Evanston Now
Seeks to find the best structure for delivering public safety services.
Daniel Biss.
Mayor Daniel Biss says a new Evanston police chief might end up supervising workers with responsibilities beyond what’s now seen as the role of police.
Speaking to the second meeting of his Reimagining Public Safety Committee Tuesday afternoon, a day after Police Chief Demitrous Cook announced his retirement, Biss said the city needs to decide what infrastructure it should build to provide for safety and how that infrastructure should be constructed inside the city bureaucracy.
“As it stands now,” Biss added, the Police Department has a staff of 140 to 150 individuals with a particular set of powers.
City Council approves creation of Reimagining Public Safety Committee
City Council approved the creation of the Reimagining Public Safety Committee, an ad-hoc committee tasked with analyzing Evanston Police Department’s relationship with the city and presenting “community-informed” recommendations for the 2022 budget process, on Monday.
In one of his first acts as mayor, Mayor Daniel Biss announced the formation of the committee at the first meeting of the 81st City Council. According to a memo prepared by Deputy City Manager Kimberly Richardson, the committee will review the city’s funding allocation in relation to public safety and police department functions and allocations.
Evanston Now
City starts ‘reimagining’ public safety
Mayor says he wants solutions developed by this fall, in time to implement them in the city s 2022 budget.
Mayor Daniel Biss, chairing this morning s committee meeting.
Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss outlined a set of nine possible topics for the new Reimagining Public Safety Committee to address as the group met for the first time this morning.
The meeting came just a day after the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, an event that touched of a wave of protests and calls for police reform across the country.
Biss said the topics, many suggested by members of the new committee, include considering:
As one of his first acts in office, Mayor Daniel Biss created the Reimagining Public Safety Committee, he announced at Monday’s City Council meeting.
The committee, which comprises 17 city officials and community members, plans to analyze the city’s public safety efforts which encompasses the Evanston Police Department and provide recommendations for the 2022 city budget.
“We are prepared to take on what is perhaps the most difficult and controversial issue before us,” Biss said. “But it’s also, from both a quality of life and a budgetary standpoint issue, perhaps the most significant one and I cannot wait to get started.”
Daniel Biss, former math professor and Illinois legislator, became the 20th mayor of Evanston on May 10.The 43-year old was carried into office with progressive bona fides including his notable role in passing Illinois marriage equality in 2013.A failed candidate for governor in 2018, Bisssuccessful