Politics
Chicago Police Will Face a Big Test During the Democratic Convention. Here’s What to Know.
Chicago police officers training at McCormick Place on June 6, 2024, ahead of the upcoming Democratic National Convention. (WTTW News)
The Democratic National Convention, set to take place in Chicago from Aug. 19-22, will pose the most significant test of the Chicago Police Department since the summer of 2020, when unrest triggered by the police murder of George Floyd swept the city.
The convention will take place as CPD continues to struggle to comply with a more than 5-year-old federal court order requiring that the department reform itself after decades of scandals, misconduct and brutality.
CPD will face intense scrutiny as it responds to what are likely to be massive protests fueled by intense debates over reproductive rights as well as the Israel-Hamas war that has devastated Gaza. That response will test a new policy that would allow mass arrests of protesters that was revised after a coalition of reform groups warned it violated the First Amendment and set the stage for chaos.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling have repeatedly said that Chicago police officers are prepared to lawfully police the massive protests expected to erupt around the United Center and downtown under the white-hot media glare the convention is sure to trigger.
“Chicago is ready,” Johnson said. “We were born ready.”
Here’s a look at the challenge facing CPD and the rules officers will have to follow.
Exactly how many people are headed to Chicago for the DNC?
More than 5,000 delegates representing all 57 U.S. states and territories will gather at the United Center and McCormick Place to celebrate the nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as the Democratic nominee for vice president. In all, city officials expect the convention to draw 50,000 visitors, including 12,000 volunteers and 15,000 members of the media.
Wait, why is the convention taking place at two different locations?
The United Center isn’t big enough to accommodate everything that is set to take place Aug. 19-22. While the made-for-TV roll call, performances and speeches will take place on the home court of the Bulls and the Blackhawks, McCormick Place will host meetings and briefings, officials said. The Republicans had a similar setup in Milwaukee, splitting their convention between the Fiserv Forum and the Baird Center.
The United Center and McCormick Place are not close. How will CPD protect both and patrol the city?
There will be shuttles to get convention participants back and forth, but the distance between the two facilities adds a layer of complexity – and potential disruption for Chicagoans, since there will be two restricted areas in Chicago: one around the United Center around the West Side and one around McCormick Place in Bronzeville.
CPD will have the assistance of several other law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Secret Service, and as many as 500 officers from police departments from other Illinois towns and cities as well as officers from Milwaukee. Those officers will undergo 12 hours of training and are expected to have minimal contact with the public while in Chicago, officials said.
Why do people keep saying this will be just like 1968?
There are several coincidences. Like President Joe Biden, former President Lydon Johnson dropped his bid for reelection, throwing the nominating process into disarray. But the similarities end there: Harris and Walz have already secured the party’s nomination via a virtual roll call, and Democrats are firmly behind them to take on former President Donald Trump and his vice-presidential running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
While 2024 has been a very tumultuous political year, it has nothing on 1968, which saw riots, assassinations and a fervid debate over the Vietnam War, which was at its height.
Massive anti-war protests along Michigan Avenue triggered a police riot, highlighting the party’s split over the war, and helping to elect former President Richard Nixon. Those images indelibly stained Chicago’s reputation as a home for political conventions.
When the Democratic National Convention returned to Chicago in 1996, it was peaceful, helping to boost former President Bill Clinton’s reelection bid.
OK, forget the comparisons to the summer of 1968. Let’s talk about the summer of 2020.
Two probes found CPD failed to protect the constitutional rights of thousands of Chicagoans during the unrest and protests that followed Floyd’s murder. Officers beat protesters with batons, doused their faces with pepper spray, used racial slurs and mocked the protesters’ demands. In many cases, that conduct violated protesters’ First Amendment rights and involved unjustified and excessive force, according to the probes. So far, Chicago taxpayers have spent at least $6.8 million to defend and settle lawsuits triggered by CPD’s conduct during the protests. At least a dozen more lawsuits are still pending.
What will be different this time?
Everything, Snelling and Johnson say. CPD won’t be going it alone, and police brass has had nearly a year and a half to get ready for the protests. Snelling drew a stark contrast between the events that followed Floyd’s murder — which were largely unanticipated by officials — and the protests expected around the convention.
Snelling has acknowledged that officers were unprepared to handle the protests in 2020, echoing a key finding of the probe conducted by the team charged with monitoring CPD’s compliance with the consent decree.
Snelling has promised to model CPD’s response to protests outside the DNC on the department’s response to the 2012 NATO summit, which was lauded.
During those protests, police officers passively monitored protests and kept most heavily armed units out of sight unless needed. That approach allowed officers to direct protests in a way that allowed officers to anticipate the crowd’s movements and set up blockades if necessary, according to an after-action report that lauded the approach.
But CPD’s response to those massive protests against the war in Afghanistan was not unblemished.
On May 20, 2012, police and protesters clashed two blocks west of McCormick Place, where leaders of the alliance were meeting. As protesters pushed toward the convention center, a melee erupted as officers struck protesters with batons to push them back.
Approximately 45 people were arrested, and four officers were injured.
So what changed after the 2020 protests?
Federal court monitors required CPD to revamp its policy for handling First Amendment protests to prevent what happened during the summer of 2020 from happening again.
That policy prohibits officers from arresting those engaged in First Amendment protests for “minor or petty offenses … or for actions that pose no immediate threat to the safety of the community, or others, or of causing property damage.”
The policy also requires officers to give protesters an opportunity to comply before they are subject to arrest or detention.
Approximately 2,500 officers will get 48 hours of special training to “respond directly to civil unrest and the possibility of riots,” Snelling said.
Why did CPD need a new mass arrest policy before the DNC?
One of the problems investigators identified with CPD’s response to the 2020 protests was the fact that the department did not have rules for officers to follow when large gatherings spiraled out of control and police officials decided to start arresting dozens of people.
Although that failure was well known to police officials, they did not start crafting a new policy until the beginning of 2024, only to face intense criticism from police reform groups that it set the stage for CPD officers to once again violate the civil rights of people exercising their First Amendment rights.
What changes did CPD make to the policy?
CPD officers will now be required to take additional steps to protect the First Amendment rights of protesters and “remain unbiased and opinion neutral in any communication with individuals within the crowd while affirming that the First Amendment rights of lawful participants are protected.”
Protesters can only be arrested as a last resort, when police have evidence that their actions pose an immediate threat to the lives of others or may cause property damage, according to the policy.
For example, a group of protesters could face arrest if they choose to block access to a hospital, because that could threaten public safety. But those who engage in protests that pose no such threat may not be arrested, even if they do not follow police directives, according to the policy.
In addition, only specific protesters who pose a threat to people or property can be arrested — not everyone participating in the protest, according to the new policy.
What groups are planning to protest the DNC?
The Coalition to March on the DNC, made up of more 125 organizations, plans to march on the first and last days of the convention within “sight and sound” of the United Center.
Another coalition of groups focused on abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, known as Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws, plans to march on Aug. 18 on Michigan Avenue, before the convention officially starts, hoping to catch the attention of delegates checking in to their hotels.
The Poor People’s Army, a national coalition based in Philadelphia, will march Aug. 19 from Humboldt Park to the United Center. A judge permitted the march after city officials failed to respond to the group’s application within the required 10-day deadline.
Do we know where the protests will take place near the United Center?
Organizers expect tens of thousands of people to join the Coalition to March on the DNC, and contend the route city officials have offered them is insufficient.
City lawyers proposed a one-mile march route that includes side streets while the coalition has asked a federal judge to allow them to march for 2.3 miles on Washington Boulevard, Lake Street and Damen Avenue, much bigger streets.
A federal judge ruled late Monday that the route proposed by city officials was sufficient.
Why do they need a permit?
No one needs a permit to exercise their constitutional right to protest on public property — as long as they don’t obstruct car or pedestrian traffic or pose a threat to public safety. Without a permit, police officers can ask you to move to the side of a street or sidewalk to let others pass or for safety reasons. If protesters refuse, they can be arrested.
Marches that require streets to be closed to vehicular or pedestrian traffic require a permit, as well as rallies of a certain size that require sound amplification.
What if I want to protest, but I’m not part of the groups with permits?
You can protest whenever you want — if it is on public property, and you don’t pose a public safety threat. Stay off private property, because the owner can have you arrested for trespassing. There will no doubt be pop-up protests throughout the week, and those will likely pose a significant challenge for CPD.
The city also plans to erect a speaker’s platform in Park 578, 1919 W. Maypole Ave. Those who signed up can speak for 45 minutes between 11 a.m.-6 p.m. during the convention.
When the 1996 DNC took place in Chicago, a similar initiative failed to draw much interest — either from protesters, convention participants or onlookers.
What are CPD officers saying?
John Catanzara, the president of the city’s largest police union, wrote in his latest newsletter to his members that most officers are “holding their breath,” worried and nervous about the convention. Catanzara, an outspoken a supporter of indicted former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, said he expects protesters to be “90 percent outside agitators who are coming here to turn the city upside down, to have their voices heard, to make a point or just to create chaos itself.”
Catanzara also warned that the focus on the convention would leave the rest of the city unprotected.
“The districts are going to be beyond bare-bones because of everybody primarily focused on the DNC, so it’s going to be open season for the criminals in the city,” Catanzara said. “They have it clocked to take advantage of citizens everywhere else across the city, knowing response times are going to be through the roof for the average beat car.”
In the past, Catanzara’s predictions have been ill-founded. Before Johnson’s election, he predicted there would be “blood in the streets” and between 800 and 1,000 officers would leave the force. The size of the CPD has been steady since Johnson took office in May 2023.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
