Acting swiftly to douse a potentially explosive situation at Cabrini-Green, the Chicago Housing Authority on Wednesday announced the replacement of all of its police officers at the Near North Side complex.
Cabrini resident leaders demanded the removal of the 28 officers a day after an unarmed 26-year-old resident leader was critically wounded by a shot from a CHA officer’s gun.
The quick removal of CHA officers amounted to another setback for a force that has struggled to gain the respect of residents and Chicago police. The housing authority, looking to fight crime and improve community relations, formed its own police force in 1990, but the idea never has lived up to its promise, and the CHA police force has suffered from an image problem almost from the start.
On Wednesday, CHA officials sought to repair that reputation and demonstrate a willingness to work with residents, especially during this delicate time when controversial redevelopment plans for the Cabrini area have left residents’ tempers high and emotions raw.
Flanked by tenant leaders and the local alderman, CHA officials announced they would comply with several demands made by Cabrini residents, including sensitivity training for officers and a full investigation of the shooting.
CHA Police Chief LeRoy O’Shield said the transfer of the officers would begin almost immediately. New officers were beginning their shifts Wednesday evening, a CHA spokeswoman said.
“Before these new officers are sent in, I will talk to them personally to make sure they are sensitive to the needs and concerns of the residents of the community,” said O’Shield, who supervises a force of 460 officers.
He added that any “brutal” treatment of residents–which many residents have alleged about former CHA officers–would not be tolerated.
Edwin Eisendrath, chairman of the CHA advisory committee, was quick to point out that the move to reassign the Cabrini officers “was not an indictment of those officers.”
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“Officers get reassigned all the time,” he said.
But not usually so quickly, some officials pointed out.
Despite its critics, the CHA police force has supporters.
“Many times the Chicago police are not responsive, and the CHA police are the only law enforcement officers we can count on,” said Martha Marshall, president of the CHA’s Central Advisory Council for seniors. “They are usually very sensitive.”
But many public housing residents disagree.
“It’s a matter of respect. You have to earn respect,” said Darryl Walker, 21, a Cabrini resident for eight years. “The Chicago cops have our respect. The CHA cops really don’t. And the little respect that we did have for them they lost when they shot that lady.”
Fernanda Royal, 26, was shot Tuesday night, allegedly as CHA Officer Roland Pace struggled with a crowd that had grown angry over the arrest of a man during a drug bust, according to O’Shield. Some residents and witnesses, however, said the officer shot Royal deliberately after a shoving match.
She remained in critical but stable condition Wednesday night with wounds to the stomach and chest, according to a spokeswoman at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
A 16-year-old boy was treated for a gunshot wound to his thigh and released, the spokeswoman said, and two walk-in patients were treated for undisclosed wounds and released. Those three were injured during an exchange of gunfire between Chicago police and at least one gunman firing from a nearby high-rise, authorities said.
Paul Jenkins, Chicago police spokesman, said Wednesday that Chicago officers did return fire during the turmoil Tuesday evening.
Jenkins said a gunman in one Cabrini building was clearly visible from the ground, and he added that department regulations allow officers to return fire in instances when they can see the gunman.
That was little solace for the Cabrini residents who were in the line of fire Tuesday night.
“The idea of having the CHA police officers here is lovely. I’m in favor of them being here,” said Sandy Jones, 30, who has lived at Cabrini for five years with her three daughters. “But they can’t just come in here and disrespect us like they have been doing. We aren’t animals; we are people.”
This was not what former CHA Chairman Vincent Lane and others had in mind when they created the CHA police force. At the time, residents often complained that Chicago police were unresponsive, and Lane figured an in-house force could only be an improvement.
That did not happen.
For years, gang members have been so dismissive of the CHA cops that lookouts refer to them as “2 1/2” instead of the customary “5-0” to warn of approaching police. Even Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), who on Wednesday said he was encouraged by the CHA’s actions, earlier in the day called the CHA officers little more than “security guards with a license to kill.”
The relationship between CHA and Chicago police also has been strained–not to mention confusing and occasionally tense.
Chicago’s police officers believe that CHA’s hiring standards are far less rigorous than their own.
“They’re not the real police,” said one Chicago police veteran.
One former CHA police official said: “Chicago (police) has a mindset that `We are the big guys on the block. It’s my badge is bigger than your badge.’ “
The friction points to a larger question about the two police forces with no easy answer: What is the role of the CHA police, and how does it differ from the Chicago Police Department’s public housing unit?
Technically, police officers on both forces have the same powers of arrest, and they patrol roughly the same areas.
But there is occasionally confusion and duplication between the two units, authorities said. At the news conference, O’Shield said the two departments are developing ways to better work together.
Rich Monocchio, special assistant to CHA Executive Director Joseph Shuldiner, said, “We need more coordination with the Chicago Police Department, so we get back to the original intent of the housing authority police force, which is supplementary.”
Also Wednesday, state Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) said he would expedite a bill that would create a civilian oversight board for the CHA police, similar to the Chicago Police Department’s Police Board.
Beyond the issue of policing, Tuesday’s incident also underscores how difficult it may be for the city and CHA to attract market-rate home buyers as they seek to redevelop the Cabrini area.
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Mayor Richard Daley insisted that the melee was an isolated incident.
“You can’t say this is all the time,” he said. “One incident doesn’t reflect the whole community.”
Eisendrath said CHA officials will continue to meet with residents. And resident leaders seemed encouraged.
“I hope that we can continue to work together because we don’t want to see this type of incident happen again,” said Cora Moore, president of the Cabrini residents’ council.