POLICE COMMANDER: Pride Needs Checkpoints "If We're Going To Have A Parade Next Year"

Trash overfills a receptacle after the 2009 Chicago Gay Pride Parade. Image: Eric Herot

Alderman Tom Tunney may believe that anyone who wants to change the location of Chicago’s annual Gay Pride Parade is in the “minor, minor minority,” but DNAinfo is reporting this afternoon that even the 19th district police commander says changes need to happen “if we’re going to have a parade next year.”

IF? Sounds like someone’s wandering off the reservation.

“90 percent of the LGBT community was very well-behaved and really respectful,”[Commander Elias Voulgaris] said. Most of the problems occurred afterward, when other people came into the neighborhood…Voulgaris called for 45 back up officers at the time.

Which makes us wonder if perhaps the checkpoints should go up after the parade instead.

And we distinctly remember our CAPS officers and Alderman Tunney saying that everything went great at Pride and the Blackhawks victory riot celebration. They nearly snapped their elbows from patting themselves on the back during the past two CAPS meetings. Maybe they just got around to checking their inboxes.

Also, the commander did not call for 45 back up officers. He called for as many tactical units and incident teams as the North Side districts could send. He may have gotten 45 cops, but he asked for everything the districts could spare.

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CWBChicago was created in 2013 by five residents of Wrigleyville and Boystown who had grown disheartened with inaccurate information that was being provided at local Community Policing (CAPS) meetings. Our coverage area has expanded since then to cover Lincoln Park, River North, The Loop, Uptown, and other North Side Areas. But our mission remains unchanged: To provide original public safety reporting with better context and greater detail than mainstream media outlets. Our editorial email address is news@cwbchicago.com