Throughout the month of August, City Bureau Documenters and the Invisible Institute will cover and transcribe each of the community meetings centered on redesigning Chicago's police investigation agency, the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA). The IPRA Tracker collects unpublished reports, law enforcement documents, proposed ordinances and community-oriented coverage in an effort to create and preserve context for public use.
As the public and policy-makers re-shape the foundations of police accountability in Chicago, the Police Monitor Tracker will be updated as a tool for public input and information throughout the reform process. The process to replace or redefine IPRA's role is expected to culminate in September
Click on the yellow highlights on each page of the tracker to see our annotations and add your own annotations to the crowdsourced sections below using Genius and our underlying documentation—no download required. Have a question or suggestion? Contact us at info@citybureau.org.
Use the dropdown menu and map to find upcoming police monitor-related community meetings by date and location.
July 21, 2016
Malcolm X College, 1900 W. Jackson Blvd. (Conference Hall A 1108) at 6:30 p.m.
August 4, 2016
South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. South Shore Dr., at 6:30 p.m. with hosts Aldermen Leslie Hairston (5th Ward) and Willie Cochran (20th Ward).
August 9, 2016
Senn High School, 5900 N Glenwood Ave., at 6:30 p.m. with hosts Aldermen Harry Osterman (48th Ward) and Joe Moore (49th Ward).
August 11, 2016
Little Village Lawndale High School, 3120 S Kostner Ave., at 6:30 p.m. with hosts Aldermen Ricardo Munoz (22nd Ward) and George Cardenas (12th Ward).
August 16, 2016
Westinghouse College Prep, 3223 W Franklin Blvd., at 6:30 p.m. with hosts Aldermen Emma Mitts (37th Ward) and Jason Ervin (28th Ward).
August 22, 2016
North Grand High School, 4338 W Wabansia Ave., at 6:30 p.m. with hosts Aldermen Ariel Reboyras (30th Ward) and John Arena (45th Ward).
Our Process
Using an excel sheet and Genius, a team of City Bureau Community Documenters is creating an annotated, updated and independent hub for public use that will compare each of the proposed police monitor ordinances—the Independent Civilian Police Monitor, the Civilian Police Accountability Council and the FAIR COPS Ordinance—in terms of the changes each would make to the current police accountability process in Chicago. Between July 21–August 22, Documenters will break down the original text of each ordinance to provide a side-by-side view according to 18 topics.
See our "Compare the Police Monitor Proposals" tab to view the comparison along with annotations on the original ordinance text.
If you'd like to have City Bureau and Invisible Institute journalists investigate a particular story, please fill out the form below:
The Documents
The #IPRAtracker is designed to provide context, information and transparency around ongoing efforts toward police accountability and reform in Chicago. The following ordinance proposals have been broken down, annotated and displayed in alphabetical order:
• The Civilian Officer of Police Accountability (COPA) ordinance
• The Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) ordinance
• The FAIR COPS ordinance
• The Independent Civilian Police Monitor (ICPM) ordinance
Each of the three documents has been displayed in full and every effort has been made by our documenters to compare each according to 13 criteria (see "Our Process" for category descriptions).
Explore all of the documents used in the #IPRAtracker, including the official Independent Police Review Authority manual, via our public DocumentCloud.
Documenters
Timna Axel
Eleanore Catolico
Darryl Holliday
Kristi Leach
Sanya Mansoor
Trina Reynolds
Sam Stecklow
For more information, and to join City Bureau's Documenters program, simply fill out the application. Community Documenters are a critical component of City Bureau’s mission to bridge the ideals of civic journalism with the economic and political realities in which it exists.
