Despite Protests, City Council Approves Joint Public Safety Training Academy Project

Protestors gathered outside of Chicago City Council Chambers recently to protest the $95 million Joint Public Safety Training Academy project. Photo Credit: No Cop Academy
Protestors gathered outside of Chicago City Council Chambers recently to protest the $95 million Joint Public Safety Training Academy project. Photo Credit: No Cop Academy

Despite Protests, City Council Approves Joint Public Safety Training Academy Project

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

After months of back and forth discussions, Chicago’s City Council recently voted to approve the $95 million Joint Public Safety Training Academy project which has been slated for construction in the city’s West Garfield Park neighborhood.

Despite the estimated 300 protestors that gathered at City Hall that day and against requests from both mayoral candidates that council members halt this process, 38 aldermen voted in favor of the project and only 8 voted against it.

When completed, the Joint Public Safety Training Academy will consolidate and replace various Chicago Police Department, Fire Department, and Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) training facilities into a new campus at 4301 W. Chicago Avenue, according to the Chicago Infrastructure Trust.

“When it comes to economic development for the west side of Chicago, we always have had a problem and I don’t feel that is right. I am listening to millions of dollars be spent all across the city and yet we can’t get grocery stores,” said 37th Ward Alderman, Emma Mitts.

The Joint Public Safety Training Academy will be constructed in the 37th ward and Mitts said she is in full support of this project and sees it as an opportunity to bring economic development and improved public safety to the community.

“We have a right to have public safety as a priority. I hear my constituents tell me that they don’t feel safe going out of the house and they have to walk their kids to school,” said Mitts.

Mitts went on to say that with this project, Chicago has “an opportunity to get something right when it comes to violence in this city.”

Other westside aldermen, David Moore (17th) and Walter Burnett (27th), spoke at the meeting to share their support for this project. The only alderman to stand and voice his opposition was Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th).

“The research shows that the best way to improve public safety is by investing more in after-school programs, jobs programs, education, and mental health. That is something that this council and this administration has consistently failed to invest in.

We closed 50 public schools and we closed 6 mental health clinics because we were told that there was not enough money to invest in our neighborhoods and the working class,” said Ramirez-Rosa.

Protestors were present both inside and outside of City Council Chambers to detest the project. The general sentiment of those that were in opposition of Joint Public Safety Training Academy was that the $95 million dollars that will be spent on constructing this new facility could be better spent as funding for education and mental health initiatives.

“The cop academy is just such a misuse of our tax dollars,” said Theron Hawk, a representative from the Garfield Park Community Council. “We on the west side and at the Garfield Park Community Council say no to this cop academy.

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