[Cold Star by AHOAMI]
[Garcia]: While we may not be able to change the whole world, we can change our world.
THAT’S MAURILIO GARCIA WHO WAS INAUGURATED AS ONE OF THE DISTRICT COUNCILORS IN THE 19TH POLICE DISTRICT ON MAY 2ND, 2023. EACH OF THE 22 CHICAGO POLICE DISTRICTS HAS THREE DISTRICT COUNCILORS. GARCIA, A 2009 ALUMN FROM NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY WHO RESIDES IN UPTOWN, NOW SERVES OVER 215,000 PEOPLE FROM FULLERTON TO LAWRENCE FROM THE RIVER TO THE LAKE.
[Garcia]: The DC [District Council] position is meant to be a community liaison, an ambassador, understanding what are the public safety concerns or any policing concerns of the community, and then working with police leaders, city officials, community groups to enact changes that the community wants to see made.
THE DISTRICT COUNCIL WAS FORMED TO HAVE COMMUNITY OVERSIGHT OF POLICE BY A 2021 ORDINANCE THAT WAS CREATED IN RESPONSE TO INCIDENTS OF POLICE BRUTALITY, SUCH AS THE MURDER OF LAQUAN MCDONALD.
[Garcia]: The murder of Laquan McDonald back in 2015, led the Department of Justice to look into the practices by Chicago PD saw that there’s a lot of misconduct, lack of training, and a lack of racial bias training.
RACISM IN POLICING IS NOT UNIQUE TO CHICAGO. THE WASHINGTON POST’S NATIONAL POLICE SHOOTING DATABASE REPORTS BLACK AMERICANS ARE KILLED BY THE POLICE AT MORE THAN TWICE THE RATE OF WHITE AMERICANS. GARCIA CITES THE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD AS ONE OF THE PRIMARY REASONS HE RAN FOR DISTRICT COUNCIL.
[Garcia]: I was so enraged about police misconduct, lack of accountability, just general approach to policing in America.
GARCIA HAS SPREAD AWARENESS OF POLICE MISCONDUCT IN AND OUT OF OFFICE, INCLUDING FORMING AN ANTIRACIST COMMITTEE AT HIS MARKET RESEARCH JOB.
[Garcia]: We had also started a pro bono initiative where we give $50,000 worth of our services to local nonprofits.
THIS PRO BONO WORK OPENED GARCIA’S EYES TO DISCREPANCIES IN CHICAGO’S PUBLIC SERVICES AND MADE HIM WANT TO DO MORE. HE TOOK A THREE-MONTH SABBATICAL FROM WORK.
[Garcia]: I wanted to evaluate what I want to be when I grow up. And to me, it was, I really want to give back, like to me, I get this drive and this adrenaline rush of helping people.
GARCIA SAW THE OPPORTUNITY TO APPLY HIS PROFESSIONAL SKILLSET IN A MORE SOCIALLY IMPACTFUL WAY WHEN HE SAW HIS LONGTIME FRIEND SAM SCHOENBURG AT A CASUAL GATHERING.
[Garcia]: It was a Summer night, and Sam pulled me aside he’s like, “Hey, this is what I’m doing. I heard that maybe you’d be interested in it.” Given that it was so in line with police accountability and aligned with so many of my passions of giving back to the community, hearing back from folks…and I decided to do it.
SCHOENBURG INTRODUCED GARCIA TO JENNY SCHAFFER, AND THE THREE WERE ELECTED TO THE 19th POLICE DISTRICT COUNCIL. NOW, THE TEAM PRIORITIZES EXPANDING MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES AS THE AREA HAS THE 2ND HIGHEST AMOUNT OF HEALTH CRISIS CALLS IN THE CITY. SCHOENBURG SAYS THE TEAM IS FOCUSING ON CARE, THE CRISIS ASSISTANCE RESPONSE AND ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM.
[Schoenburg]: This program sends a crisis Intervention trained officer, a mental health clinician, and paramedic, three-person team to these calls. And it’s been really successful so far.
ACCORDING TO THE CARE DASHBOARD FROM SEPTEMBER 2021 TO MAY 2023, THE PROGRAM HAD 852 EMERGENCY CRISIS CALLS, BUT ZERO USES OF FORCE AND ZERO ARRESTS. SCHOENBURG SAYS THEY WANT TO EXPAND THIS PILOT PROGRAM.
[Schoenburg]: They’re [CARE] only averaging, I think, three calls a day that they respond to, and the hours that they’re available are daytime working hours in the week, so like 10am to 4:30pm, Monday through Friday, which is just not when most mental health crisis calls happen.
GARCIA SAYS THIS PROGRAM IS A WIN-WIN SITUATION REGARDLESS OF WHEREVER ONE FALLS ON THE PUBLIC SAFETY SPECTRUM.
[Garcia]: And so when we talk about alternative policing solutions, this is a great example, right? Can we have a more mental crisis response that is not going to require police to show up and instead have people that are appropriately trained to respond to that situation?
IN ADDITION TO THE MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS, THE COUNCIL FACES THE ISSUE OF PEOPLE NOT KNOWING ABOUT IT. UPTOWN RESIDENT REBECCA SILVERMAN ADMITS SHE DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THE DISTRICT COUNCIL.
[Silverman]: I tried to sort of look online and none of the people who were running were people who had like a history of politics. So there wasn’t that much on them, and I ended up voting for the slate of people who like sent me a flier, right, which I almost never do.
GARCIA ECHOES THIS SENTIMENT.
[Garcia]: “We knocked on 20,000 doors as a campaign in the 19 district. I would say 95% of the conversations that we had at doors are informing folks that this position exists and what this position is.”
THE DISTRICT COUNCIL IS PRIORITIZING CREATING MORE EXPOSURE FOR ITSELF.
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BOTH SCHAFFER AND SCHOENBURG RECOGNIZE GARCIA FOR HIS WORK AS A DATA ANALYST. BEFORE TAKING OFFICE, GARCIA CREATED A SURVEY TO GAUGE HOW RESIDENTS FELT ABOUT POLICING IN THE AREA. IT ALREADY HAS OVER 100 RESPONSES.
[Schaffer]: Maurilio is really great at creating surveys that can get us the information that we want and then being able to analyze the data and being able to make meaning from it in ways that can really impact the community.
SCHOENBURG SAYS GARCIA BRINGS A UNIQUE INSIGHT TO THE COUNCIL.
[Schoenburg]: Maurilio is Mexican American and brings that perspective to this role and lives in Uptown, which is the most racially diverse part of our district.
AT THE 19TH POLICE DISTRICT COUNCIL, GARCIA SAYS HE IS HERE TO LISTEN, WITH OPEN EARS.
[Garcia]: Start paying attention a little bit more and getting involved and not being afraid to utilize the resources that are available to us…If anybody has any questions like for the 19th district, specifically, our email address is 19thdistrictcouncil@gmail.com. We’re open ears, willing to listen.
[Cold Star by AHOAMI]
