Policing reform is about more than the numbers

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As superintendent, I will be the first to acknowledge the Chicago Police Department's need for reform. Throughout my more than 30 years with CPD, I have seen firsthand how we got here. Prior to the consent decree, we lacked the tools — consistent training, stronger policies — we needed to balance public safety and address the violence in our city while building trust within our communities.

For too long, it was one or the other. Reform is about balancing the need for both.

By definition, reform means change. What I want to be clear on is that while yes, we are making changes to strengthen our department, what has not changed is why our police officers do this job. This department is built on generations of men and women who care so much about Chicago that they are willing to wake up each day and put their own safety at risk to protect every resident of and visitor to our great city.

When the CPD entered into a consent decree in 2019, we committed ourselves to becoming a more professional department through improved policies and practices rooted in constitutional policing. That’s exactly what we have been doing. With at least 85% of consent decree paragraphs receiving some level of compliance, CPD has made more progress than any other American city under a consent decree at the five-year mark.

While the focus of reform discussion has centered on compliance levels and deadlines, that will never give a true look at the systematic improvements that have been made across CPD. These improvements should not be reduced to a single number, but rather a more robust conversation about the changes to the department's policies and training as well as the effect of these changes on the actions taken day in and day out by the members of the department. When we are criticized simply for not implementing reforms quickly enough, it undermines the purpose of our reform efforts.

The work we are doing is not about getting out of the consent decree as fast as we can. It’s about being intentional in our actions to make sure what we are doing is going to best serve our community and our officers for future generations to come. This is an opportunity to better the department, to get our officers better trained and then implement a level of accountability that has not been there before. That accountability helps everybody. It helps the department, it helps the officers and it also helps the community.

In these past five years, we have worked to build trust with our community members who have felt historically disconnected and marginalized by CPD. We have been working to build stronger communication and partnership with our communities throughout the city. We have made progress but we still have a way to go.

To truly achieve reform, we cannot operate as separate entities. This is why we have made it a priority to build community input into the foundation of our policy development. These policies are the key to how our officers are trained and how they conduct themselves.

While developing these policies is the first step in establishing these reforms, the training that follows is just as important. Prior to the consent decree, officers did not receive consistent training. Today, our officers receive 40-hours of mandatory in-service training covering topics such as officer wellness, de-escalation and use of force. Training is something both our officers and our community members have wanted for decades.

We’ve also put in place systems that help us identify areas for improvement. Take the Tactical Review and Evaluation Division (TRED) for example. This unit was established to review and analyze use-of-force incidents so that we can look at areas that need policy adjustments or more training. TRED allows us to self-regulate and make sure we’re catching issues before they become widespread.

Early in our consent decree, reform was a polarizing word within CPD. It’s no secret many officers believed it was a form of punishment meant to restrict officers. That’s not what reform is or was ever about. Reform is about making sure our officers are equipped with the knowledge and tools they need to do their jobs in very difficult and stressful situations. It’s about finding common ground with our community members who want the same thing we do, which is to keep our families and our city safe.

I have said repeatedly and I will state again that reform is a priority to me as superintendent. I commit to the residents of this city, including all members of the department, that I will focus on ensuring that the members of this great department have the best policies, training and resources they need to truly serve the residents of and visitors to Chicago. I look forward to continued conversations with all residents of this city and commit to continue to strengthen relationships as reform progresses.

Supt. Larry Snelling was chief of the Bureau of Counterterrorism when he was selected as superintendent in August 2023.

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