Recent News
November 28, 2022
ECPS coalition condemns gang database proposal; slams CPD for circumventing Community Commission
The Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) coalition will make the following statement at the Nov. 28, 2022 meeting of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA). This meeting will be held virtually at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom.
The Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) coalition implores the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) to stand firm against the proposed policy for the Criminal Enterprise System, otherwise known as the gang database, released by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) on November 7, 2022.
The people of Chicago have been demanding that the city “Erase the Database” for years. We urge the Commission to state clearly that there should be no new policy on the gang database because there should be no gang database.
City leadership, including Mayor Lightfoot, has insisted that gangs are a major cause of violence. However, in 2021, the Trace analyzed data for nearly 34,000 shootings over 10 years and found that detectives labeled fewer than three in 10 as gang-related. The proposed policy is an attempt to move forward with the same kind of catch-all, racist policing that we have seen fail time and time again.
Over the course of its existence, hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people have been harmed and had their lives negatively impacted because they were arbitrarily designated as gang members by CPD. These impacts include enhanced surveillance by law enforcement, harsher sentencing, sanctions, housing insecurity, loss of parental rights, probation, prison and parole, deportation or denied access to citizenship, rejection for employment opportunities, denial of professional licenses, and more.
The proposed policy will not end these harms. Nor does it do anything to provide redress or reparations for the deleterious impacts to multitudes of people listed in the gang database. Even with modifications, the gang database will remain an ineffective tool that places permanent distinctions between innocent and guilty or deserving and undeserving. The use of this database has not contributed to reducing crime or curbing the violence in Chicago’s communities.
This Commission has the power to issue a general order superseding this CPD special order. We call on this Commission to use the full extent of its power to erase the gang database once and for all.
In addition to our condemnation of the proposed policy, our coalition takes issue with the ways in which CPD is attempting to circumvent the power of this Commission by issuing the gang database policy and a new body-worn camera policy as Special Orders rather than General Orders.
Per the ECPS ordinance, this Commission must approve, by a majority vote, any new or amended CPD General Orders that are not under the jurisdiction of the consent decree. Even when there is just cause to issue policy using a Special Order, CPD should make the effort to collaborate with this Commission, not only to meaningfully engage with the community but also to consult the expertise and lived experience of the Commissioners.
The ECPS ordinance passed with support from 36 alderpeople, Mayor Lightfoot, and countless residents of the city. Now that the Commission is seated and has started to investigate and push for change, CPD leadership has refused to meet with Commissioners, the mayor’s office has turned its back on them, and the City is setting them up to fail.
At the same time, Commission members are working tirelessly, some more than 30 hours a week, to compensate for a lack of Commission staffers, printing services, translation services, identification to get access to government buildings, regular meeting spaces, etc.
It is time for those who say they support ECPS to follow through on that support and prioritize meeting with, uplifting and working alongside this Commission so we can create the culture of police accountability and public safety for all that we fought for and so urgently need.
The community urges Commissioners to be proactive and use the power they already have to fight the immense pushback they are facing from CPD. Use all the power at your disposal to represent the needs and will of the community.
#####