海角大神

Lonnie McClain was playing video games inside his house on Chicago鈥檚 West Side one afternoon this May, when two white police officers came up on his porch. Outside, his 20-year-old nephew, Montae, had been dancing to rap music with his headphones on.

鈥淭hey asked him, 鈥榃hat are you doing? Why are you right here dancing?鈥� 鈥� recalls Mr. McClain.

鈥淚 came out, and I鈥檓 like, why are you all asking him questions? He didn鈥檛 do anything. There鈥檚 people getting robbed right now, people鈥檚 cars are getting stolen, people are getting shot, and you all are in front of his face right here when he鈥檚 dancing!鈥�

A year and a half after the Department of Justice released a report criticizing the Chicago Police Department鈥檚 use of force and racially discriminatory conduct, tensions between the police and community remain high in neighborhoods like McClain鈥檚.聽

Nowhere is that tension more clear than in the proposed $95 million police and fire academy, which would be located just two miles from McClain鈥檚 house. The planned 30-acre campus would include state-of-the-art training facilities and provide much-needed jobs to residents in a community struggling with poverty and gun violence, say supporters. But the academy has become a flashpoint for politicians and community members here, who argue that the money would be better spent elsewhere.

The proposal for a new police academy came in the wake of the police shooting of Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old who was shot 16 times by an officer as he walked away from police in October 2014. The shooting sparked months of protests calling for the resignation of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy 鈥� who ultimately stepped down 鈥� as well as investigations of the police department by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and local Police Accountability Task Force (PATF).

Chicago has been in the national spotlight in recent years for its high-profile police shootings of black residents, including Laquan, as well as its struggles with gun violence. Poor police-community relations is at the heart of both issues. The Chicago Police Department solves one in 20 homicides, and that rate has been declining in recent years, according to a Chicago .聽At the same time, the city has paid victims of police misconduct this year alone, a marked increase from last year.聽

Now, the city is addressing these issues by creating a consent decree for the police department, which would require the implementation of reforms suggested by the DOJ last year after their investigation.聽Both the DOJ and the PATF found systemic racism within the police department, particularly when it came to stopping people without justification and the use of force. Additionally, they both called for the improved training of officers and a larger, safer space in which to conduct these trainings. The current police academy was built in 1976.

鈥淭he physical structure that houses the Academy is antiquated, cramped and cannot accommodate even current needs, let alone the increased training that will be necessary to make real cultural change,鈥� according to the , which was released in April 2016.聽It notes that mandatory Taser training was being conducted in the academy鈥檚 hallways because there was no other space available.聽

Last month, the poor state of police training facilities came to light again when the city was serious safety violations at a shuttered school that the police had been using for tactical training after a complaint that it was infested with cockroaches and rodents, had poor ventilation, and high levels of lead and asbestos.聽According to the Chicago Sun-Times, four police officers collapsed from the heat at the facility in the two weeks following the complaint.

鈥淥ur current police academy is physically outdated,鈥� says police department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The department has championed the creation of a new academy in order to 鈥渋mplement the much-needed reforms and professional development that have been sought by our police officers, the community and the US Department of Justice,鈥� says Mr. Guglielmi.

Underlying problems聽

But organizers here say that a new police academy on the West Side will not solve the underlying problems of policing and crime in Chicago. They point out that a new facility is not the same as better training and that the police department has already changed its curriculum, graduating three classes of officers who received what the 鈥渂est-in-class training.鈥澛�

One of those newly graduated officers killed a black barber, Harith Augustus, on the city鈥檚 South Side on July 14.聽

鈥淲e are not asking for more well-trained, well-funded, well-equipped police,鈥� says Ethan 鈥淓thos鈥� Viets-VanLear of the #NoCopAcademy campaign. He's part of the police abolition movement, which seeks community solutions to crime and conflict.聽The 23-year-old has been organizing against police brutality since 2014, when his friend Dominique Franklin Jr. died after police officers tased him. Mr. Franklin allegedly had stolen a bottle of vodka from Walgreens. The city of Chicago eventually settled a federal lawsuit with Franklin鈥檚 father for $200,000.聽鈥淵oung people on the South and West sides are saying that we need to divert resources to schools," says Mr. Viets-VanLear. 鈥淭hey are saying the police do not bring safety into our communities.聽We are asking for money to be diverted from policing to education, health care, and parks.鈥�

Chicago spends 39 percent of its municipal budget on policing, while New York spends just 8 percent and Los Angeles spends 26 percent, according to last year by the Center for Popular Democracy.聽This means the city has less funds for things like schools and social services. The proposed $95 million academy comes just five years after the city announced the biggest in US history, shutting down聽50 schools because of a $1 billion budget shortfall.聽

Organizers here have long called for the diversion of funds away from policing and toward social services, but the proposed cop academy聽has given them a common cause to rally around.聽Launched shortly after the city proposed the new academy last summer, the campaign is now supported by nearly 80 organizations across the city. Over the last year, they have successfully disrupted city hall hearings, held flash mobs on trains and in the busy downtown area, and pressed politicians to take a stand on the issue.聽They鈥檝e gained an unusual group of supporters. Among them: Grammy-winner Chance the Rapper, former police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, and Lori Lightfoot, the former chairwoman of the Police Accountability Task Force.

Ms. Lightfoot, who is running for mayor, argues that while a new police training facility is needed, it should not be located on the city鈥檚 struggling West Side. Residents of the neighborhood where the academy is supposed to be built, West Garfield Park, have the same life expectancy as Iraqis. They are nine times more likely to be killed by a gun and six聽times more likely to be unemployed than someone living in the downtown Loop .听听

鈥淧utting this edifice to policing in this high-crime, impoverished neighborhood where relations between the police and the community are fraught, without a clear plan for community engagement, is a mistake,鈥� the audience at the City Club of Chicago earlier this year.

But Alderman Emma Mitts says that West Garfield Park has a lot to gain from the new police academy. 聽She has represented the community and its surrounding areas in the city council for close to 18 years.

鈥淐onsider the thousands of construction jobs, and when completed, hundreds of permanent positions鈥� says Ms. Mitts, which will stimulate economic development on the West Side. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 emphasize it enough: Jobs reduce violence and criminal activity.鈥�

She says that additionally the hundreds of officers coming through West Garfield Park will add 鈥渁 public safety presence that will bring increased peace and security to our residents鈥� and assist in 鈥減romoting better neighborhood relations between police and the surrounding communities.鈥澛�

Residents here, however, remain unconvinced.

鈥淚t鈥檚 crazy because they will [build a new police academy], but they won鈥檛 do anything for our schools,鈥� says McClain. 鈥淭hey would rather have police out here than better schools. I never understood that. Never.鈥�

Part 1: Desperate for officers, a Georgia police chief hits the road

Coming Thursday: Teaching police to holster their emotions