CPD asks public's opinion to establish specific 'Positive Community Interactions' policy
CHICAGO (CBS) – Chicago Police want your opinion on an initiative to improve trust between police and the community.
It's a program that's faced scathing criticism over the next few days, but your opinion can help fix it. CBS 2's Tim McNicholas explores the efforts.
"Building trust through positive community interactions is a worthwhile endeavor," said CPD Supt. David Brown.
Positive Community Interactions, or PCIs. From press conferences to tweets, Chicago Police have touted those three words. Attached to those tweets -- pictures of officers donating coats, gifting flowers, or visiting a trunk or treat.
"I think it's a good system."
Anti-crime activist Jennifer Edwards says she's witnessed police radio in that they had a positive community interaction. She believes those interactions help build trust between police and community.
"I think they do I think they make it a little easier for people to talk with the police that are afraid to say something to them," she said.
But in a report earlier this year, the independent group monitoring the Chicago Police Department's consent decree wrote "CPD appears to be overemphasizing PCIs as its primary community-policing initiative."
After CPD set a goal to log over 1 and a half million PCIs in 2022, the group cautioned against "prioritizing the quantity over the quality of interactions."
Police might tweet videos, but that monitoring report goes on to say the department doesn't do a good enough job recording or reviewing most PCIs — and they even lack a clear definition for them.
We dug into the data ourselves and found from July 2019 to July 2020, police logged nearly 100 thousand PCIs. But kept no information on what happened during those interactions.
The monitoring report says the lack of information risks "damaging public trust."
And now police are asking the public to submit their comments to help them form a specific policy.
One idea from the department is to have officers fill out forms with more details on interactions.
"Giving police more paperwork to sit down and write up I did this one that, whatever, I don't think that's very effective when you're down officers," Edwards said.
She'll be submitting that and more thoughts in her public comment.
Police wouldn't comment other than to say they're working to build community trust through PCIs.
To submit a public comment, visit their website. Comments will be accepted until June 23.
