Community Engagement on the
People with Disabilities Policy

Overview

The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is committed to community engagement on its upcoming policy regarding interactions with people with disabilities.

From February 1st – March 31st, 2023, CPD is seeking community input and feedback on its People with Disabilities policy. After the community engagement period concludes, CPD will conduct an analysis of the input received and use it to inform the crafting of policy revisions. CPD will post a draft of the updated policy to its website in early 2023 and will invite the community to review the draft and provide additional feedback. Following any additional revisions, CPD anticipates implementing the new policies in 2023.

Upon the implementation of the updated policy, CPD will issue a public report detailing its engagement process, a summary of community feedback provided and how the feedback was used to inform policy revisions.

About the Policy

In January 2017, The United States Department of Justice concluded a yearlong civil rights investigation into the Chicago Police Department. The investigation revealed serious problems within the nation’s second-largest police department, including evidence of discriminatory policing.

This led a federal judge to authorize a consent decree, which was approved on January 31, 2019.

Among the many requirements, the consent decree mandates that the Chicago Police Department:

  • Ensure that its policies and practices prohibit discrimination on the basis of any protected class under federal, state, and local law, including race, color, sex, gender identity, age, religion, disability, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, military status, source of income, credit history, criminal record, or criminal history.
  • Ensure that its policies and practices comply with the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) and provide effective communication and meaningful access to CPD programs, services and activities for individuals with physical, developmental and intellectual disabilities. Information about the ADA can be found here: https://www.ada.gov/topics/intro-to-ada/
  • Require that all CPD members interact with all members of the public in an unbiased, fair, and respectful manner.

 

Get Involved

CPD is offering a number of ways you can provide your input on its policy regarding interactions with people with disabilities.

Public Comment on Policy

The Chicago Police Department invites you to review the policy and make comments and recommendations on it. To read the policies and provide your feedback.

Click here to read the policy and provide your feedback.

Public comments will be open until March 31st, 2023.

Public Input Form

CPD has launched an anonymous input form that asks various questions regarding people with disabilities. These questions will allow you to provide input on specific components you would like to see in these new CPD policies. Responses to this form are entirely anonymous.

Click Here to Provide Your Anonymous Input

 

Deliberative Dialogues

The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is inviting community groups and organizations interested in providing input on the policy regarding people with disabilities to meet with members from the Chicago Police Department’s Office of Community Policing and Office of Constitutional Policing and Reform.

Deliberative dialogues ideally involve representatives of various points of view in the community, including those who have been historically underrepresented in public forums and are aimed at understanding other perspectives on important topics or challenges. During deliberative dialogues, participants are invited to share their personal experiences on the issue and engage in a discussion of ideas on resolutions or needed changes in a safe, neutral setting. These dialogues may not always produce a consensus in the end, but the group will ideally understand the complexities of the issue and have a more informed opinion of it. CPD believes these types of dialogues are incredibly helpful at ensuring CPD members understand the perspectives and experiences of the community as policies continue to be revised.

What we ask of your organization:

  • Review and submit the anonymous public input form
  • Identify components within the current policy that your organization would like to see added.
  • Have a collaborative and respectful mindset that enables productive dialogue between your organization and CPD.

Meetings will begin after February 1st, 2023 and will be offered until March 29th, 2023. Organizations interested in participating in a deliberative dialogue must sign-up by March 3rd, 2023.

Due to the high demand for meetings, CPD will accommodate as many meeting requests as possible but may not get to every request before March 31st, 2023.

Click here to sign up for a deliberative dialogue

**Please be sure to list any ADA Accommodations or Language Access needs you may have for the meeting.

 

If you have additional questions, please contact [email protected]