Peoples Hearing Today on Community Control of Police

The joint hearings called for today and Thursday by the City Council Public Safety and Budget Committees to “revamp Chicago’s Police Accountability Structure (sic)” will be denounced as a fraud by leaders from community organizations, labor unions, and church communities today at 11:00 a.m. at a news conference outside the City Council chamber on the 2nd floor of City Hall.The news conference will be immediately followed by a Peoples Hearing on Police Crimes at 11:30 a.m., and will hear from people and their families who have been abused, tortured and even murdered by Chicago police.

The press conference will be held Wednesday, July 6, 2016 at 11 a.m., at Chicago City Hall, 121 N LaSalle, 2nd Floor.

“We don’t need hearings on a structure that doesn’t exist,” declared Frank Chapman. “There is no police accountability structure in Chicago.” Chapman is Field Organizer and Chairman of the Stop Police Crimes Organizing Committee (SPCOC). “We need hearings on the proposal for community control of the police, on the bill creating an all-elected ALL-Civilian Police Accountability Council, CPAC,” Chapman said.

The official Committee hearings are set to start at 1:00 pm Wednesday in the Council chamber. They were called after Mayor Rahm Emanuel declared last month that he couldn’t get a majority of the City Council behind a proposal to set up another appointed oversight structure to replace the failed Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) and Police Board.

The Chicago Alliance has sent copies of the proposed CPAC ordinance to the Mayor and aldermen several times over the past 3 years. Over 3,000 marched on City Hall last August demanding passage of this ordinance. The SPCOC has gathered over 35,000 signatures in support of the ordinance throughout Chicago, and the offices of many aldermen have been inundated with postcards urging them to support it.

“We need CPAC, and the time to pass it is NOW!” Chapman declared.

For more information:
Frank Chapman 312-513-3795 email: fchapman@naarpr.org  or
Ted Pearson 312-927-2689 email: tpearson@naarpr.org