Mayor's Police Accountability Task Force To Hold 4 Meetings To Hear From Public
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The head of the mayor's task force on reforming Chicago police policies and practices is asking for public input before it suggests any changes at the department.
Four community meetings have been scheduled for February for Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Task Force on Police Accountability, and chairwoman Lori Lightfoot said the panel won't be suggesting topics for discussion, they'll only be listening to the public.
"These are big, complicated issues. There are a number of experts that we are reaching out to, and have engaged as part of our process, and of course we want to hear from the public," she said.
The task force has until the end of March to provide the mayor with a report recommending reforms to improve the CPD's systems of oversight, accountability, and training.
"We'll come out with specific recommendations, meeting our goal, which is March 31st, but we want to take this process and we do take this process very seriously, and we're not going to roll something out until we feel very confident that we understand what the current lay of the land is within the current policies and procedures," she said.
Lightfoot, who is also president of the Chicago Police Board, said an idea from some aldermen to require public release of police shooting videos within 14 days is too short a time.
"I think 14 days will really stretch our ability to actually do this in a way that doesn't compromise those investigations that are really important," she said. "In our conversations with people who are really going to have to live with this policy – whether it's IPRA [the Independent Police Review Authority], whether it's the Law Department, whether it's the Police Department – I don't think that 14 days allows sufficient time to gather the initial important information."