervin said that, before she was elected state rep last year, she took a dim view of ACLU, mostly thanks to what she saw as the consequences of the stop-and-frisk lawsuit.
“[While attending community meetings], I would always hear police say - 'we can't touch those guys on the corner because of the lawsuit,'” she said.
Since then, Conyers-Ervin got a chance to talk to Bennett and hear their side - but that didn't mean her concerns dissipated completely.
“It's important that [ACLU] fight on all of our behalf,” she said. “We feel like there's too much liberty. In Oak Park, they don't have the right to stand on the corner - why do they have aright to stand on the corner here?”
Conyers-Ervin also noted that a big reason why residents don't necessarily call 911 as often as they should was because they didn't see that doing any good - a comment that earned shouts of agreement from many people in the room.
“Yes, we want police to respect our community - and they have to understand that we don't want those young people standing on our corners,” she said. “And while you fight, you have to fight for that.”
Bennett responded that they see nothing wrong with cops stopping people - so long as they're stopped for a right reason.
On her part, Skahill said that, in her experience, many young people hang out at corners simply because they face abuse and other issues at home, or for other reasons that police alone can't solve.
“We can't arrest people all day - it doesn't really solve the problem,” she said. “We haven't addressed lack of jobs, education [issues] - that's really, like, the core.”
Ald Michael Scott (24th), who arrived about half-way through the meeting, said that his problem with ACLU's approach is that when, for example, residents call about people dealing drugs, they hide the evidence before the police arrives, making it harder to do a justifiable search.
“What would be your ideal scenario?” Bennett asked.
Scott replied that it was to treat all suspects with “dignity and respect” - something he said he's seen Johnson do.
Skahill said that, if residents see suspects hiding drugs, they should let the police know - and they could do it anonymously.
One resident complained about what she called “drive-by policing,” with officers riding through the neighborhood without getting out of the cars and engaging with residents.
“I directed officers that they do not engage in that type of behaviors,” Johnson replied.
The commander reiterated what he said at many other community meetings - that the key to solving crimes is for police and community to work together, and treat each other with trust and respect.
“I will commit my officers to do a better job, and [I] need your help to get rid of bad guys,” Johnson said.
Another resident asked ACLU directors what the organization could do to help police deter crime. Bennet said she didn't have any simple answers - but she was prepared to listen.
“We want to be able to engage with you,” she said. “Invite us back, have a conversation with us. I have cards.”
As the meeting wrapped up, Ervin reiterated an argument he made the other meetings. The police practices have to change, if for no other reason than how much the city pays in police misconduct lawsuits. But, at the same time, he believed concerns expressed at the meeting should be taken into account to.
“That's out biggest challenge - the balance,” Ervin said.
I do get where a lot of those people are coming from. They have to live with the crime and violence that shows And while the connection between new ACLU/CPD agreement and increase in crime isn’t clear-cut (New York City ended stop-and-frisk, and it hasn’t seen a similar increase), when faced with a choice between freedom and safety, a lot of people are going to prioritize safety.
And, again, it’s worth reiterating that it isn’t an ether/or situation. People who live in West and East Garfield Parks have many different opinions that aren’t strictly black and white. During that meeting alone, I heard people bristle at the idea that police cared about their community, but they also wanted the police to care. And there were people who wanted more police presence, while also expressing concerns about police being too aggressive in the way they interact with black men, especially teens, arguing that this leads to needless escalation, and that things would be better if the cops approached them more empathy and respect.
(Because I can’t quote people whose names I don’t have/who decline to give their names, details like this sometimes get lost in articles).
In the end, I think it would be better for everyone if more people came to the community meetings - especially more people ages 30 and under. The more people you have, the more likely you are to get differing opinions. And hearing those different opinions would help create a more nuanced picture that would otherwise get lost.