Column: Why hasn’t Chicago Police Department signed pledge to treat people with respect?

Hazel Crest police Chief Mitchell Davis has racked up an impressive track record promoting the Ten Shared Principles of Policing.

In his role as president of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, he’s seen the number of municipalities adopting the principles grow to more than 230 throughout the state.

As board chair of the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, he’s encouraged teaching the principles to recruits enrolled as part of training in police academies.

But there is more work to do, Mitchell said Monday during an event at Oak Forest City Hall.

“There are 800 law enforcement agencies in Illinois,” Mitchell said. “My question to those other agencies would be, how come you haven’t signed on?”

The Chicago Police Department is the largest and most conspicuously absent agency from the list of law enforcement departments that have adopted the principles. The Cook County sheriff and forest preserves police are among departments that have pledged to follow the code of ethics.

Whether the principles are meaningful reforms or merely symbolic window dressing is up to community members and police departments that adopt them, Mitchell said.

“They’re principles,” Mitchell said. “If you don’t implement them or make them interwoven into the fabric of your police department, they’re just a piece of paper.”

Mitchell’s one-year term as president of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police will end in a couple months. He’s among the Southland’s most accomplished civic leaders. He holds a doctorate in organizational leadership and a master’s degree in criminal justice.

He was on hand as Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller of Lynwood gathered mayors and police chiefs from many of the 36 communities in the 6th District for a ceremony to adopt the principles.

“I’m hopeful and proud of the Southland when I see such a group of diverse leaders gathered here today to affirm their belief in basic human principles,” Miller said. “We all need to work together to solve crime and violence.”

The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and Illinois chapter of NAACP developed the principles in 2018.

“It’s the first partnership that’s ever been done between a premier law enforcement agency and a civil rights organization,” said Robert Moore, chair of the Illinois NAACP’s criminal justice committee.

Six pillars of President Barack Obama’s 2015 Task Force on 21st Century Policing inspired Illinois to create the Ten Shared Principles of Policing, officials said. The first pillar is to build trust. Others include fairness, transparency and impartiality.

The 10 principles address foundational values.

“All persons should be treated with dignity and respect,” according to the principles. “We reject discrimination toward any person that is based on race, ethnicity, religion, color, nationality, immigrant status, sexual orientation, gender, disability, or familial status.”

The principles endorse positive interactions between police officers and community members. They are based in the belief that fairness in the criminal justice system can prevent civil unrest.

“We believe that developing strong ongoing relationships between law enforcement and communities of color at the leadership level and street level will be the keys to diminishing and eliminating racial tension,” according to the principles.

Obama’s task force addressed unrest that occurred after a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, shot and killed Michael Brown in 2014.

“Ferguson is just an hour and a half away from Springfield, Illinois, the home of the 1908 race riots that led to the start of the NAACP,” said Teresa Healy, president of the Illinois NAACP.

“We want to make sure we’re working together to save lives and to protect each other,” Healy said.

Not all 36 communities in Miller’s district were represented Monday. Some are among the 64 Cook County municipalities that had already adopted them, or nearly half the 134 towns in the county.

Police chiefs and mayors present Monday represented Alsip, Chicago Ridge, Dolton, Flossmoor, Glenwood, Lynwood, Matteson, Oak Forest, Palos Heights, Richton Park, Sauk Village and Thornton.

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I reached out Monday to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and asked why the Chicago Police Department has not adopted the principles. Her office did not provide a response.

“Most of us are doing these things anyway,” Mitchell said. “But if you have not signed on to the 10 shared principles, I’d be curious to hear your reasoning why.”

I also offered Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley the chance to explain why his department has not adopted the principles. His office did not respond. The DuPage County sheriff has adopted the principles, as has the Forest Preserve District of Will County.

Moore said he graduated from the Illinois State Police academy in 1972 and was honored to return last month to talk about the principles with the first class of recruits to learn about them as part of their training.

“We encourage every academy, every county to adopt these principles,” Moore said.

The Cook County sheriff, the Illinois State Police training academy and 230 law enforcement agencies across the state have adopted the principles. Citizens of Chicago and Will County deserve to know why their law enforcement agencies have not.

Ted Slowik is a columnist at the Daily Southtown.

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