I made police officers teammates in reform, not the targets of it.
Two cities, following different road maps, have shown the possibilities and potential pitfalls of police reform. The challenges facing Baltimore and Chicago were seen as synonymous three years ago. Both cities embarked on reforms around the same time, which are still in the early stages.
In both cities, a police-involved citizen death brought long-simmering frustrations to the surface. In Baltimore, it was the death of Freddie Gray in the back of a police van. In Chicago, it was the killing of Laquan McDonald — shot by a police officer 16 times.
Baltimore’s effort is lagging, with violent crime rising to levels not seen in a quarter-century. As a big-city mayor, I know firsthand how difficult these challenges are to overcome. Chicago is still a long way from the level of public safety we want for every neighborhood. Since 2016, however, homicides are down 27 percent and shootings are down 32 percent.
It is too soon to draw a straight line from Chicago’s police reform efforts to the progress in crime reduction our city has made. But an effective and focused police department, along with increased after school activities, more summer jobs and greater local economic opportunities all contribute to safer neighborhoods.
The question for the two cities has not been whether to reform the police departments. It’s whether the police are the sole targets of reform or teammates in that effort.
From the beginning, I contended that, without buy-in from police officers, it would be impossible to make progress in creating safer streets and a more accountable police force.
I wasn’t new to this debate or to this view. I advocated for this perspective in October 2015, when Attorney General Loretta Lynch convened a meeting on police reform in Washington which I attended, along with 60 other mayors, police chiefs and federal prosecutors.
At the meeting, I was clear that police officers would “go fetal” if they weren’t included in the reform.
