Public Safety Protocol
Alderman La Spata is briefed on each violent crime incident in the 1st Ward, and some incidents that occur in surrounding areas. The Alderman and 1st Ward Office will regularly support our police requests for additional resources, including some new POD cameras and license plate resources; special resources to address reports of gunshots; and tactical responses for crimes such as vehicular hijacking and robbery. 

As we prepare for summer, the best path forward for public safety advocacy is as follows:

  • Call 911 when you experience a life threatening emergency, hear gunshots, or are aware of a noise ordinance disturbance.

  • Send a service request to our office noting that you called 911, and providing the location (address or intersection) of the issue. 

  • Consider attending your local police beat (CAPS) meeting or police district council meeting (we can help you find your district and CAPS beat if you reply to this email. 

  • If you are aware of issues related to an Airbnb, you can file a Shared Housing Complaint with the City via the 311 app (easiest way to do so). Be as specific as possible related to incidents that you observe. Once you submit the 311, contact our office to let us know about the issue. 

When we have 911 call records to send to our police districts, it helps us further advocate for resources and work with our neighbors. 

Direct Public Safety Approach
One of the ways our office approaches public safety is through open communication with the police districts in our ward. In addition to our weekly meetings with the police districts, in which we specifically go over crime statistics over the previous seven days and discuss prevention strategies, we are in regular communication with them about any resident concerns and protocol questions. Our office takes our lead on public safety strategy directly from CPD; when they let us know about tactics that we can use to help improve safety, we tend to work with them to implement those tactics. For example, one of these strategies is to reduce the opportunity for crime, whether that be improving lighting in the area, altering the environment (such as the recently introduced trial parking ban), and installing new cameras. If they say they need additional officers, we support them there by advocating for more resources to that district. Our office has never refused a request for funding a new camera or license plate reader and we have never refused a letter of support for a commander requesting additional personnel. We continue to work together to tackle existing crime as well as prevent future crime in our respective ward and districts.

Our office and the respective police districts in our ward also occasionally host community meetings with residents and business owners if it comes to our attention that there is an ongoing public safety concern. When we were getting complaints regarding the late-night scene on Division Street, the 14th district and our office arranged a community meeting with the business owners of that street, which was followed by a BEAT meeting with residents to address these concerns. This is additional to biannual meetings my office has co-hosted with the 14th district with our Milwaukee corridor businesses in Wicker Park and Logan Square. We have also participated in accountability meetings with businesses whenever there has been an incident of violence closely tied to them, including Diversey Bowl, the Point, and the former East Room. Likewise, we recently met with members of the Ukrainian Village Safety Advocates regarding the new business opening up on the same street to discuss similar worries. We are consistently amenable to holding these types of meetings when we feel they are necessary to improve an acute public safety situation.

Interested in speaking with Police directly about public safety? Attend your local Beat Meetings! You can find out which Beat you live in by filling out your address here.

Holistic Public Safety Approach
Rather than limiting the scope of public safety only to the Chicago Police Department, our office takes a more holistic approach that includes affordable housing, budget, homelessness prevention, and violence prevention investment. The alderman voted for the 2022 budget almost solely because of investments in violence prevention that he knew would be effective. Over $82 million were budgeted in multiple programs through Department of Family and Support Services and the Department of Public Health to prevent violence and promote youth engagement and job training ($9.5M for workforce development, $16M for community violence initiatives, $5.1M for youth violence interventions, and $10M for the new models of youth justice diversion). So far, however, the administration hasn't spent any of those dollars on what they are allocated for, so the alderman is still actively pushing for them to have accountability and utilize those resources which have been proven to reduce and prevent violence in the community.

Community-Based Public Safety Approach
Our office partners with several of these types of non-profit organizations such as READI, CRED, and ALSO, which are all dedicated to providing trauma-based mental health care coupled with job training and employment opportunities. Statistically, youth who participate in these types of programs are 40% less likely to be involved in violent crime in comparison with their neighbors. Our biggest challenge in this regard remains to be actually using the dollars that are already allocated and budgeted for this purpose. Our office also works with several organizations dedicated to homelessness prevention and outreach, which provide engagement and services like shelter and mental health resources to those experiencing homelessness.