Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Community Concerns topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents urge action on porch thefts, ICE practices and police accountability at Police Board meeting
Summary
During public comment at the Nov. 20 Police Board meeting, community members urged more resources to curb porch-package thefts, raised concerns about ICE arrests, recounted alleged unequal policing, and pressed for accountability in past cases.
Several members of the public used the Nov. 20 Police Board public-comment period to urge action on neighborhood crime and police accountability.
Janet Mark Fox, identifying herself as senior director of Remedys Organized, announced an Englewood town hall on Nov. 22 to discuss robberies, car thefts and carjackings and asked the police to help stem a rise in porch-package thefts. "When they call in, we tell them to call 311. 311 has been referring this number to the non-emergency number of Chicago PD, which goes unanswered half of the time," she said.
Evangelise Lattice Porter urged stronger community–police collaboration and raised concerns about immigration-enforcement operations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), saying, "Our crime rate was going down... But when ICE came, they weren't only arresting the people that they were coming for" and calling for more orderly procedures to avoid collateral arrests.
Patricia Puente recounted a Nov. 14 incident she said involved differential police responses and said officers dismissed her when she reported being harassed, commenting, "they said that I was the crazy one." TC McCoy criticized past case handling, alleged evidence tampering in a prior murder prosecution and warned he would return with community members to press for accountability, referencing misconduct uncovered during the Laquan McDonald era.
Donna Oliver publicly thanked District 7 officers for responding to abandoned vehicles and late-night street activity in her neighborhood, and Pastor Doyle linked literacy and violence prevention, urging long-term community investment.
Speakers raised both complaints about police response and expressions of gratitude for officers who acted. The board did not take formal action on public-comment items during the meeting; Cooper reminded speakers of the two-minute rule and said written comment records are posted on the police board website.
