Instructions for Petitioners

Pursuant to MCC 2-80-060(c), Chicago residents can petition for the Commission to hold a special meeting. The petition must set forth with specificity the issues or concerns that would be the subject of the special meeting. The petition must be signed by at least 2,000 Chicago residents. For the topic to be considered by the Commission, the issues or concerns specified in the petition must relate to one or more of the following Commission purposes, as listed in MCC 2-80-030:

• Increasing public safety,
• Ensuring CPD activities are directed toward maximizing public health and safety while minimizing any harm to City residents,
• Building trust and improving interactions between and among CPD and the people it serves,
• Ensuring CPD policies and practices are rooted in community needs and public input,
• Increasing public support for CPD policies and practices,
• Ensuring CPD resources are not used inefficiently to address public health or safety issues that other professionals are better equipped to address,
• Encouraging preventative, proactive, community-based, and evidence-based approaches to public safety,
• Increasing transparency and public input into CPD operations, policies, and performance,
• Providing the residents of every Chicago community with meaningful opportunities to shape CPD policies and practices that affect their lives,
• Helping to bring the city into compliance with the Consent Decree as soon as is practicable,
• Increasing efficiency in the use of public safety resources, and
• Increasing public accountability of CPD, COPA, and the Police Board.

• The petition can propose up to ten specific topics for the Commission’s consideration. The Commission may approve any, all, or none of the topics by a majority vote.
• Upon approving topics, the Commission would generate a list of questions, based on the topics, to send to the CPD Superintendent, the Public Safety Inspector General, the COPA Chief Administrator, or the President of the Police Board.
• Within 14 days of receiving a petition, the Commission will determine and announce whether a special meeting is required.
• If a special meeting is required, the meeting will be convened within 21 days of submission of the petition.