How Chicago became ground zero for police reform this week
| Chicago
In one corner of Chicago were 14,000 law enforcement leaders, lots of probing seminars, and President Obama. In another were 200 activists with signs and bullhorns.
Between them was a single question: What has changed since Ferguson?
For the past four days, Chicago has been ground zero for the movement to reform policing. It was the scene of the annual International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference, which wrapped Tuesday with an address by Mr. Obama. But it was also the scene for the 鈥淚 Shocked the Sheriff鈥� counterconference, aimed at holding the police gathered in sprawling McCormick Place to account.
Their views of whether anything has improved since protests erupted in Ferguson, Mo., 14 months ago are radically different.
鈥淲e鈥檙e policing smarter, we鈥檙e policing better,鈥� Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said at the IACP conference, echoing others there.
鈥淚 think [the police] may be more aware of the problems that are happening in police departments, but I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 been any real change,鈥� counters Camesha Jones of the Black Youth Project 100鈥檚 Chicago chapter, which led the protests.
The two conferences here have shown in real time the gulf that still lies between police and activists representing the black community. But both events, in their own ways, also have shown that the momentum for police reform is undiminished more than a year after the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson.
The view from the police
鈥淚鈥檝e been doing this work for 30 years, and I鈥檝e never seen such a spirit of openness and trying to figure out what鈥檚 appropriate for policing as I鈥檝e seen here,鈥� says Tom Tyler, a Yale University professor of law and psychology, who attended the IACP conference and spoke on a panel about improving community relations.
鈥淚f you had looked at most meetings of police leaders 10 years ago, they would have been dominated by discussions about how to control crime,鈥� he adds. 鈥淎fter Ferguson, police commanders became aware that there was an additional issue that they needed to be aware about, which was how their actions were being viewed within the community.鈥�
That change was apparent at the IACP conference. Law enforcement executives had their pick of a number of seminars on community relations. Other seminars focused on procedural justice, which emphasizes treating people with respect, ensuring fair processes, and building community trust.
The concept gained the support of the Department of Justice this year as a way to strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and the communities it serves. In March, former Attorney General Eric Holder announced six pilot sites for the Department of Justice鈥檚 $4.75 million National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice.
Professor Tyler says that procedural justice training programs have shown 鈥渄ramatic declines in civilian complaints鈥� about the police, and that they have been gaining traction in police departments across the United States. On the sidelines of the IACP conference Monday, another procedural justice program, called Train the Trainers, was launched with the support of the Chicago Police Department and researchers from Yale, John Jay College, and the University of California at Los Angeles.
The view from the protesters
For the activists at this week鈥檚 counterconference, however, changes in policing are coming far too slowly. While no national database of police shootings currently exists, earlier this year found that 1,083 Americans were killed by police in the 12 months after Mr. Brown鈥檚 death
鈥淲e are not asking politely for the IACP to change their outlook on community policing,鈥� Tanya Watkins 鈥� a leader of Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation, which helped organize the conference 鈥� told a crowd of protesters at the counterconference rally. 鈥淲e are asserting our rights as Americans in this country to be governed in a way that does not kill us.鈥�
After the rally on Saturday, Ms. Watkins and a couple hundred protesters marched to McCormick Place to give the IACP leadership a list of demands formulated during their counterconference. These included the decriminalization of the possession of drugs, the creation of a special prosecutor鈥檚 office in every police jurisdiction, and the reallocation of funds from law enforcement programs to community initiatives 鈥渢hat will end the prison pipeline and keep our communities safe.鈥�
Activists blocked roads around McCormick Place for several hours, and one person climbed a flagpole at the convention center鈥檚 entrance and hung a Black Youth Project 100 flag over the American flag.
By the time the protest ended, 66 people had been arrested on misdemeanor charges for obstructing traffic.
鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to say they鈥檙e going to make reforms and changes, but they鈥檙e not listening to the voices of young black organizers or people in the community who are being affected,鈥� says Ms. Jones of the Black Youth Project 100. 鈥淲e need people like me at the table.鈥�
What has changed
Problems that existed in police departments before Ferguson are still largely there, says criminologist Samuel Walker, who has been studying policing for the past four decades. And it is too early to expect any significant changes in police behavior, he adds. Instead, the biggest difference in law enforcement today is protests like the one that took place Saturday.
鈥淭he whole conversation about policing has changed dramatically,鈥� says Mr. Walker, an emeritus professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. 鈥淭he events of the last year or so have focused the attention on the police like never before.鈥�
Walker says the country is in a crucial moment where policing has the potential to be transformed.
鈥淲e have a huge opportunity to make some real changes,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e have a lot of very good ideas that are out there. And the public understands these problems in a way that has not been true in the past.鈥�
In his speech to the IACP Tuesday, Obama praised the police for reducing crime nationwide during the past two decades but said that there is still much work to be done to reduce officers鈥� bias and increase communities鈥� trust in the police.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to resist the false trap that says either there should be no accountability for police or that every police officer is a suspect no matter what they do,鈥� he said. 鈥淣either of those things can be right.鈥�
