CHICAGO — There are only days left for people to tell police what they think of the Chicago Police Department's newly proposed use-of-force policy.
This is the first time the Police Department has asked the public for comments on proposed changes to a policy.
The department has shared a draft of a new policy online, and in early October Police Supt. Eddie Johnson asked Chicagoans to share their thoughts on the proposed changes. The deadline for giving police that feedback has been extended to 11:59 p.m. Monday.
City Bureau and the Invisible Institute have put together an annotated version of the draft policy that highlights key changes while providing research and history on those adjustments.
But the tool isn't just for research: Anyone can annotate the draft policy, adding their notes or questions, online. That feedback will be sent to the Police Department before the Monday deadline.
The organizations also put the draft policy and a 2002 version of the policy side by side and highlighted all the differences between them so Chicagoans could compare the changes.
You can also send feedback directly to the Police Department online.
Once the deadline for comments passes, Organizational Development Chief Anne Kirkpatrick and her team — who put together the draft policy — will review the comments and potentially adjust the proposed policy. Legal experts will review the draft, and Johnson will make a final decision on what goes into the policy.
The Police Department initially said it hoped to have the policy in place by the end of the yea, with training for officers beginning early next year.
Johnson said he hopes the policy, once finished, can help clarify when and how to use force for officers. An example of one proposed change: Officers will be trained to use their stun gun three times and then reassess if they should continue to use it on a person, Kirkpatrick said.
"Our true North marker will be the sanctity of human life," Kirkpatrick said. "We also are reaffirming, in policy, our commitment that officers and members of this department, when using force, will apply the principals of force mitigation."
