City Room™ - Metro - Community Policing in Chicago Loses Steam

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City RoomTM Public Affairs coverage from our award-winning staff

Community Policing in Chicago Loses Steam
Produced by Chip Mitchell on Thursday, May 21, 2009

WBEZ/Rob Wildeboer

An effort that made Chicago a model for community policing is losing momentum. Attendance at police meetings in neighborhoods across the city has dwindled to its lowest point in more than a decade.

The city adopted the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy in 1993. The strategy depends on community members turning out for monthly meetings with officers in more than 200 beats. Attendance at these CAPS meetings totaled more than 70,000 in 2002. That was the peak.

Last year’s turnout was less than 49,000, down almost a third. That’s according to unpublished data the police department provided WBEZ. Figures for the first four months of this year show that the meeting attendance has shrunk further.

The city, meanwhile, has been trimming some CAPS resources. Last year, Police Supt. Jody Weis ordered an end to overtime for officers at CAPS functions. And Chicago reduced the budget of a police office in charge of community outreach.

Hank Morris, West Ridge // Friday, May 22, 2009 @ 1:32 PM

Many changes to CAPS have NOT been for the better. They cut funding so badly that the individual beats get none. They put in a "CAPS Sgt." who attends all CAPS meetings. But, took away the Sector Sgt. who actually knew what was happening. The CAPS Sgt. seldom knows the neighborhood and has far less knowledge of what's happening on the beat than the Sector Sgt. does/did. We used to get representatives from all watches, now we only get the dynamic duo that are on duty when the meeting takes place. We never see the officers from the other watches any more. We all lose from this. The lines of communication have been severely damaged. This doesn't bode well for enticing attendance. Now they're talking about District-wide National Night Out celebrations instead of the more-popular individual beat celebrations. Few districts have a central location that would attract people from all over the district to such a celebration. So, where we once got the word to the neighbors, now a majority of those who would show up will feel it's too much of a hastle to go out of their beat. If CAPS is failing, it's because the CPD WANTS it to fail.

Done with CAPS 2412 & 2413, 24th District 50th Ward // Tuesday, May 26, 2009 @ 10:06 PM

I agree with Hank and want to add one thing he omitted. Two of our CAPS facilitators beat 2413 and 2412 broadcast a public access TV show that has consistently berated residents and organizations that do not align themselves with the alderman or their agenda. Instead of being a partner to people that want to see positive improvement in the area, they show fierce opposition and use any vehicle possible, as an example watch the clip that appeared on ”YouTube” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIHjgeLqgQs). Their TV show (and this clip) can also be accessed from the 24th police district home page. Shouldn’t this be reserved for CAPS information only? All of this nonsense has been reported to the 24th district superiors many times and nothing has been done. Instead, a poorly communicated and mismanaged election put them back in place for 2 more years. Who cares what residents want! They do nothing to promote meetings, safety events or activities in our area; most people don’t know when or where the next CAPS meeting takes place. Some residents have gone great lengths and set Yahoo groups so that information about safety and police can be communicated faster and easier. So it’s no surprise to me that residents are losing interest in CAPS especially when things like this are allowed to continue.

Done with CAPS 2413 & 2413, 24th District 50th Ward // Tuesday, May 26, 2009 @ 10:34 PM

Link was wrong on previous post...should be:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIHjgeLqgQs Watch one of our esteemed CAPS facilitators trash a 50th Ward resident!