Chicago Police District Council members inaugurated to oversee police accountability
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago's newly elected Police District Council members were inaugurated Tuesday.
Each of Chicago's 22 police districts has three district council members. They will work with the police department to address community safety concerns and develop initiatives about policing.
As CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini explained, police reform, accountability, and transparency were just some of the priorities talked about Tuesday as history was made on center stage at the Harold Washington Cultural Center, 4701 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.
It is all in an effort to build back trust between the people and the police.
The 66 newly-elected district council members are all part of Chicago's Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability.
The district council members are supposed to have a say in the search for next the permanent police superintendent - and they will be able to voice the different needs and concerns of each individual police district.
The commission will also have input over who heads COPA - the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
Scenes and images of Chicago Police officers pointing guns as they order people to the ground, and sometimes raiding the wrong homes, are burned into the memories of many Chicagoans.
"Chicago has a very long and complex history with policing," said Anthony Driver, interim president of the Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability, "but today is a new day. Today marks the beginning of one of the final pieces of true community policing."
Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson welcomed the new members and, said he believes the district councils will lead to a more just society.
"I have eagerly anticipated the opportunity to work with these other elected officials, because they have the expertise, and they have the information at a hyperlocal level at what the community needs," Johnson said.
Johnson added that Chicago now has "a governing body that speaks to the very best of our values," and said the inauguration of the new district councils a historic moment.
He said it amounted to "the type of leadership that is needed at the local level to make sure public safety is a broader conversation."