Since 2018, Civic Consulting Alliance has undertaken multiple projects to help the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) prepare for and respond to a court-monitored consent decree, which mandates reforms across a wide range of areas. In particular, COPA is required to make operational and policy changes impacting how the agency tracks to revise how it tracks and investigates allegations of CPD member misconduct, as well as enhance transparency through increased data-sharing and communication with the public.

In summer 2020, COPA sought the Civic Consulting Alliance’s assistance in reaching a number of initial compliance goals, particularly in the area of policy enhancement. To accelerate COPA’s policy progress and ensure that policy changes were made with meaningful and diverse community input, Civic Consulting Alliance secured a team from our pro bono partner Sidley to coordinate and facilitate a Community Policy Review Working Group.

“We had worked with COPA previously through our partnership with Civic Consulting Alliance, and were thrilled to have another opportunity to support positive change at the agency and for Chicago.” – Kevin Fee, Partner, Sidley

From October to November 2020, the team facilitated multiple feedback sessions with the Community Policy Review Working Group, made up of about 20 community members, activists, faith leaders, subject matter experts, and other system stakeholders. The group produced recommendations on six COPA policies. COPA adopted all of the recommendations and incorporated them into revised policies, which have since been shared with the Independent Monitoring Team (tasked with assessing compliance relative to consent decree requirements) and the Illinois Office of Attorney General (the plaintiff in the court case giving rise to the consent decree) as evidence of COPA’s efforts to comply with requirements.

COPA recently reconvened the Community Policy Review Working Group in 2021, utilizing the model developed with Civic Consulting Alliance in 2020 with some additional refinements. COPA’s goal is to have the Group review all COPA policies required for consent decree compliance by the end of 2021.

“Gathering feedback has been essential to COPA’s community engagement strategy and with the help of Civic Consulting Alliance and its fresh approach those efforts are extended to the working group. Creating a space and a process for convening community members to discuss COPA policies is a meaningful step towards ensuring that our work is shaped by the communities we serve. We are tremendously grateful to Civic Consulting Alliance and to the Sidley team for their continued support of COPA.” – Sydney Roberts, Chief Administrator, Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA)