Public Safety – The Intersect

Initiative: Public Safety

The Opportunity:

In 2024, the Mayor’s Office of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department (CPD) continued to advance efforts to operationalize and expand two critical public safety initiatives to ensure that all Chicagoans felt safe, welcomed, and have their needs met. These initiatives were community-engaged policing practices and expanding alternate response strategies.

To support an understanding and operationalization of community-engaged policing and alternate response strategies, eight community-based organizations were selected through a public request for proposals process to engage Chicago residents through a comprehensive community engagement initiative.

Executive Summary:

Community Engagement Chicago April 2025

Detailed Findings Report:

Community Engagement Chicago April 2025

Informe de hallazgos del resumen ejecutivo:

Participación comunitaria en Chicago, abril de 2025

Informe detallado de hallazgos:

Participación comunitaria en Chicago, abril de 2025

执行摘要调查结果报告：

2025 年 4 月芝加哥社区参与

详细调查报告：

2025 年 4 月芝加哥社区参与

What We Did:

The Intersect has served as the facilitator of the community engagement initiative working to support and execute a unified vision for community engagement. This included coordinating across the community-based organizations as well as the Mayor’s Office of Chicago, Chicago Police Department, and the Civic Consulting Alliance (CCA) to advance this vision.

We co-created a cohesive community engagement and data collection process. Leveraging the findings from the community engagement initiative we developed a report that summarizes the findings and themes from the community engagement initiative.

The themes presented in this report represent critical inputs in an overall strategic plan to advance community engaged policing and alternate response strategies in Chicago.

What We Learned:

Chicago residents and organizations are eager to see the Chicago Police Department and Mayor’s Office of Chicago advance community-engaged policing practices and alternate response strategies. These are critical elements to ensure that all Chicagoans feel safe, welcomed, and have their needs met.

Chicago residents said they want to see policing practices that include

Proactive, visible, timely, and efficient engagement by law enforcement in communities including a commitment to foot and bike patrols, community, organization, and business engagement.
A commitment to building trusting relationships with community members that are free from bias and stereotyping.
Being engaged with care, empathy, and the appropriate mix of service professionals when there are calls for help.

Residents raised a set of actions that the Chicago Police Department can take to advance community engaged policing practices:

Commitment by leadership and individuals at all ranks of the Chicago Police Department to advance a vision, policies, and practices consistent with community engaged policing.
Consistent community engagement that is codified as part of the Chicago Police Department’s overall vision and operating structure.
Continuous training opportunities particularly around issues of de-escalation and use of force, cultural and community competency, responsiveness to mental or behavioral health calls for service, and trauma-informed training.
Greater and more transparent police accountability through multiple channels and mechanisms.

Final Thoughts:

Chicago residents have mixed feelings about police and non-police interventions when asked about who should respond to a range of different calls for service. Residents recognize the value in triaging calls for service, reducing silos across law enforcement and other trained professionals, and adapting response teams to meet the needs of Chicago residents.