Live reporting by
Ebony Ellis
Pullman and Roseland area police district council meets for the first time
Ebony Ellis
@Eb_Writes26
Hello! I will be covering this morning’s meeting for the 5th Police District Council hosted by the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability.
The meeting is taking place at Burst Into Books at 11001 S. Michigan Ave. at 10am.
@CHIdocumenters
#CHIDocumenters
The meeting is taking place at Burst Into Books at 11001 S. Michigan Ave. at 10am.
@CHIdocumenters
#CHIDocumenters
10:14 AM Jun 3, 2023 CDT
The 5th police district includes Roseland, Pullman, and West Pullman.
Here is the agenda: chicago.gov/content/dam/ci…
Here is the agenda: chicago.gov/content/dam/ci…
The meeting began at 10:11am. There is guest speaker Frank Chapman. He is providing his background and the importance of the police district council.
An audience member asked why members of the police district council are referred to as “vendors.”
Chapman responds that because members are not city employees, “vendors” is the title that they are given.
Chapman responds that because members are not city employees, “vendors” is the title that they are given.
“I want to try to empower our community. I want our community [children] to be just as safe, utilize their parks and libraries and just be able to be kids.”
-Ponchita Moore, introducing herself.
-Ponchita Moore, introducing herself.
Moore will be the community outreach committee, Thomas McMahone, will be on the nominating committee, and McKay, will be the chairman of the committee.
An officer who is the captain of the 5th police district, suggest pulling more resources from the CAPS meeting.
Moore responds that the community deserves a space where they can speak out without the presence of police.
Moore responds that the community deserves a space where they can speak out without the presence of police.
An audience member echos that community members want a safe community. And briefly mentions her experience in contacting police and no one responded. As she was talking, her eyes were watering.
“The response time in some areas is nonexistent.”
An audience member who is a resident of Pullman. She suggests phone calls being recorded to further remedy the lack of response from police.
An audience member who is a resident of Pullman. She suggests phone calls being recorded to further remedy the lack of response from police.
Another audience member suggests methods of getting children off the street such as detention centers, community centers, etc.
Other audience members did not react well to those statements.
Other audience members did not react well to those statements.
Another audience member suggests a creation of meetings values to create and enforce more order within future meetings.
Audience member Weyland Johnson says to the cops who are present, “these are good cops.”
He echos that trust must be repaired between police and the community.
He echos that trust must be repaired between police and the community.
Moore addresses how challenging it is to start up/organize a block club.
One of the officers asks what falls under the police council jurisdiction.
Due to misunderstanding in viewpoints concerning the organization block clubs, the officer that was just speaking, decided to leave the meeting.
Other members of the audience also decided to leave.
Other members of the audience also decided to leave.
McKay says that there will be copies of the ordinance at the next meeting due to discovering that a lot of the people in the audience are not aware of the purpose of today’s meeting or the origin of the police district council.
Moore says, “please be patient with us. This is our first meeting ever.”
McKay mentions that there will be communication with the alderman and the city council.
Another one of the officers present offers to blast notifications of future police district council meetings at the CAPS meetings, to get in touch with more of the neighborhood organizations.
Moore echos the purpose of the police district council meetings is to hold police accountable.