It’s too long ago for her to remember, but at some point, Madelyn Ducre bought a video camera for her grandchildren. Since 1995, the longtime Evanston resident has used it for a different purpose: to film examples of police harassment.
“Sitting on my porch, I’ve seen so many stops in my area (that) I just started videocamera-ing them,” Ducre said. “I basically think the police do a good job, but believe me, I’ve seen six or seven officers who should’ve left the force a long time ago.”
For the past 10 years, Ducre has been part of a small movement to hold the Evanston Police Department more accountable for its actions.
This year that movement’s efforts finally came to a head.
In March 2007, a group of seven residents, including Ducre, first approached the City Council’s Human Services Committee about police harassment. Last month, Richard Eddington, Evanston’s police chief, announced the creation of a citizen group to oversee complaints against police officers, following a mandate from the committee to work with the residents.
While the details of the committee are still being worked out, the group will probably include nine citizen volunteers – one from each ward – who will be trained in the law and police procedures, Eddington said. The group, which formally will be called the Citizens Police Advisory Committee, will likely meet each month to review decisions about citizen complaints made by the chief of police.
In April, the Human Services Committee plans to vote on the final proposal for the advisory group.
Negotiations are ongoing, said Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd), a member of the committee.
Still, the current proposal doesn’t go as far as some residents would like.
Ducre and other members of the movement had hoped to establish an independent advisory committee that could conduct investigations on their own rather than reviewing the decision of the police chief, said Ducre, who cited the advisory committee for the Chicago Police Department. The Chicago committee is headed by a paid director and has the power to do its own investigations.
“I know we’re not as large as Chicago,” said Ducre, who said the residents will continue to push for an independent committee. “But people have rights.”
Officer misconduct is a major problem that has sometimes been underestimated by Evanston police, Ducre said.
“(Former Police) Chief Kaminsky said the department received five complaints one year,” she said. “And I said, ‘Five complaints? I hear more than that in one day.’ “
Eddington said the amount of complaints the department receives is not a “significant number,” adding citizens often think a situation is wrong when it really isn’t.
“You have to have the background,” he said. “You can’t just say, ‘Boy, oh boy, that looks kinda rough.’ That’s not really getting to the heart of the matter.”
But some officers target young people, particularly young blacks, searching them or their cars for no reason, Ducre said. As a result, she said, a lot of young people have left Evanston because of harassment.
“I kid you not, there’s a lot of stuff happening,” she said. “And it’s not just (against) blacks, it’s white people too, (if) they have their hair in the wrong style.”
Ducre said Eddington’s proposal is a step in the right direction because it will encourage citizens to formally report their complaints about police officer conduct.
“This is the first time we’ve really gotten off the ground, so to speak,” she said. “It’s getting there.”
