Chicago Police Department – Reform Pilot District
In 2019, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) entered into a consent decree that aims to address past failures of the Department and build trust between Chicago’s residents and police by mandating effective, lasting reforms. Civic Consulting Alliance has supported CPD with several projects to prepare for and respond to the consent decree in recent years. With a national reckoning on the role of police, mounting pressure to meet the requirements of the consent decree, and low morale throughout the Department, the urgency to change the status quo at CPD is greater now than ever.
While CPD continues to make progress complying with specific mandates, changes have been piecemeal across the Department, and there has not been intentional focus on the complementary cultural change that is needed to realize the spirit of reform.
“Civic Consulting Alliance brought an invaluable combination of private sector change management expertise and a deep knowledge of policing in Chicago to help us understand how to achieve culture change at our large, longstanding institution—a challenge police departments across the country currently face.”
In April 2021, Civic Consulting Alliance began a multi-phase project to accelerate the Department’s reform efforts by:
Helping CPD structure a comprehensive approach to consent decree reform implementation, which would significantly enhance coordination and increase scale of changes; and
Identifying the cultural initiatives CPD needs to undertake to augment policy changes and change mindsets across the Department.
In the first phase of this project, we:
Developed a ‘change story’ and leadership toolkit to help CPD leaders communicate about reforms in a compelling manner—as more than perfunctory matters of compliance—and build support across the Department. These products were informed by focus group interviews and best practice research, including interviews with Civic Consulting Alliance Advisory Council members from Avia Health Innovation, Bain & Company, and Deloitte specializing in change management.
Created an implementation plan to roll out seven consent decree reforms—pertaining to community policing, crisis intervention teams, performance evaluations, unity of command/span of control (i.e. supervision), officer wellness, and officer support systems—in a pilot district (District 006).
Identified cultural initiatives structured to address four elements of culture change: leadership/role modeling, communications, reinforcing mechanisms, and training. These initiatives will be implemented alongside consent decree reforms in the pilot district.
With these critical tools in place, in August 2021, CPD and Civic Consulting Alliance began the next phase of work: developing a project management structure to oversee execution of the district pilot from September through December 2021. If successful, the pilot approach will serve as a replicable model for police reform and culture change that CPD can expand citywide.
“At a time when CPD is grappling with the crises of increasing gun violence, COVID-19, and low morale, Civic Consulting Alliance lent the planning skills and extra capacity we needed to develop a smart, tactical implementation plan to accelerate vital policy reforms that will empower our members to better serve their communities.”
Outputs
Change story and leadership toolkit—to help Chicago Police Department leaders communicate about and build support for reforms across the Department.
2 implementation plans—to guide the roll out of consent decree reforms and complementary cultural initiatives in the pilot district.
Project management structure—to oversee implementation of consent decree reforms and cultural initiatives in the pilot district
Outcomes
Rollout of 21 cultural initiatives and 7 key consent decree reforms in one pilot district by the beginning of 2022, immediately impacting ~300 CPD members and setting the stage for comprehensive, Department-wide change