Wentworth (2nd) Police District Candidates
BRONZEVILLE – Four people are running for Wentworth (2nd) police district council seats. The district includes parts of Bronzeville, Kenwood, Hyde Park and Douglas. Meet them below.
Ephraim LeeCredit: Kirk Williamson for the Chicago ReaderThe 2nd Police District
A 24-year Navy reservist, Lee is pursuing a master’s degree in social work. He is the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy beat 215 facilitator.
Candidate Questionnaire Answers
Do you have experience as an activist or community organizer? No Do you have experience interacting with CPD? Yes Do you have experience working in or interacting with government? YesShould the city hire more police officers? Yes Is CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should remain roughly the same. CPD reform: The police need training and some reform. Mental health crises: Police should accompany healthcare workers to crises.
What do you see as the primary role of a police district councillor?
Communicate with the department on behalf of the community Help police do a better job Other: “To act as an honest and reliable bridge between the citizens of the district and the police.”
Why are you running for Police District Council?
“I am running for the Second District Police Board because I believe that there are parts/agencies of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) that lack strong, decisive, leadership and ethical guidance. For too many years, our police department has failed to uphold and adhere to a clear and unbounded code of fairness, accountability and values throughout the department.
This failure to maintain high standards of professionalism has pitted the department, its members, and the citizens it is sworn to protect at odds with one another, and this division has led to increased crime, deep-seated anger, and fissures of distrust that have grown over time. . I firmly believe that only through a committed urgency of transparency, and a renewed focus on justice, fairness and respect, can these decades of wounds be fully healed. I hope to be part of this change.”
Alexander Perez
Perez worked for Aurora’s Mayor’s Department of Communications for four years and for more than a year was the director of community engagement for West Aurora School District 129. Alds. Pat Dowell (3rd) and Jeanette Taylor (20th) endorsed.
Activist or organizer Support more police accountability Political empowerment
Candidate Questionnaire Answers:
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 communicating with the government? YesShould the city hire more police officers? No*Is CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should remain roughly the same. CPD reform: The police need training and some reform. Mental health crises: Police should accompany healthcare workers to crises.
*I do not believe that we should expand appointments; I think we should focus on filling the vacancies we currently have.
What do you see as the primary role of a police district councillor?
Establishing civilian control of the department Helping the police do a better job Communicating with the department on behalf of the community
Why are you running for Police District Council?
To increase transparency and accountability through modernization of communications and outreach efforts.
Coston Plummer
Plummer, a home caregiver and a member of SEIU, United Working Families, and the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), has been doing community work in Washington Park since 2016. “I want every neighborhood to have the policing it deserves,” he says, “and I want to be the vessel for my community that helps make that happen.”
In 1991, Plummer’s 15-year-old brother was beaten over a 39-hour period by Chicago police working for notorious CPD Commander John Burge. As a result of the confession, Johnny Plummer was sentenced to life in prison for murder, and remains in prison like many of Burge’s victims.
Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) and SEIU endorsed.
Activist or organizer
Support more police accountability
Political approval
Candidate Questionnaire Answers
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 the government? No. Should the city hire more police officers? Yes Is CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should be reduced VGP reform: The police need training and some reform. Mental health crises: Police should accompany healthcare workers to mental health crises.
What do you see as the primary role of a police district councillor?
Establishment of civilian control of the police department Communication with the department on behalf of the community
Why are you running for Police District Council?
I am running for District Council because I want to hold the police accountable for their actions in the 2nd Police District. But I also want to be a vessel for the 2nd Police District. What the 2nd Police District community wants me to fight for is what I will fight for.
Julia Kline
A former CPS teacher, Kline is a community organizer, sales and marketing consultant, and voting rights activist. She is a co-founder with Jocelyn McClelland and Morrow Cleveland of Neighbors Who Vote, which works on voter registration and turnout, inter-neighborhood organizing and amplifying the work of other groups. In 2018 and 2018, Kline was on the marketing and communications team for Indivisible Chicago and helped organize a number of street protests.
Activist or organizer
Support more police accountability
Candidate Questionnaire Answers:
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 the government? No. Should the city hire more police officers? NoIs CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should be reduced. 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 see as the primary role of a police district councillor?
Establishing civilian control of the police departmentOther: “Policing is never going to be the path to real security. Instead, we in this Council should work to create an entirely separate safety infrastructure: one based on restorative justice, mental health resources, violence interruption and outreach. For evidence of the effectiveness of this approach, look at Lawndale. They have seen a 40 percent drop in the incidence of violence since investing heavily in these types of approaches just two years ago.”
Why are you running for Police District Council?
Looking at me, many would assume that I have never experienced police violence first hand. But when I was 15 and got busted for smoking weed, I was almost raped by those two police officers. So I have a visceral understanding of the kind of reverberating trauma inflicted by abuse of power at the hands of police officers.
It infuriates me that MANY officers remain on CPD payroll despite several dozen accusations of misconduct against them; and even officers still collect either a salary or pension despite being convicted of criminal wrongdoing. Most recently, a whistleblower cop (yes, of course there are some good cops) named Sergeant Isaac Lambert was awarded $910,000 by a jury after he tried to call out the wrongdoing of three fellow officers. Yet those three bad cops are all still employed by CPD!!!
I cannot stand by and watch this kind of injustice – to say nothing of a catastrophic waste of economic resources – continue unchecked. Many before us have tried and failed (and CPD is currently resisting the federal consent decree), but to not keep trying is unacceptable
