Alderman Martin Discusses Community Commission

On today's show comes from a March 10th conversation we had with 47th Ward Alderman Matt Martin to discuss the status of the community commission for police oversight. At the time of our discussion Mayor Lightfoot had pulled out of negotiations withe the two groups pushing their individual versions of the commission and instead announced publicly that she would introduce her own version of the community commission ordinance. The Mayor has yet to unveil any new version of the community commission ordinance.



Since early 2016 a diverse set of community groups have come together to line up in support of two different versions of the community commission. The two ordinances are from the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA) and the Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC). Both of these groups have been active since shortly after the murder of Laquan McDonald and have been working to pass their versions since that time which now adds up to more than 5 years.



During her campaign Mayor Lightfoot promised she would pass some version of the community commission in her first 100 days in office. We are now approaching her 730 day in office and she has walked away from the negotiating table and has now failed to introduce her version despite having months to do so. Obviously, this is a campaign promise she is failed to deliver on.



We are very happy that we were able to sit down with Alderman Matt Martin to discuss his position on the community commission, his reaction to Mayor Lightfoot walking away from the table, and what he thinks the possibility for passing a version of the community commission is in the city council.



Note: This conversation was live streamed on our Chicago Justice Show on March 10th. This was before the supporters of CPAC and GAPA unveiled their compromise ordinance.