Head of safety & accountability commission meets with 16th (Jefferson Park) District Police Council

by BRIAN NADIG

A police ride-along provided interim Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability president Anthony Driver Jr. with insight into the roles of police officers and the challenges they face.

“The whole experience was life changing,” Driver said at the March 12 meeting of the 16th (Jefferson Park) District Police Council.

Driver said that he watched the officers approach an individual who they were familiar with and deescalated a potentially volatile situation.

“Having an officer on a beat that knows the community is so valuable,” Driver said. Driver added that the officers did not to think twice about rushing into a dangerous situation. “Without even thinking, they jumped out of the car and ran to the danger,” he said.

Driver discussed how he has met with a wide variety of groups, including the Chicago Fraternal Order of Po- lice, which has been critical of the commission and the oversight process, and that he’s not worried when one side gets angry with him for talking to the other.

“I think that’s how you break down barriers,” Driver said. “We can’t go wrong with community engagement. … There’s no reason why the city of Chicago can’t be the safest city.”

Driver said that one of his top concerns for the police force has been “the cancellation of days off ” that in the past led to some officers working “22 straight days without time off.” Any police superintendent must adequately address this issue given the stress it can place on officers, he said.

“They’d cancel days off for offficers and not have enough cars for them,” Driver said. “You’d put three to four per car.”

The commission last year voted to scrap the Chicago Police Department’s gang database. Driver said that his own father was mistakenly listed in the database, an error that was caught when he applied for a conceal and carry license.

“There’s no real process to appeal,” he said. More than 500 government and nonprofit agencies had access to the database, which reportedly included more than 100,000 adult names, and that getting access for these agencies was relatively easy, Driver said.

Critics contended that the databases was overrun with errors and was racially biased and that gang affiliations could still be noted in individual files of known criminals.

Driver is one of 15 finalists which a nominating committee has recommended to serve a full 4-year term on the seven-member commission, which will be losing its “interim” status.

Mayor Brandon Johnson will be submitting a list of seven finalists to the City Council for approval.

The commission helps set police department policy and plays a role in the hiring of police superintendents. It also selects the chief administrator for the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

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