Anthony Alvarez
Today the Chicago Police Department released body camera footage of the murder of Anthony Alvarez.
Anthony was shot by a Chicago police officer on March 31 in the Portage Park neighborhood in our district, two days after Adam Toledo was killed in Little Village by another CPD officer.
The loss of these two young people is devastating. For their families, for their communities, and for our city as a whole. The fact they were both killed by police illustrates the urgent need for us to rethink public safety.
Last summer, after the murder of George Floyd, I shared my thoughts on policing and the need to create new systems of safety and accountability. I stand by those positions more firmly now than ever.
We need to re-think what policing means. Armed officers trained in lethal violence should not be responding to homelessness, mental health challenges, or missing turn signals. Instead, we need to consider alternative models where civilian first responders trained in de-escalation are able to respond to residents' calls for assistance.
And we need to re-invest in communities. The money we save from reducing the scope of policing can go not only to building that civilian first responder corps, but also to improving educational and economic opportunities in neighborhoods that have suffered from decades of disinvestment. The safest communities aren’t the ones with the most police; they’re the ones with the most jobs, the best schools, and the strongest infrastructure.
These past two months have made it painfully clear that the time for change is long past due. While we passed major criminal justice reforms in Springfield last fall, there's much more to do.
I'm proud to be a co-sponsor of CESSA, a bill that will bring mental health first responders to Illinois. It’s modeled off the very successful CAHOOTS program in Eugene, Oregon, and it passed the House by a vote of 110-0. I urge the Senate to pass this measure and the Governor to sign it.
And I call on City Council to pass ECPS, an ordinance that would bring civilian oversight to the Chicago Police Department. Unfortunately, we have seen too many times that the Police Department and the mayor who oversees it simply cannot be called upon to hold itself accountable. This ordinance would create an elected District Council, which would in turn appoint a Community Commission. That commission would select or remove the police chief, the Police Board, and would have final approval over CPD policy.
These changes are vital to creating true public safety in our communities. But of course, they won’t bring Anthony back to our neighborhood. They won’t bring Adam Toledo back, or any of the others taken too soon, either by police or by violence in community. We mourn all their deaths, we give comfort to their families, and we continue to fight for justice.