This story was originally published in The Appeal.
Missing from that list was one item that reform activists have long been waiting for—the installation of civilian oversight of the police department, a key issue Lightfoot campaigned on when she ran for mayor. A caller to WBEZ asked the mayor a week after her speech what she was doing about the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability ordinance that was supposed to establish this oversight and that’s been stuck in the City Council’s public safety committee for almost two years.
After she took office in May 2019, her administration appeared sincere in its commitment to GAPA. Lightfoot announced it as a priority for her first 100 days and held more than a dozen meetings with GAPA organizers over the last year. But in March, right before the pandemic lockdown, discussions stalled. Yancy said the administration has hampered the process because it hasn’t committed to a budget for the new council, or agreed to give it final say over department policy. This has been particularly frustrating, he said, since the coalition already had to cede some ground on direct hiring and firing powers for the council, due to a likely conflict with state laws.
During her first year, few of the platform points have been implemented. GAPA’s ordinance is stalled, there’s no reconciliation process to speak of, and an overhaul of the gang database is months away, with no clarity on whether it would decrease the unfair criminalization of Black and Latinx youth. Most of her 90-day reform measures were things she’d promised two years ago when she started her mayoral run. A report from the consent decree monitor filed in court on Thursday showed the city missed 70 percent of its deadlines to implement reforms.
