Rogers Park (24th) Police District Council Candidates

ROGERS PARK — Seven candidates are seeking the Rogers Park (24th) police district council seats. The district includes parts of Rogers Park, West Ridge and Edgewater.

David Earl Williams III

A US Navy veteran, Williams wrote in his campaign announcement that if elected he’ll “fight to improve public safety (including reasonable fund reallocation to help lessen crime) . . . [and] hold police violence against civilians and cop killers equally accountable, and will work to bridge the divide between the community and the police.”

MWRD commissioner Dan Pogorzelski and Violence Interrupters executive director Tio Hardiman have endorsed.

Candidate questionnaire responses:

Do you have experience as an activist or community organizer? Yes
Do you have experience interacting with CPD? Yes
Do you have experience working or interacting with government? Yes
Should the city hire more police officers? Yes
Is CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should stay about the same.
CPD reform: The police need significant reform.
Mental health crises: Police should not be involved in mental health crisis calls at all.

What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?

Communicating with the department on behalf of the community
Establishing civilian control of the police department
Helping the police do a better job

Why are you running for Police District Council?

To be the voice of the district’s citizens and boldly represent them while working with the district commander and the CPD to ensure police accountability and expanded public safety measures are properly implemented.

Veronica Arreola

Arreola founded the 50th Ward Action Network and worked with The People’s Lobby during the 2019 municipal elections. She is running in a slate with EdVetté Jones and Marilyn Pagán-Banks; the slate’s campaign website calls district councils “the most progressive community-led police accountability device in the country.”

Alds. Andre Vasquez (40th) and Maria Hadden (49th), Rep. Kelly M. Cassidy, the ONE People’s Campaign, Network 49, and United Working Families 50th Ward have endorsed the three-candidate slate.

Candidate questionnaire responses:

Do you have experience as an activist or community organizer? Yes
Do you have experience interacting with CPD? No
Do you have experience working or interacting with government? Yes
Should the city hire more police officers? No answer
Is CPD adequately funded? No answer
CPD reform: No answer
Mental health crises: No answer

What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?

Communicating with the department on behalf of the community

Why are you running for Police District Council?

As an educator and parent, I clearly see how the over-investment in policing has resulted in an under-investment in the community. I believe this under-investment results in more crime and violence. This cycle needs to be broken by new ideas and these ideas should come from the community, especially from those who have been harmed by current policing strategies.

EdVetté W. Jones

A trustee of the United Church of Rogers Park, Jones works with the Circles and Ciphers Youth Organization and previously was a youth advocate for Methodist Youth Services, where he frequently interacted with the Department of Children and Family Services, probation and parole officers. He helped draft the ECPS ordinance and says “public safety is a joint venture.”

He is running in a slate with Veronica Arreola and Marilyn Pagán-Banks; the slate’s campaign website calls district councils “the most progressive community-led police accountability device in the country.”

Alds. Andre Vasquez (40th) and Maria Hadden (49th), Rep. Kelly M. Cassidy, the ONE People’s Campaign, Network 49, and United Working Families 50th Ward have endorsed the three-candidate slate.

Candidate questionnaire responses:

Do you have experience as an activist or community organizer? Yes
Do you have experience interacting with CPD? Yes
Do you have experience working or interacting with government? Yes
Should the city hire more police officers? Yes
Is CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should be reduced.
CPD reform: The police need significant reform.
Mental health crises: Police should accompany healthcare workers to mental health crises.

What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?

Communicating with the department on behalf of the community

Why are you running for Police District Council?

I feel that for many years our communities have been misinformed on the role of the police. Police have the authority to protect the community, not to control the community. That is the job of the community, and my number reason for running: to bring the community together and recognizing our strengths to overcome the adversities that divides us.

I am also running on behalf of years of misconduct by CPD with little to no accountability, too many young Black and Latino men killed by police, the lack of oversight by the city, loopholes in the policies. budgets and spending that the community has no say so over also, the lack of positive influences and interactions by police in our communities. The community must be in the know, and the community must be involved. Public safety is a joint venture.

Marilyn Pagán-Banks

The director of the nonprofit A Just Harvest and a founding member of the Coalition to End Money Bond, Pagán-Banks says, “If we want a safe community, then all must have enough to eat, earn a livable wage, access meds if needed, and have a place to truly rest. If we want a beautiful community, then all must know dignity and respect, have a clear sense of belonging and be truly seen.”

She is running in a slate with EdVetté Jones and Veronica Arreola; the slate’s campaign website calls district councils “the most progressive community-led police accountability device in the country.”

Alds. Andre Vasquez (40th) and Maria Hadden (49th), Rep. Kelly M. Cassidy, the ONE People’s Campaign, Network 49, and United Working Families 50th Ward have endorsed the three-candidate slate.

Candidate questionnaire responses:

Do you have experience as an activist or community organizer? Yes
Do you have experience interacting with CPD? Yes
Do you have experience working or interacting with government? Yes
Should the city hire more police officers? No answer
Is CPD adequately funded? No answer
CPD reform: No answer
Mental health crises: No answer

What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?

Establishing civilian control of the police department
Communicating with the department on behalf of the community
Other: Supporting Treatment Not Trauma-type work to support healing and economic development programming, and less on the carceral system.

Why are you running for Police District Council?

I am running for district council because I believe the most transformative, innovative, and generative solutions to community safety (i.e., well-being and thriving for all), can and will only come from the community itself. I want to be a part of creating brave spaces for this creative work to happen.

Cynthia McFadden

Raised in Rogers Park, McFadden studied political science and sociology at Lincoln University and says she has 30 years of social justice and community activism around issues such as disability, education, and labor issues. She worked with community organizations on the passage of the ECPS ordinance.

Candidate questionnaire responses:

Do you have experience as an activist or community organizer? Yes
Do you have experience interacting with CPD? Yes
Do you have experience working or interacting with government? Yes
Should the city hire more police officers? Yes
Is CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should stay about the same.
CPD reform: The police need training and some reform.
Mental health crises: Police should accompany healthcare workers to mental health crises.

What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?

Helping the police do a better job
Communicating with the department on behalf of the community

Why are you running for Police District Council?

I’m running because I am the experienced voice for the people. I’ve been in and out of Rogers Park the first precinct and in the Edgewater for the last 50 years. I have seen what works and what has not work I have seen the positive changes in the 24th Police District board and the negative changes that have been corrected. I look forward to being a voice for the people so they can have an oversight and accountability with the CPD.

Daniel Wolk

Wolk taught social sciences at the University of Chicago and has covered meetings of the Police Board, City Council Public Safety Committee, and Community Safety Coordination Center for City Bureau, a civic journalism lab based in Bronzeville. His “deep commitment to democracy and community empowerment” informed his decision to run.

Wold was active with Represent US and successfully got the Chicago Board of Ethics to add two items to its proposed changes to the Chicago Governmental Ethics Ordinance, one of which is now law (an increase in the maximum fine that the Board of Ethics can impose from $2,500 to $20,000). He has written dozens of reports on local government for City Bureau, a nonprofit civic media organization based on the south side.

Candidate questionnaire responses

Do you have experience as an activist or community organizer? Yes
Do you have experience interacting with CPD? Yes
Do you have experience working or interacting with government? Yes
Should the city hire more police officers? Yes
Is CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should stay about the same.
CPD reform: The police need significant reform.
Mental health crises: Police should accompany healthcare workers to mental health crises.

What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?

Other: I see the listed roles to be equally important. I want local community residents to have more of a say the setting of policing and public safety policy in their own districts and tailored locally. I also want the district councils be factories for the production of new police oversight and training policies.

Why are you running for Police District Council?

I am very concerned about the erosion of democracy and public safety in the U.S. generally, Chicago, and in my neighborhoods, as well as about the increasing polarization and siloing in our society. I believe I have the skills, talents, and knowledge to do my little part about it.

I have gained expertise in facilitating dialogues and discussions and believe I can engage with community members in order to increase community influence over the police and public safety policy. My studies and experience have given me many ideas for improving the police force and increasing public safety.

Mitchell Rose

Rose filed ballot petitions with the assistance of the Fraternal Order of Police’s election attorney, Perry Abbasi, who told the Reader the FOP referred Rose to him. He did not respond to requests for comment.

The Fraternal Order of Police has endorsed.

The candidate has not yet responded to our questionnaire.