CHICAGO — While the nine Chicago mayoral candidates pitch plans to address crime and policing, Chicago voters for the first time in city history will be able to vote for representatives on civilian police oversight councils, part of a growing group of reforms following years of protests over law enforcement misconduct.
Voters will cast ballots for three-member councils for each of the city’s 22 police districts. The councils are expected to hold meetings and get feedback from residents and others about policing and crime and bring those concerns back to the city and police leadership. In addition, the councils will help develop and implement community policing initiatives and then nominate a seven-person Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability to oversee the entire Chicago Police Department.
Police reform activists for decades have been fighting to create a new system for police oversight and the answer, for now, came in the form of the new councils and community commission, which the City Council created in 2021 when it approved the Empowering Communities for Public Safety ordinance.
