BY AMY WOOTEN
'For as long as I can remember, we have heard stories and seen the evidence of police harassment and abuse of the youth almost on a daily basis,' The Night Ministry's Rev. Barb Bolsen told Windy City Times. Homeless youth come to The Night Ministry with complaints of racial and homophobic slurs; beatings; and the theft of their identification and prescription drugs, she added. 'We've seen it all.'
The reported problem of police misconduct toward homeless youth in Lakeview is one of the many issues Lakeview Action Coalition has been desperately trying to rectify. On May 24, more than 600 residents rallied for the better treatment of homeless youth, including calling on Chicago Police Department ( CPD ) Superintendent Philip Cline to hold 19th and 23rd District officers accountable for harassment and abuse. Concerned community members walked away with promises of the development of a series of community forums to help solve the issue.
A 2005 Chicago Coalition for the Homeless study shows that roughly 25,000 youth in Illinois experience homelessness over the course of one year. LGBT individuals are a large portion of the population, and Lakeview has long been a gathering place for many youth.
Homeless youth are a very vulnerable population, and many have reported suffering abuse from the hands of police. According to LAC's community organizer, Alyssa Siegel, the organization receives between 10-20 reports of police misconduct each month. However, many incidents go unreported.
CPD has an official system in place for reporting harassment and abuse through its Office of Professional Standards. However, the victim is required to sign the complaint, and the officer eventually gets to view it. According to Bolsen, many youth shy away from formalizing their complaint because they are vulnerable and fear retaliation. Also, many they feel that reporting abuse will not result in the punishment of the abuser.
Although the process has been an arduous one for LAC, its members maintain hope.
'I think it's going to be a long process, but it's a process that's going to build,' Bolsen said.
LAC has already built relationships with the 19th and 23rd Districts. Over the past 18 months, the organization has worked with area police commanders, bringing them monthly incident reports to show a pattern and attempt to find solutions. One of those solutions, Siegel said, was the idea of sergeant training.
The concept of creating educational sessions for police sergeants was developed collaboratively between the two districts and LAC. The organization needed the approval of Cline, who thought the concept of training was good, but needed to run it through the department's lawyers. The lawyers rejected the idea.
However, at last week's community rally, Assistant Deputy Superintendent Tina Skahill met with LAC members. Although lawyers rejected the original training concept, plans for a series of community forums were developed. Skahill made two commitments to LAC regarding youth-police relations.
First, CPD will require 20 sergeants in the 19th and 23rd districts to attend forums about police accountability. At the forums, LAC will educate the sergeants about homelessness and youth. The first forum will occur in early July.
'We've tried to use the official system,' Siegel said. 'We put in four or five formal complaints and nothing has happened in almost two years. It's just not working. We're pushing for local accountability to come from community members speaking out about it and sergeants holding their officers accountable. With the forums, the purpose is to get to that point and create dialogue.'
Second, Skahill invited LAC to attend future sergeant staff meetings in order to discuss the pattern of misconduct.
'We realize we are not going to necessarily fix the system,' Bolsen said. 'But we are working locally to at least improve accountability.'
