My tenure as chair of the Council's public safety committee will end this afternoon when the Council reorganizes, something we do every two years.
I've learned a lot over the last four years. We've accomplished a lot, too. But one important area where I don't believe we've made as much progress as we should have is in reforming the culture of our Police Department. I've written about this before here and here. We also have not effectively wrestled with and abated the persistent and extremely corrosive street crime and disorder that plagues some of our neighborhood business districts.
As a summation of my work on the public safety committee, I've compiled my thoughts on these two major challenges in a policy essay. My hope is this paper will spark needed discussions among and between policymakers, law enforcement officers and concerned citizens about the best way we can work together to make our city safer. Please take some time to read it and let me know how you react to these ideas.