Chicago police officers and the residents they serve are “way, way more aligned” than people think, the civilian oversight commission president said Wednesday, appealing to both sides to listen to each other.
Anthony Driver, president of the Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability, said discovering those commonalities between the police and the public has been the “defining moment” of his 14-month tenure.
Driver learned that valuable lesson during the listening tour conducted to ask Chicagoans and rank-and-file police officers about the qualities they would most like to see in the city’s next police superintendent.
“The things that we heard on the South Side and the West Side and the North Side at those community meetings and the things that we heard at the FOP lodge were the exact same thing,” Driver said Wednesday while testifying at City Council budget hearings.
“Many community members were like, ‘We are really tired of officers who just, like, park and turn their lights on and just sit there.’ We heard that at every community meeting. And I swear my mouth dropped when I went into the FOP lodge, and there’s 100-some officers. And the first thing they say is, ‘We’re tired of sitting in cars turning our lights on and just sitting there.’”
Driver urged police officers and residents alike to “stand in the fire, take the heat” and listen to one another.
“If you listen closely enough, we’re actually way, way more aligned than we previously thought,” Driver said. “In the media, it’s ‘Back the Blue’ or ‘Abolish [the police]. When you actually talk to folks on the ground and you get into those communities and do real community engagement, that’s not the case.”
Driver said he secured commitments from all three finalists for police superintendent — the eventual pick, Supt. Larry Snelling, as well as Angel Novalez and Shon Barnes — to “go back and meet with those folks.”
“We tried to build this thing from the bottom up,” he said. “We built a lot of community support across Chicago. Then, we’re able to transfer that to whoever the new leader is. So that person is coming in with the wind at his back. And that person has the support of a lot of different groups.
“Those same people who’ve got your back right now will be the same people who will hold you accountable when they disagree with you.”
Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th), whose Far Southwest Side ward is home to scores of Chicago police officers, asked what more can be done to improve officer wellness.
Adam Gross, the commission’s executive director, replied that after talking to countless officers and union officials, it was clear access to mental health counseling is only part of the solution.
Police officers also mention “canceled days off, the physical conditions in police stations. The lack of access to working police cars and the stress that it puts on them,” Gross said.
“All of these things that we typically don’t think of as having an impact on mental health, police officers are saying they absolutely have an impact,” Gross said.
After a barrage of complaints about working conditions at the Harrison District station, Driver went there to see for himself. When the district commander opened the door to the “quiet room” where officers “take time to decompress,” Driver said he couldn’t believe his eyes.
“There was a Muslim officer who was in there praying, and he was sandwiched between two chairs, and there was like a desk on top of him,” Driver said. “We’re not even providing an adequate place for people to pray — somebody who has to see pretty egregious things every day.”
Driver said both the interim commission and police district councils need more support staff and increased stipends to compensate for out-of-pocket expenses. Those members are working “30 hours a week” on police oversight business while also holding full-time jobs, he said. Driver gets a monthly stipend of $1,250, while the amount is $1,000 for other commission members and $500 for those serving on the district councils.
“We really do need more support, or we’re not going to be able to maintain this. And we won’t be able to keep staff. That’s the truth of it,” he said. “Folks are gonna start leaving because they’re getting burned out already.”
