Chicago protesters shutdown Rahm's police "task force" meeting...

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-police-task-force-meeting-0226-20160225-story.html

Protesters shut down meeting of Chicago police task force

The fourth and final meeting of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's task force on police accountability was shut down Thursday when members of a boisterous crowd of protesters took the stage at Sullivan High School in Rogers Park.

About 40 people moved toward the stage where task force members sat. The protesters questioned the legitimacy of both the task force and the Police Department. After several minutes, a few protesters got onto the stage and security moved in, leading to a scuffle. About eight police officers filed in and stood on the stage as task force members left at 7:15 p.m., about an hour after the meeting started.

Protesters then paraded out of the auditorium and onto Bosworth Avenue, where they continued chanting.

Emanuel created the task force in the wake of the police scandal that engulfed the city after the November release of a controversial video of a white Chicago police officer fatally shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. The federal government has launched a civil rights investigation of the Police Department and police Superintendent Garry McCarthy was ousted.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Police Board is expected to send its three recommended finalists for the superintendent job to the mayor next week, said two sources familiar with the panel's selection process. The finalists are expected to be diverse both in gender and ethnicity, but specific names have not been shared with the mayor yet, the sources said.

One candidate in the mix is Cedric Alexander, sources confirmed. Alexander is the public safety director of DeKalb County, Ga., a suburban area outside of Atlanta. He is also the former president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.

Prior to working there, Alexander was the federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, according to his biography on DeKalb County's website. He's also served as deputy commissioner of the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, the police chief in Rochester, N.Y., and as an officer on the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Alexander also writes a column for CNN as a law enforcement expert and penned an article that was critical of how Emanuel, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez and the city's Police Department handled the McDonald shooting. Part of that article focused on Emanuel's fight not to release the police dashboard-camera video of the shooting, a move Alexander characterized as "deliberate delay."

"Official evasion, deception and delay have made a terrible event corrosive and destructive," Alexander wrote. "When the news is bad, our leaders have a duty to deliver it. Whether the news is bad for us or bad for them, they need to disclose it, fast and in full. Bad news does not improve with age."

Since the release of the shooting video, activists have staged numerous protests calling for the resignations of Emanuel and Alvarez, as well as defunding the Police Department.

Before Thursday's meeting was halted, several speakers had questioned the task force's legitimacy, saying it was a rubber stamp for the mayor and unlikely to lead to systemic changes.

Joseph Ferguson, Chicago's inspector general and a member of the task force, was visibly dismayed as he left the auditorium. "There are some angry people here," he said. "It is hard to turn to solutions until people stop raging."

But outside the auditorium after the meeting was halted, 28-year-old Valerie Papillon called it a success.

"We've shown it's the people who have the power," she said.

The protesters, however, were met by criticism from other residents who came to the meeting to share their concerns.

"We feel your pain. We feel your anger. But let us talk," Maurice Brown called out over the chants into a microphone.

Task Force Chair Lori Lightfoot, who also chairs the Chicago Police Board, left the meeting with an ? of police officers who kept watch over the dispersing activists.

Lightfoot said the task force is continuing to work in good faith.

"Unfortunately, a small but organized and vocal crew prevented community members who have gathered from speaking," she said.

"Other people from the community have a right to speak," she said, adding that the task force would continue trying to gather ideas from residents.

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https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160225/rogers-park/protesters-call-cpd-task-force-sham-shut-down-meeting-take-over-stage

Protesters Shut Down Rahm's Police Task Force Meeting: 'We Don't Trust You'

ROGERS PARK — Members of the Police Accountability Task Force were escorted from the stage by police officers two hours early Thursday night after the last of four public meetings erupted in chaos at Sullivan High School, with protesters chanting long after task force members left.

Just about a half-hour into the public comment portion of the program, protesters who had signed up to speak their piece took control of the room, decrying police violence against people of color and refusing to yield their time.

Their main message was that the five-member task force, appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in December 2015 after the release of the Laquan McDonald video, was a "PR stunt" that would ultimately ignore the wishes of everyday citizens in favor of police and politicians.

"Give us what we ask for, we don't need no task force," they chanted.

Protesters then took to the stage and clashed with other attendees who wanted time to speak — which led to pushing and shoving in the crowd, including some security guards, after which the five task force members in attendance left the stage. At one point, a protester is heard yelling "Do not touch me!" though it's unclear to whom the statement was directed.

The meeting at Sullivan, 6631 N. Bosworth Ave., began with comments from Principal Chad Adams and Police Board President and task force chairwoman Lori Lightfoot. The majority of the meeting was supposed to be dedicated to public comment. Residents signed up to speak for two minutes each.

About 10 other people addressed the panel, largely echoing the demands of protesters, accusing the police of systemic racism and demanding that the task force include community input while addressing systemic issues in the Chicago Police Department.

Other residents spoke for about half an hour before the first member of a group of yellow-shirted protesters, some from the Black Lives Matter group BYP100 and related activist organizations, took to the podium.

The protesters called for the firing of Chicago Police detective Dante Servin, who shot and killed Rekia Boyd in 2012 but has not been fired by the Police Department, despite former Police Supt. Garry McCarthy's official recommendation to do so last year.

"Rekia Boyd's killer, Dante Servin, has gone unchecked for nearly four years, yet ... you silence [Boyd's family] and tell them every month that their time is up," one speaker said, referring to the near monthly efforts by Boyd's family to get answers from the Police Board about Servin's fate.

Those same protesters brought signs with the #SayHerName hashtag that's been used nationally to highlight the mistreatment of women in black communities at the hands of police.

Expressing outrage at the Police Department and the task force, the protesters began chanting from their seats and waving signs and refused to yield the podium to the next speakers.

As the forum host urged calm and order, protesters moved to the front of the stage as the task force looked on — with a few protesters taking to the stage floor before being forced to leave by police.

Several residents clashed with protesters, who said the group was taking too much time away from others who wanted to speak

Protesters stood their ground, and read from a script some had brought along which included a list of demands to the task force and Police Department, as well as a list of injustices that have occurred in Chicago. It wasn't until the movement in the crowd got physical that the task force members left.

With the meeting ending about two hours early, residents began to leave, and protesters led the charge into Sullivan High School's front foyer, where after a brief chant they continued to speak and rally peacefully outside.

Earlier in the public comment section, residents who were not affiliated with activists called for more community involvement when it came to creating a task force and also called the current hand-picked mayoral group a public relations move.

Resident Steve Craig told the task force that groups like theirs "just change little details about the Police Department," but fail to make real change.

One speaker wearing a "Stop Police Crimes" shirt suggested positive transformation in the Police Department could only happen when new officers are brought in and trained.

"Racism will never, ever go away unless there's a new generation [of police officers]," she said. "We don't trust you, and we don't trust the mayor. You will only restore trust when you let the people lead the way."

Leslie Combs spoke on behalf of Rep. Jan Schakowsky, the Democrat from Illinois' 9th District and a Sullivan grad.

Combs had a simple plea: "Really, listen to the community."

Michael Harrington, a member of the Rogers Park political group Network 49, said he was "outraged by police violence and racism" and insisted it was "more than just a few bad apples" who were responsible for problems in the Police Department and Fraternal Order of Police.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNKIo8z0Q2U