Crime & Law
Police District Councils Work to Rebuild Trust in Law Enforcement, Push for CPD Accountability
The push for police oversight is also a neighborhood effort, with the help of police district councils.
Council members work in each of the city’s 22 police districts, hearing out residents’ public safety concerns and advocating for accountability in the Chicago Police Department. The first members were elected in 2023, giving everyday people more of a say in how policing is done.
Dion McGill, a member of the 7th Police District (Englewood) Council, said that while it’s been easier to listen to community concerns, there are still some challenges. In Englewood, the history of disinvestment and overpolicing still lingers and many people don’t trust law enforcement. He said his role as a district council member is to challenge the policing system.
“It’s my job to be critical of the work of CPD, as well as bring the community to the table,” McGill said.
The Chicago Police Department has had a community policing policy since 1993. It focuses on making sure the same officers, reporting to the same supervisors, consistently police the same part of the city. Community policing is also a part of the consent decree, the court order calling for CPD to stop violating Black and Latino residents’ constitutional rights.
McGill said CPD’s reform efforts don’t always align with what he believes residents need.
“To me, community policing means residents are shaping priorities,” McGill said. “... It’s when community members feel comfortable to be invited to say, ‘We see officers do this, we don’t like this, and we need you to explain this and why it’s happening and how we can make this look different.’”
Elianne Bahena, a member of the 10th Police District (Ogden) Council, said a lot of her work has been focused on making sure residents in Little Village and North Lawndale know their rights amid ICE raids.
“There’s been a lot of topics about police, ICE and Border Patrol, and if they’re collaborating,” Bahena said. “There’s been many incidents that have left the community shaken. Our focus has been a lot on the ground and being that local support while also making sure that we are trying to find ways to advocate for community members when it comes to policing.”
Bahena was one of two city employees detained after an immigration enforcement raid in Little Village. She said she was detained for seven hours.
“I saw the interactions that were happening as I was in the backseat of a car in handcuffs,” Bahena said. “I could see from the window how confusing it was to community members when the Chicago Police Department showed up with the Cicero Police Department, and all we have is our bodies and whistles.”
Bahena, along with 37 other police district council members, signed onto a letter calling for an investigation into potential coordination between Chicago police and federal agents.
CPD works with several community violence intervention partners, including Chicago CRED. But the Trump administration is cutting federal money for violence prevention, which advocates said could threaten the progress made in improving local public safety.
Cedric Hawkins works in the Roseland and Pullman communities as an outreach specialist at Chicago CRED. He said that despite the funding cuts, community violence intervention groups play an important role in helping CPD improve its relationship with the community.
“If law enforcement gets to the point where they stop believing in working with community violence intervention groups, that’s where they will fail,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins was once incarcerated and released after his sentence was commuted. He said that when he was growing up, law enforcement was mainly viewed as an enemy — a perception that is still deeply ingrained.
“It will take time to repair police-community relations; the wound is still fresh,” Hawkins said.
WTTW News invited the Chicago Police Department to join “Chicago Tonight,” but the department declined.
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
