Thread by @BillGDocumenter

Hi, I'll be live-tweeting this evening's Chicago Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) meeting for @CHIdocumenters #CHIdocumenters

This will be CCPSA's second meeting. I covered the first meeting for @CHIdocumenters back in September:

https://twitter.com/BillGDocumenter/status/1575609103350566912?s=20&t=MwmZZyzrdH0P0xp2Uelsyw

Unlike the last one, tonight's 6:30pm meeting will be remote only. You can register for the Zoom meeting here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regist…

CCPSA will be discussing proposed policy related to the Criminal Enterprise Information System (CEIS), which would replace the Chicago Police Department’s current “gang database” and how it collects and maintains data on gang affiliations and activity. See home.chicagopolice.org/reform/policy-…

Meeting agenda (source PDF: chicago.gov/content/dam/ci…)

Learn more about the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability here: chicago.gov/city/en/depts/…

Correction here: I covered the introductory meeting of CCPSA at the thread linked above. The CCPSA did have another meeting in October that I did not cover. You can see meeting recordings at youtube.com/@chicagoccpsa2…

The Zoom webinar is live. Commissioner Driver asks to give folks a few minutes to get connected before starting the meeting.

Driver calls the meeting to order at 6:35pm.

Roll is called, establishing a quorum (7/7 commissioners present).

Public comment period begins. Driver reads the steps to participate in public comment as outlined in the meeting agenda.

17 people signed up for public comment today. Each speaker has two minutes.

1. Daniel Wolk is running District 24 police council. He criticizes the proposed CEIS, calling it "geeky." Instead, Wolk says CPD needs to expand their community policing initiatives.

2. Dod McColgan from Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression says there is little data that a gang database helps citizens and says it instead leads to increased targeting of people of color.

3. Kobi Guillory also of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression says the gang database is used as a weapon against people of color. Guillory also talks about progress made by @ChicagoEcps.

4. Karla Armour of Innocent Demand Justice says the gang database is "digitized racial profiling"

5. Carisa Parker is a candidate for the 22nd district police council. She asks CCPSA what sort of training and orientation council members would have. Among other items, Parker asked if restorative justice practices would be part of the training.

6. Marty Levine of Edgewater also represents Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Levine speaks against the gang database and says CEIS is just a "clever repackaging" of the old, "discredited" gang database. He says such databases empower bias and bigotry.

7. Not present.

8. Not present.

9. Jim Blissitt III gives kudos to the commissioners and urges them to stand strong against the gang database. He says, "There's no need to continue to trust our enemies" when speaking about citizens being classified as gang members by police.

10. Dion McGill is a candidate for the 7th district police council and speaks against gang databases. He urges CCPSA to take proactive action against CEIS.

11. Not present.

12. Not present.

13. Frank Chapman also speaks against the gang database. Chapman agrees with positions taken by organization members in this meeting. Inspired by the work of organizers, he says this is the beginning of the end of the era of police tyranny.

14. Cynthia McFadden of the 24th district says she looks forward to working with CCPSA. Speaking against the gang database, McFadden says she has been called a "cop hater."

15. Joshua D'Antonio is running for the 20th district police council. They say the gang database is inappropriate, gross, and eliminating it is of the upmost importance. D'Antonio says the database is a waste of funds and takes money away from things that keep the public safe.

16. Crystal Peters (not sure of spelling) is running for police council in the 7th district and also speaks against the gang database, saying it calls more harm than good. Peters says the data does not back up the claim that gangs are responsible for the majority of violence.

17. Miykael Muhammad says the CEIS policy is too general in how they classify gang members.

18. Not present.

This concludes public comment.

Next are committee reports.

COPA committee. Commissioner Brown says they have met with COPA Chief Administrator Kersten regarding COPA practices and policies and says they will be working to identify inefficiencies.

Police Board committee. Commissioner Loizon says they have created an open selection process to fill vacancies on the Police Board. Received 10 applications to fill the 3 vacancies. Next two weeks will interview candidates. 2nd round interviews will be held with whole commission.

Loizon also says the committee is working on improving the process for when COPA and CPD disagree on police misconduct.

Commissioner Gomez speaks on behalf of the noncitizen advisory committee. Gomez says they have received applications for the noncitizen advisory council (eligibility: noncitizen status or those who advocate for noncitizens).

Gomez says the noncitizen advisory council will be the eyes and ears of CCPSA in the community. First meeting will be in January. Applications are still open on CCPSA website.

CPD policy review and development committee. Commissioner Terry part of their goals is to ensure the commission has ample time to review and provide community-evaluated policies.

CPD goal-setting and assessment committee. Commissioner Nellis says they will review CPD's proposed goals. They will have until end of December to comment and propose changes to the goals, after which CPD will have a period to respond to and amend the committee's proposed changes

This concludes committee reports.

Next are presentations and Q/A regarding the Criminal Enterprise Information System

Driver says CCPSA met with the mayor and CPD last week and were told they do not yet have a launch date for CEIS.

Commissioner Driver highlights the importance of community engagement and reiterates that CCPSA will utilize their oversight throughout this process.

Sgt. Reynaldo Serrato discusses the history of CEIS. Serrato says the old database had 35k individuals. For CEIS, Serrato says:
- There are 3 separate levels of vetting
- 1k individuals currently in CEIS (6 criteria to match)

Lt. Mike Kapustianyk says CEIS is open for public comment until December 7th. Kapustianyk says the criteria for matching into CEIS are verifiable and include one's admitting to being in a gang. Information cannot be older than 5 years.

Kapustianyk also says
- There is a multi-level verification system for CEIS
- Second-hand information from a previous informant cannot be older than two years
- More information on CEIS will be on CPD's website

Lt. Kapustianyk says there will be a process for one to determine if they are in CEIS. In addition, one can appeal their active status with a separate unit in CPD. From what I understand, folks can pursue further investigation after a failed appeal.

Dana O'Malley says the old gang database information will be "walled off" from CEIS. However, she says CPD must keep the old data for litigation purposes.

O'Malley says it's important for CPD to collect gang information in order to (for example) notify individuals who may become victims of gang retaliation. In explaining the delay, she says it's important that CPD gets this right and has community input.

Driver discusses his concerns regarding having so many people on a gang database. For instance, Driver says there are no checks and balances.

Tobara Richardson of the Office of Inspector General shares a presentation regarding OIG's gang database investigation.
- 95% designated gang members were people of color
- Ages 9-75 years old
- Listed occupations like "SCUM BAG"

In March 2021, an OIG report found that CPD had made minimal process toward an operational CEIS.

OIG says CPD has made process in their draft CEIS, but questions remain (see 2nd slide).

Driver says there is a portion on the agenda for CPD to respond to OIG's presentation. O'Malley says the criticism of the old gang database is fair and says CPD will work with OIG regarding their concerns.

Commissioner Loizon asks if the first attempt at CEIS policy is from 2018 (O'Malley and Kapustianyk say Yes).

Loizon asks why this has taken so long. Kapustianyk mentions the pandemic and notes CPD was building a system "from the ground up" and that a system build from scratch required training and testing.

O'Malley says they had to train officers who were vetting the information input into the database, and then they have to train the rest of the (non-vetting) officers.

Asked by Loizon, O'Malley says training is incomplete for all officers.

Loizon says it would be nice to have a comparison of criteria of the old gang database vs. CEIS.

O'Malley says self-admission of gang membership is only allowed in CEIS if it is on a body-worn camera. She says there are multiple higher-quality criteria for CEIS.

Loizon wants to know to whom CPD provided gang database information, voicing concerns over how leakage of information might prevent people from getting jobs or obtaining CCLs. This is another central concern regarding CEIS.

Loizon wants information on how CPD officers will use CEIS in their day-to-day work and asks O'Malley to provide clear information on which personnel will be able to input information into CEIS.

O'Malley says gang data can help detectives to solve murders. In addition, O'Malley talks about preventing gang retaliation using this data, saying CPD can provide services to potential victims in hopes of preventing violent crime.

Commissioner Driver wants to know "who gets the ball rolling" regarding entering someone into CEIS. Lt. Kapustianyk says a patrol officer can submit information, but then the information goes through multiple levels of vetting before someone receives active gang member status.

Sgt. Serrato says just being pulled over is not enough to get information entered into CEIS. Being arrested is a requirement.

Serrato says 2-3 months ago, CPD stopped collecting gang arrest card data for the old database.

From what I understand, there was a multi-tiered vetting process in importing data from the old database into CEIS.

Per CPD, vetting process goes like this: arresting officer > immediate supervisor > district intelligence officer > lieutenant.

Driver raises concern over the vetting process, saying it's allowing the police to police the police. Lt. Kapustianyk says he understands the concern and says that is where the appeals process comes in.

Driver isn't satisfied by that answer, saying then it's on the citizen to appeal their status. Driver says instead there should be better checks and balances.

Driver asked for the annual cost of old/new databases: O'Malley says will get that information to CCPSA.

There is discussion regarding difference between CPD general and special orders. The relevance here is that CCPSA has jurisdiction over general orders. More here: directives.chicagopolice.org

Driver asks if CPD will use CEIS data to reject CCLs. O'Malley says that is still under review.

Driver is concerned that this question is still under review, because CEIS was supposed to launch in late October.

O'Malley says that someone would be able to visit 4 different police stations or CPD headquarters to ask if they are considered an active gang member in CEIS. They would be provided with supporting information regarding their status.

Driver asked why there are only five locations, saying that this would provide challenges to (for example) people with disabilities.

Driver asks how CPD will process social media for CEIS. O'Malley says the counterterrorism unit handles this.

Asked by Driver, CPD says the CEIS appeals process is 90 days.

Commissioner Terry asks if a failure mode has been tested on CEIS. O'Malley says she does not believe so, but failure mode analysis is something they can consider.

Terry asks if there is any data regarding how the gang database affected clearance rates. O'Malley says they will get this data back to CCPSA.

O'Malley says CPD and the FBI have data sharing agreements going both ways. Sgt. Serrato says the FBI has relied on CPD's gang database in the base in gathering their intelligence.

O'Malley says that those select few who have access to the "walled off" old gang database information will see a flag that says the information is unreliable.

Driver wants to clarify if beat officers not having access to CEIS data is in the CEIS policy. Sgt. Serrato says he doesn't believe that's in writing. Driver is disappointed in that response.

Sgt. Serrato says a little over 1k people are in the current database (35k were in old).

Commissioner Troncoso asks about disciplinary process for officers who misuse CEIS. O'Malley says this would be covered under a rule violation and subject to investigation by (for example) OIG and COPA and subject to disciplinary action.

O'Malley stresses that any information input by a bad-acting officer would still have to go through multiple levels of vetting, including the officer's direct supervisor.

Troncoso asks if vetting process records are open for review by OIG. O'Malley says Yes.

Troncoso asks if there is evaluation of vetting training to ensure vetting officers are trained properly. Serrato says not currently, because no one new is being added to CEIS.

Troncoso asks why CPD didn't follow OIG's recommendation that anyone placed on the database get notified. O'Malley says CPD was worried about notifications via mail: If someone moves but doesn't update their address, this information/notification could fall into the wrong hands.

Gomez asks about the appeals process. In particular, if the counterterrorism unit (outside of district level) is part of the appeals process, where do they get their information from?

Gomez's point seems to be, despite the fact that the appeals process is handled by an entity outside the district level, the information that informs that outside entity regarding appeals decisions still may come from within the district.

Gomez asks if a hate group would classify as a gang. O'Malley is unsure but leans toward No.

Gomez asks if a group can challenge their classification as a gang. O'Malley says it would depend on the outcome of the appeal and if the group was incorrectly labeled a criminal enterprise according to the law.

Commissioner Brown asks about self-admission as part of the criteria for landing in CEIS. For example, an officer may coerce someone to say they are a gang member on camera. O'Malley says that would be unlawful on part of the officer.

Brown asks about CPD notifications for those listed as active in CEIS. As in, there has to be a way of sending notifications without outing someone as a gang member. O'Malley seems to say that CPD notifications/letters would be suspicious regardless of their exact content.

What CCPSA is trying to get at is a middle ground where CPD can verify they are reaching the intended recipient in order to inform them of their CEIS status (for example, certified mail). O'Malley says CPD is open to exploring this policy more.

Commissioner Nellis asks about objectives of CEIS besides crime investigations and "custom notifications" in which potential victims are offered preventative services.

Nellis seems to be saying that gang database information does not meet standards of evidence in proving guilt.

Nellis asks about demographic makeup of 1k people currently in database. O'Malley says they don't have that information at hand but can provide it to CCPSA. Similarly for demographic makeup of gangs.

Driver asks if CPD will public data regarding how many people are active in CEIS over time. O'Malley says her understanding is there will be data dashboards with this information. Driver would like that to be added to the written policy.

Troncoso also asked for metrics regarding how many people are removed from the database.

To clarify an earlier post, O'Malley says she is not sure if hate groups would be considered gangs and would have to look at the classifications.

Nellis says he finds it hard to believe the claim that the gang database is for the safety of gang members.

O'Malley points out to Driver that the dashboard is mentioned in the order.

Commissioner Terry asks what happens with deceased people in CEIS. O'Malley says that if CPD had a process to find out if someone is deceased, then this would be reflected in the database. However, it doesn't seem like CPD has such a process at the moment.

Nellis says that gang evidence is highly prejudicial to be entered into trial. He says that the harm and risks of CEIS far outweigh the claimed uses of investigation and custom notifications. Driver agrees with the second claim.

Driver asks if anyone from CPD would say publicly that CPD does not yet have a release date for CEIS. O'Malley says it's her understanding that was communicated to Driver in their meeting last week with the mayor.

If you would like to sign up for CCPSA announcements, send an email with your name/preferred email address to:

communitycommission(at)cityofchicago(dot)org

The next CCPSA meeting will be held Monday, December 12 -- 6:30 at Truman College

The meeting adjourns at 9:25pm.

This concludes my coverage for @CHIdocumenters. #CHIDocumenters

Please see chicago.gov/city/en/depts/… for more information. Reply to this thread or DM me with any questions.