Today's session is geared towards hearing from the community about its requirements for the new COPA Chief Administrator, as well as priorities for that administrator and any other criteria that CCPSA should consider.

FYI for those interested a video recording of the meeting may be made available after the fact at . youtube.com/@chicagoccpsa/…

The meeting has begun at 6:32 pm. Commissioner Anthony Driver is introducing the listening session by providing context like the role of the COPA chief administrator and the purpose of the listening session.

3 min have been allotted per speaker for up to 25 speakers. Responses will be recorded and used to finalize criteria for COPA chief. Feedback can also be provided after the fact in writing.

Gerald Polanco from Impact for Equity spoke 1st. His criteria included compassion towards individuals experiencing police misconduct. "The new leader should be willing to prioitize meeting with familes... community meetings" and experience analyzing data to make recommendations

Next speaker is Nancy Rodriguez. "One of the things I would like to see for the new COPA chief is to be culturally competent and have knowledge of our communities. Be a good listener." She adds that you can see the cooperation once people feel listened to.

Speaker Tiwon Sims referenced his experience where he felt mislead by police and their reports. He questioned whether CCPSA/COPA work & why a new head is worthwhile w/o accountability despite numerous complaints. He spoke passionately about his mistrust of police & qual. immunity

No other speakers have signed up to speak. Nancy Rodriguez asked to speak a second time. "We need to address the 70-75% of murder victims who happen to be African American." Commissioner Driver asked her to clarify her ask. She says it needs to be addressed along with thefts.

Speaker Lindsay Wax referenced a "slush fund" that exists for Police vacancies. She suggested the new COPA chief redirects those funds to social services for public safety issues like homelessness rather than hiring more police.

Commissioner Driver agrees that those funds are misappropriated as new police will not be hired. He believes these funds are used to pay for settlements but he also clarifies that funding is not under the purview of COPA Chief.

Commissioner Driver also adds applications for chief will be blind initially so he cannot speak to questions about internal vs external nominations.

Commissioner Driver emphasized that personal disputes were not taken into consideration when the exiting Chief left the position. No additional attendees elected to speak. Commissioner Driver reminded folks can also provide written comment at forms.office.com/pages/response…

This session concluded at 6:55 pm.

* Clarification for an earlier tweet. The personal disputes referenced were between Superintendent Snelling / the Police Union and COPA leadership.