[remote or in-person] Committee on Public Safety
Chicago City Council
Politics
Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024
9:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m. CDT
121 N LaSalle St Chicago, IL 60602 (Directions)
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Reporting
Edited and summarized by the Chicago - IL Documenters Team
Live reporting by
Morley Musick
Mayor Brandon Johnson, in conjunction w/ a group of majority Black women alders, calls for the creation of the Mayor’s Task Force on Missing Women.
Morley Musick
@MorleyMusick
Hello all, today I'll be live-tweeting a Chicago Committee on Public Safety meeting for @CHIdocumenters . This meeting will focus on the possible creation of the Mayor’s Task Force on Missing Women.
09:45 AM Oct 23, 2024 CDT
Per the @Chicago_Reader , the resolution responds to the findings of an @invinst investigation about disproportionate # of missing black women in city, 1 in 3 cases, despite being 2% of population chicagoreader.com/news-politics/…
chicagoreader.com/news-politics/…
Per @Chicago_Reader "families are regularly subjected to lengthy, illegal delays to reporting missing family members; and that CPD data systems have significant recordkeeping issues, including false closure of cases, preventing effective follow-ups or investigations."
A prior resolution sponsored by ald. Stephanie Coleman (16th) called for a subject matter hearing featuring testimony from reporters who wrote on this issue including, who won the pulitzer prize for their work.
We're 15 mins behind schedule so far, nothing going on on zoom at the moment.
False alarm. We're about a half hour behind schedule. I'm reporting from zoom, maybe there are some issues on the ground.
Brenda Stewart (Stuart (?)), ED of Chicago non-profit speaks first. Laments homelessness problem and abandoned buildings.
Zoe Lee (sp?). Public speaker is addressing CBS reporter Dorothy Tucker and saying she + CBS producer failed to report on City of Chicago destroying her mother's home via eminent domain.
She is attacking the democratic party and reporter for making money from Black people's oppression. "Why don't you be a reporter and take my story."
Patricia P/Fuente (sp?): She has come to speak out against drag racing. Lamenting drinking and girls hanging out on top of cars at drag races and police inaction.
Jaribu Lee, Deputy Director of Kenwood Oakland Community Organization speaking now. "Imagine for a moment that your daughter or a friend disappears. The silence that follows is deafening." Stories of missing Black girls
Calls for civilian liaisons in every police district. We need an ebony alert system for missing black women. Amber alert is not enough. Cites Minnesota "Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls Office" - calls for same here.
Rev Robin Hood speaking now. Talking about crisis of missing black women in Chicago. High risks for women everywhere, just if they go to store at night. "It shd be totally unacceptable when a black woman or girl goes missing."
Lamenting failure of law enforcement to solve cases of missing Black women. Says task force must include youth, lsc, faith leaders.
Africa Porter speaking now. Says she is resident of Hyde Park since '73. Talking about activist legacy. Says she was pushed down at Sophy Hotel and posted on social media to find name of man who was pushed down.
Shannon Bennet ED of KOCO speaking now. Recounting history of We Walk for Her March, which is abt missing Black women. Calls for civilian liaison, criticizes current problem of having lots of diff detectives being assigned to single cases.
Again cites Minnesota "Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls Office" as precedent. People closes to pain should be closest to ... (his mic is cut off for exceeding time?).
Another speaker from KOCO, Khalil Cotton (youth mentor). Part of girls lead coalition. Mentions KOCO led marches. "We refuse to let these women's stories disappear." Must fight to change system. Crucial for men to be part of this movement.
Tewon Sims (Sp?) speaking now. Criticizing alders for being vindictive and "cheating cops", cutting police training classes. "They're [alders] supposed to be like avengers!"
Jessica Jackson speaking next. Another person criticizing Dorothy Tucker for not doing a story about county stealing Black women's property, not answering emails, not doing a CBS story on her. "Don't you roll your eyes!" "They're too scared of white people."
Bridget Rouse speaking on behalf of sister Sonya Rouse . Talks about sister who went missing march 2017. Her case "grossly mishandled" by CPD. Cites failure of detective Yovarski (sp?) and "incompetent CPD". charleyproject.org/case/sonya-mar…
charleyproject.org/case/sonya-mar…
Rouse: "I'm left with my sister's screams." Says she was married to CPD officer who was not Black. Says missing Black women cases not handled with same due diligence as white women.
George Blakemore speaking now. He's wearing a MAGA hat but with the A in again painted over with white paint. "We're still on the white man's plantation." Tussling w/ sergeant at arms.
Alders Taylor and Coleman speaking now. Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) speaking about demeaning response by CPD to missing black women. Talking about Dejanay Stanton who was missing, and then found killed in Bronzeville. chicago.suntimes.com/2019/1/13/1831…
chicago.suntimes.com/2019/1/13/1831…
Ald Taylor: We need to put money into this issue. Thanking the young people who work on this issue. Why no dogs, no search parties, no amber alerts when Black women go missing? she asks. Cites commitment by CPD Supt. Snelling to work on this issue.
Taylor: "We gotta hold their feet to the fire." Addressing the public: Don't let us walk away without a plan, without your phone numbers.
Ald. Coleman: "Most disrespected person in America is a Black Woman. Most unprotected person in America is a Black woman."
Ald. Coleman: "I know what it's like to be studied, analyzed, to have all types of data abt your community." Black women must not suffer in silence any more. Calls for CPD, Snelling, Business, Educating communities to prevent violence.
Teresa Smith of KOCO testifying now about the murder of her mother Daisy Hayes. Said she called CPD relentlessly, told her CPD was missing. Said CPD told her brought up her mother going to liquor store. hpherald.com/evening_digest…
hpherald.com/evening_digest…
Said she asked CPD to look into Hayes' boyfriend, but they delayed. Says CPD needs to listen to people's family. Cites discrimination by area code. Hayes body was never found. "I have no place to pray, to talk with her." "CPD dropped the ball." Says they failed to look at DNA.
Teresa Smith: We should not feel as if we're not wanted, contending with backlash from police. CPD did not do a search party, we at KOCO did a search party, we looked under dirty mattresses, we would have gone out to a landfill. Her life wasn't worth anything huh?
Citing double standards searching. "They're still looking for Jonbenet Ramsey." "It's a terrible feeling to feel every day when a whole system let you down." Criticizing failure to acquit man in killing of her mother Daisy. "Everybody failed my mother. Every last one of y'all."
CBS @dorothyTV2 presenting now on her investigation into missing Black women "Investigating Injustice: Black Women at risk." Her team investigated 20 yrs of data. "People bearing brunt of violence look like me, my daughter.."
Black women #1 targets of crime. They are now playing the CBS investigation, which discusses 66 Black women who were carjacked in 2022. 277 black women were preyed on in grocery stores. 47 black women filed police reports from churches. 769 contended with crimes on CTA.
CBS investigation recounts story of Sierra Jamison who was interviewed after surviving attempted carjacking, and then killed a month after investigation: abc7chicago.com/sierra-jamison…
abc7chicago.com/sierra-jamison…
.@dorothyTV2 now talking about how CBS will continue to report on what actions Chicago will or won't take for Black women in Chicago.
Mayor's rep whose name I didn't catch is talking about Mayor Johnson's plan for addressing the crisis. Talks about >30% increase in Domestic Violence deaths in Illinois last year.
Emphasizes that immigrant women face significant addl challenges w/rt domestic violence.
Noureen Hashim-Jiwani first dept of policy at Mayor's office speaking now. Says gender based violence task force is in the policy team, takes an intersectional approach.
Brenda Myers-Powell founder of Ernestine's Daughter () and survivor of DV survivor: "You're looking at a missing almost-murdered girl." Says she was kidnapped by 2 pimps in 1973 who trafficked her and then helped by a trucker. ernestinesdaughter.org/#home
ernestinesdaughter.org/#home
Spent 25 years as a sex worker, was shot multiple times and stabbed. Now serves on U.S. council on human trafficking. Talking about task force for missing indigenous women - asked white house, why not the same for black women?
Says black women constitute 40% of missing persons. Criticizes media portrayals of black women victims of crime, how they include details about drugs usages.
Shykira Richards, Director of Program Administration at Youth Guidance, speaking now about Working on Womanhood (WOW) a domestic violence support/intervention program. Cites various stats indicating that it helps women. youth-guidance.org/working-on-wom…
youth-guidance.org/working-on-wom…
Richards affirms commitment of Youth Guidance to help inform the work of Missing Black Women task force.
Now a rep from Good Kids Mad City talking about her experience with DV. Had broken ribs and CPD did not come for 2 hours to help. Calls for civilian liaison again. Says CPD is categorizing black girl 11 or 12 as black women. "They're not prioritizing children."
Kayla Johnson (sp?) from KOCO speaking now about KOCO's march We Walk for Her. Cites CPD not prioritizing cases. Says CPD chooses to neglect cases, making assumptions about whereabouts of victim without conducting investigation, and stereotyping.
K. Johnson wants an office /separate/ from law enforcement to address missing black women.
Citing 2 cases of law enforcement failings to investigate missing person cases with black girls. Talking about case of Desiree Robinson, who was murdered after being kidnapped and sex trafficked. Detective prematurely closed her missing case. chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2019/6/4…
chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2019/6/4…
trina reynolds-tyler now talking about failing of detective on Chavanna Prather, who closed her missing person case despite the fact that she had not been found, had actually been murdered. Police "effectively hiding police neglect" w/ lack of oversight for similar failings.
@sarahanneconway speaking now. Criticizing CPD practice of classifying as "closed non-criminal" missing person cases, failing to investigate.
@trinattrill discussing case of Takaylah Tribitt and failure of police to look into her disappearance. wgntv.com/news/chicago-m…
wgntv.com/news/chicago-m…
.@sarahanneconway Black people make up about 2/3 of missing person cases. @trinattrill talking about how police fail to gather data on police actions taken after people disappeared.
.@sarahanneconway talking about how lack of police data makes it impossible to examine equability of response to missing person cases.
.@trinattrill many families feel services were denied because they were black. Citing case of Shante Bohanan whose disappearance was not taken seriously until mother showed up with man at police station.
.@trinattrill talking about case of Sonya Rouse and failure of Detective Brian Yaverski to investigate her disappearance. Yaverski has himself been found guilty of DV, said trina reynolds-tyler, asking, is failure related?
.@sarahanneconway suggests CPD digitize missing person's forms. Reads other questions below offering way forward with better missing persons process.
.@trinattrill criticizes CPD practice of classifying missing persons cases as closed non criminal even when body has not been found. 11 cases she examined found case closed though the person had been murdered.
.@sarahanneconway talks about detectives not verifying that a missing person has in fact returned, but lying in their paperwork. .@trinattrill says that the failure of women to appear on amber alerts has to do with CPD practice of assuming that black women just "ran away"
Madeleine Pattis Gender Based Violence Policy Analyst at Mayor's Office speaking now and says she wants to center survivor persepectives.
Chelsea Whittington at Chicago Urban League speaking now. We need to cultivate media allies to raise public awareness about missing black women. We need preventative efforts too.
Louvenia Hood of Mothers Opposed to Violence Everywhere speaking. Talks about black and brown communities receiving least amount of community alerts and media coverage. Need office for missing black and brown cases.
Commander Jarrod Smith of CPD, youth investigations, bureau of detectives speaking now about CPD policy of Missing and Found persons. Emphasizing that you can file a missing persons report at any time, not after a certain amt of time has passed.
Smith, responding to @sarahanneconway presumably, says we have already digitized/automated missing persons report filing system.
Smith says w/ new automated system, detectives have more information when they begin their investigation.
Smith citing steps taken by CPD to strengthen missing persons investigation:
Smith agrees about the need to change categorization of non-criminal case. Citing other changes being made at CPD about how to improve process of missing persons.
Back to Ald. Jeanette Taylor. Thanks all the presenters. Asks @invinst and CPD how many open missing persons cases exist today. CPD's Smith says he doesn't know. @trinattrill responds saying 557 cases still open assigned. 78 suspended. From 2020-2024.
Ald. Taylor says, "it's disheartening to hear CPD did not come with a number." Taylor expresses dissatisfaction she's asking @trinattrill for info not CPD. Taylor: "Is there a database or dashboard for missing women?" @trinattrill: Chicago doesn't. Montana and D.C do.
Ald. Taylor: How many detectives do you have on missing person's cases? CPD's Jarrod Smith: Wd have to call various offices to figure that out.
Ald. Taylor: I'm hearing we don't have a resource problem, we have a common sense problem. Taylor asks CPD: what happens when I call to say my child is missing?
Smith: A CPD officer goes to house asks you questions. If it's a high risk case then more of patrol gets involved. Detectives get involved. Taylor: What makes it a high risk case? Smith: *opens policy* A small child who left the house. A kid w/ a disability...
@trinattrill + @sarahanneconway answering questions about CPD policy faster/more thoroughly than CPD's Smith. Ald. Taylor bringing this up with Smith. "We've got a problem."
Ald. Taylor: What is CPD relationship with state missing person task force? Smith: CPD not on it. @trinattrill + @sarahanneconway: CPD has been attending meetings, but not on task force.
Ald. Taylor: For the @invinst - what are some of the things the CPD could institute to make this a better process? @trinattrill: talking about Montana's review of past data on missing persons, saying same could be done here. Need to get non-redacted police misconduct records.
@sarahanneconway - CPD needs an internal audit on data keeping practices. Cites Montana reopening cases that were suspicious.
Ald Taylor: How many cases per day does CPD get? Smith: 9,000 per year. Taylor: For Tucker, what were commonalities btw women who dealt w/ missing person cases? Tucker from CBS: Feeling disrespected. Feeling ignored by CPD.
Agency Information
Chicago City Council
The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago and consists of the Mayor and Aldermen elected from each of the City’s fifty wards. Source
If you attend a meeting in person, be prepared to go through a security checkpoint and show photo ID.
Meetings are also livestreamed at https://www.chicityclerk.com/.
At this link, scroll down to “Meeting Notices.” Look for “Watch now” and click on the link with the meeting title to go to a livestream page. If you don’t see a link for the meeting, you may be early or the meeting may be starting late. Wait a few moments and try refreshing your Internet tab.
Recordings of past City Council meetings may be found here: https://vimeo.com/user100351763/videos/sort:date.
See also: “What to Expect at a Meeting of Chicago’s City Council” via the Better Government Association.
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