CHICAGO — With the city’s annual budget process underway, the commission responsible for overseeing the Chicago Police Department and COPA, the agency responsible for investigating allegations of serious misconduct by police, is highlighting four areas of focus as the budgets are drawn up.
In a letter sent to aldermen late last week, Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) President Anthony Driver and Commissioner Aaron Gottlieb said their group has already identified four areas that they will be putting front and center:
- steps CPD has taken toward improving substandard police facilities
- ensuring that the Department of Public Health fully funds violence prevention and reduction programs
- understanding what CPD has done to learn from “extraordinarily large sums of money” the city has paid to settle police misconduct lawsuits
- a progress report on steps CPD has taken to improve its internal data collection and analysis
Driver and Gottlieb noted that the commission may “identify additional priorities” in its budget report, but they want aldermen to be aware of those four items that they know will be important.
The commissioners also expressed their continued concern with how CPD’s expenses are budgeted and called for “greater transparency in public safety budgeting.” Because several CPD expenses are included in other departments’ budgets. Another problem: Important CPD expenses are hidden and “not presented in a way that allows for meaningful review.”
As examples, Driver and Gottlieb said:
- CPD’s personnel costs are “divided across multiple city departments,” with salaries and wages appearing in CPD’s budget but pension and insurance costs showing up elsewhere
- The cost of CPD vehicles and facilities comes out of the Department of Fleet and Facility Management budget
- Police data management systems and equipment are in the Office of Public Safety Administration and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications budgets
- CPD’s victim services program is part of the Department of Public Health’s budget
- CPD’s budget does not detail how the department allocates its personnel to districts and other units
Here is the full letter Driver and Gottlieb sent to aldermen:
September 26, 2024
Dear City Council Members:
Each year, the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (“the Commission”) is required by ordinance to “review and, if warranted, recommend changes to the proposed [Chicago Police] Department budget appropriation” before a City Council vote on the annual budget. As in past years, the Commission will submit its response to CPD’s proposed FY2025 budget soon after it is released. However, before the FY2025 proposed budget is released, we wish to highlight two issues. First, though the Municipal Code authorized the Commission to review the CPD budget, many budget items which have a significant impact on the CPD budget are not included within the CPD budget. This makes it more difficult for the Commission to conduct a meaningful review and make impactful recommendations. We therefore encourage the City to provide greater transparency about CPD- related spending in the proposed budget. Second, in most years, many critical budget decisions are made before the proposed budget is released. We therefore include here several important items that we know in advance will be priorities for the Commission in hopes that this input can be considered before the proposed budget is released.
Budget Transparency
Over the last two years, the Commission has identified several areas where the public presentation of the CPD budget makes it difficult to properly evaluate CPD’s proposed budget. In some cases, key budgetary items that have a significant impact on CPD are not reflected in CPD’s budget. In other cases, key expenses are included in the budget, but not presented in a way that allows for meaningful review.
For example:
- Personnel costs for CPD members are divided across multiple city departments. Salaries, wages, and overtime are included in CPD’s annual budget, but the costs of pensions and health insurance are not.
- The budget for the maintenance of CPD’s fleet and facilities are included within the budget of the Department of Fleet and Facility Management.
- Other critical components of CPD’s work, such as investments in police equipment and data management systems, are included in the budgets of the Office of Public Safety Administration and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
- Financial support and resources for CPD-provided victim services are included in the Department of Public Health budget.
- The vast majority of the CPD budget pays for people, but the budget document does not provide information about how CPD staff resources are allocated to police districts, areas, or other subunits within the department.
- Similarly, as the Commission’s previous budget reviews have noted, CPD’s budgets have not specified what personnel or other resources are dedicated to CPD’s key community policing initiatives.
In its review of CPD’s 2023 and 2024 budgets, the Commission emphasized the need for greater transparency in public safety budgeting. The Commission’s concern with transparency has been echoed by the Civic Federation, which has noted that the current budget structure does not allow for an accurate estimate of the full cost of running each department and makes it more difficult to conduct meaningful reviews of any City department’s performance as tied to expenses. The fragmented and opaque nature of the City’s budget structure means that both the Commission and everyday Chicagoans are unable to assess the true cost of policing.
The Commission recommends that City Council look to the budget documents of New York City as an example of how transparent Chicago could be about public safety spending. New York City’s preliminary budget report provides details such as spending by patrol borough, the Police Department’s projected contract budget and preliminary capital projects, and preliminary highlights on goals for the Police Department.
In order for the Commission to meaningfully review CPD’s proposed FY2025 budget, the Commission requests either that the proposed budget clearly highlight CPD-related expenses that are incorporated in other department’s budgets, or that a supplemental document be prepared that includes and disaggregates all CPD-related expenses that are incorporated in other department’s budgets. The Commission also requests that information be provided that, as best as possible, provides information about how CPD staff resources are allocated to police districts, areas, or other subunits within the department, and what personnel and other resources are dedicated to community policing initiatives.
Preliminary Budget Priorities
Below, we highlight several important items that we know in advance will be priorities for the Commission, including some that have been included in our earlier budget reviews. The Commission’s review of the FY2025 proposed budget may identify additional priorities that will be included in the Commission’s report. We include information in this letter in hopes that this input can be considered before the proposed budget is released.
- Last year, the Commission’s budget review noted that some police facilities are in very poor condition, which undermines officer wellness and morale. In addition, a lack of working police vehicles made it more difficult for police officers to do their jobs. The Commission called on CPD to identify and assess its infrastructure needs and work on a plan to address those needs. We hope that budgets from CPD and the Department of Fleet and Facility Management reflect such an assessment and address high-priority equipment and facility needs.
- The Department of Public Health should ensure that violence reduction efforts and victim services are fully funded for FY2025. CPD has worked to increase its efforts to hire victim services advocates, but the Commission has heard from community members that violence prevention and reduction efforts are equally necessary, and both the Office of Violence Prevention and the Community Safety Coordination Center are included in CDPH’s budget.
- The Commission’s previous budget reviews have highlighted the extraordinarily large sums of money the City has paid for legal judgments and settlements associated with police misconduct, and the Commission has questioned whether CPD and the City are doing enough to learn from mistakes and change behavior. This year’s budget created new positions that would expand CPD’s capacity to learn from litigation outcomes and use of force incidents, identify policies and practices that cause avoidable harm, and develop alternative policies and practices. As part of the FY2025 budget process, CPD and the Department of Law should report on the progress it has made this year and indicate what additional hiring and other steps must be prioritized in 2025.
- Similarly, the Commission’s report on the proposed 2024 budget noted that CPD’s limited data collection and analysis capacities limit efforts to evaluate use-of-force policies, training, and operations in general. The proposed FY2024 budget included new investment in data analysis infrastructure and capacity. As part of the FY2025 budget process, CPD should report on the progress it has made this year and indicate what additional steps must be prioritized in 2025.
The Commission looks forward to working with the City Council, the Police Department, and other relevant departments to try to create a budget that does as much as possible to better protect the health and safety of all Chicagoans.
Anthony Driver Jr.
Community Commissioner for Public Safety and Accountability President and CPD Budget Working Group Member
Aaron Gottlieb
Community Commissioner for Public Safety and Accountability Commissioner and CPD Budget Working Group Member
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