Live reporting by
Citlali Perez
What are you looking for in the next Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA)?
Hi, I’ll be live-tweeting today's 9th Police District Council meeting for #CHIdocumenters @CHIdocumenters
07:36 PM Sep 27, 2023 CDT

The agenda and information on the council is here chicago.gov/city/en/depts/…
chicago.gov/city/en/depts/…

The 9 district covers Back of the yards, Chinatown, Brighton Park and Bridgeport. The council members representing this district are:

There is a translator present who is letting attendees know to sign in.

Meeting is called to order at 7:43 This meeting is happening at 2216 South Wentworth Avenue.

Council members begin to introduce themselves. Nominating committee member Denise McBroom isn’t present.

The first public commenter is called up. Carol, a resident of the 15 ward. She says 1 March 2023 her world was changed because her son is a police officer. She says it’s her mission to speak up for the police.

She asks how does Council member Erin Vogel work for the police if she calls to abolish the police?

She reads out the bylaws for the district councils and says she doesn’t think council member Erin doesn’t uphold them. She says she doesn’t care for Erin’s response. She stops ever so often to allow for translation.

She reads a quote from Erin Vogel, “what conditions are necessary to eliminate the police from our civil system?”. Regarding the asylum seekers she says police are there to police and not as counselors.

The next public commenter is Chris Javier, he thanks the council for holding the meeting in Chinatown as it’s been held at different neighborhoods and there’s a diverse group tonight. And he would like to speak from the perspective of a Chinatown resident

He says it’s difficult for senior community members to attend public safety meetings. He says that they’ve worked to bring CAPS meetings to their door.

He says that residents are hesitant to reach out to police be used of language barrier but also be haste they think nothing will happen on the police end.

He says there’s concern over a man that has been stealing tip jars at restaurants. They called the police on him but he is still out there and says that this has created mistrust within the community and they feel they are not being listen to

He says he is calling for more transparency between community members, police and the courts. He says that he’d like to see a report being released to the community after a sentence is give in response to a crime

Council member Carols Sanchez thanks the speaker for helping them hold the meeting in the space

Ald. of the 11 ward comes up to address the crowd. She says it’s great to see a lot of elders. She points out that Anthony Driver President of the CCPSA is present.

She says she’s glad that President Driver us here because there is a new superintendent. She mentions that he was part of the process for selecting the new superintendent. She gives more information on superintendent snelling blockclubchicago.org/2023/09/27/lar…
blockclubchicago.org/2023/09/27/lar…

She says she spoke to Snelling about the communities needs and the need to have police officers that speak resident’s language. She says community members have different perspective but we can agree that we all want to feel safe

She acknowledges Chris Javier for his work in the community. She announces community events happening soon and points to the flyers in the room.

Finally, she thanks the council members for their work and everyone present.

The next speaker is President Driver. He introduces himself and another member of the commission. He speaks on why the commission was created and what their roles are chicago.gov/city/en/depts/…
chicago.gov/city/en/depts/…

He says that the ECPS ordinance requires the CCPSA to have 4 meetings after a superintendent is selected and he would love to have one of the meetings in this space so the new superintendent can meet the community. He says he’s available for questions and passes the mic to Issac

Issac Transoco elaborates on who makes up the commission, explains that there are 2 representatives of different parts of the city. He explains how they helped in the process of selected the superintendent and how they work with the police district councils.

The next CCPSA meeting is tomorrow at 6:30 at Trueman College and it is also virtual

Next are updates from community engagement coordinator Erin Vogel.

She mentions some upcoming events including the CCPSA meeting happening tomorrow. She re-addresses the selection of superintendent Snelling.

She says that most of her time has been spent with the mutual aid network to coordinate aid for the asylum seekers and shouts out the other volunteers present.

She says that her views of policing don’t affect her work with the community and the asylum seekers. Addressing that they have been sleeping on the floor of the police district departments

She mentions opportunities to get involved such as volunteering at the free store that holds donated items for migrants. She encourages attendees to write to their political representatives and pressure them for federal support

She says to come to her if there is anything they would like to see be included in the agenda for the next meeting

Other members of the CCPSA come up to talk about the selection process for the new CCPSA members. She mentions that the commission’s work has including addressing the gang database

They are looking to fill all 7 positions. They ask attendees to fill out this hand out


The last meeting item is to approve the minutes from last meeting. The council members speak among themselves for a minute. Council member Sanchez seconds and The motion passes.

Meeting adjourned at 8:41p.m. This concludes the Police Board meeting. For more meeting coverage, check out . documenters.org
documenters.org