Chicago Police Release New Draft Guidelines for Crowd Control and Arrests Ahead of DNC – NBC Chicago

Chicago police have already begun training for the Democratic National Convention, but now, less than ten weeks before the big Democratic convention, police are asking the public to comment on new crowd control and arrest measures.

Citizen groups have criticized previous policies that they say do not protect First Amendment rights. The Chicago Police Department’s new set of crowd response guidelines addresses these public concerns.

The guidelines, recently posted on the CPD website, are a second chance for public participation. The CPD’s mass arrest guidelines were previously available for review in February.

Public comment is now open until June 30, after which CPD will review additional feedback received to guide future revisions to the drafts.

A key conclusion from the department’s new policy concerns gatherings, First Amendment assemblies (formerly called “protests”), and civil unrest: “Force will be used only when it is objectively reasonable, necessary, and proportionate.”

The CPD also said that “mass arrests are a last resort” and officers would first try to resolve the situation peacefully.

Since the unrest surrounding the killing of George Floyd in 2020, police departments at the local and state levels have revised their mass arrest policies.

“I truly appreciate the lessons we have learned from the unrest surrounding the killing of George Floyd and have taken them into account along with public opinion and community comments,” said Councilman Chris Taliaferro of the 29th District on Tuesday after a meeting of the city’s Police and Fire Committee.

In addition, the decision to initiate large-scale enforcement actions, including physical arrests beyond isolated incidents, must be made by a CPD supervisor designated as the incident commander or field commander.

The Chief of CPD has the authority to declare a coordinated incident involving multiple arrests, formerly known as a “mass arrest.” The Chief will consider factors such as whether the department has adequate resources, whether a continued police presence is necessary for public safety, the number of potential arrestees, the nature of the situation, and the circumstances of the incident.

CPD also said crowd dispersal orders will only be issued under certain circumstances, namely when three or more people are committing a disturbance that is likely to cause significant harm and there have been multiple opportunities to disperse. If circumstances permit, officers will issue warnings before making an arrest.

Ald. Bill Conway of the 34th District said he believes senior police officers will strike a balance between First Amendment rights and public safety.

“It seems like the superintendent is instilling these best practices in the officers. At every convention and every event, there are protests,” Conway said. “And our officers have to be able to deal with that.”

With the CPD vowing not to repeat the events during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, policies such as the use of batons and chemical warfare agents such as pepper spray were revised nearly a year ago.

According to the guidelines, officers “may not use batons to deliberately strike a person in the head or neck unless deadly force is warranted.” Chemical warfare agents are a permissible use of force against an attacker if the person “uses or threatens to use force that is likely to result in physical injury.”

An officer is also required to use de-escalation techniques to prevent the need for force unless doing so would place the officer or another person in imminent danger or the de-escalation techniques would be “manifestly ineffective.”

The CPD’s draft guidelines also specify when pepper spray should be used against active and passive resisters. It is intended that it may be used “only after authorization from the Superintendent or a person designated by him.”

Ald. Nicole Lee of the 11th District emphasized the need for adequate training.

“The superintendent assured me that everyone will be trained,” Lee said. “I think we learned a lot from George Floyd, even today with all the ceasefire protests and the Gaza-Israel conflict. So I hope everyone is prepared.”