ECPS Coalition Calls on Those Wanting to Fight for Police Accountability to Apply to Be A Commissioner on the Community Commission for Public Safety (CCPSA)
The Empowering Communities for Public Safety coalition, a coalition of community-based organizations, faith-based groups, and labor organizers rooted in Black, Latinx, Arab, Filipinx, East Asian, and South Asian communities, is calling on people from the movement for police accountability to put themselves forward for the city-wide Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA). Applicants can apply at https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/ccpsa.html until the February 7, 2024 12 PM deadline.
The CCPSA is one of two citywide bodies that was created by the 2021 Empowering Communities for Public Safety ordinance, which gave people in Chicago a say in police accountability like never before. Up to this point, the interim CCPSA have already notched huge successes, most notably in how it ended the long-decried and racist gang database and in how it prohibited police from associating with criminal, extremist, terrorist, or discriminatory organizations. But to continue our momentous progress, we need fighters who aren’t afraid to take the mantle of leadership to continue the battle to stop police crimes. It’s important that people from our communities who are fit for this task answer the call because it’s our level of struggle that will determine how effective we are.
After all, in these first few years under the ECPS ordinance, we’ve already seen pro-police forces resort to countless measures to try and undermine our progress, from running and funding their own candidates to proposing an arbitration process that would circumvent this very body, one which people took to the streets by the hundreds of thousands in 2020 to demand. Fortunately, at every step of the way, the people have fought back against these reactionary attacks and pressed forward in the struggle to implement police accountability. Join us in the struggle.
Selected commissioners, who serve four year terms, will be empowered to create and approve polices for the Chicago Police Department (CPD), the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), and the Police Board, as well as play a central role in selecting and removing the Superintendent of CPD, the Chief Administrator of COPA, and members of the Police Board. Also, commissioners are paid $12,000 per year, and the President of the Commission, who is elected by their colleagues on the Commission, is paid $15,000 per year.
To apply for the CCPSA or to get further information about the Commissioner role, including responsibilities, eligibility requirements, application timeline, and more, head to the landing page on the City of Chicago website: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/ccpsa/supp_info/serving-on-a-community-commission.html
And if you have questions about your application, reach out to the ECPS coalition at [email protected]
