'The audience asked few questions. Then it was time to hear updates from local police. Hands shot up almost immediately.' | _KellyGarcia__
Chicago police officers James Olszanski and Osvaldo Caraballo address a public safety meeting hosted by Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez .On a gloomy Thursday evening in March, dozens of people gathered inside a film studio in Pilsen to talk about crime in the neighborhood. For the past few months, residents had been complaining about carjackings, catalytic converter thefts, and the slow response from police.
Officer James Olszanski from the 12th district dodged the question and instead pointed to staffing issues; just a few days before thereported that the number of police officers who retired in 2021 more than doubled from three years ago because of low morale. But, according to the 25th Ward office, more cops were assigned to Pilsen in February in response to increased violence.
A man in the audience asked why the relationship between police and the community had been worsening over the years. “I remember being a young kid in Little Village and knowing all the beat officers by name,” the man said. “Now young kids are telling us how afraid they are of the police.” “I feel like we should name the elephant in the room,” said Aida Flores, former 2019 aldermanic candidate for the 25th Ward. She sat in the second row with pages of notes in hand.
Questions were still pouring in, but not many answers in response. The meeting lasted well over an hour. “We should start wrapping up soon,” Olszanski suggested, right before he was interrupted by a woman sitting in the third row.“This happens every single time!” Tanya Lozano yelled. She wore a white and teal plaid coat with matching Jordans. She wore red stop-sign earrings that read “Stop Killing Black People.
“Keep rolling your eyes at me,” Lozano said, looking in the direction of the two men. She then accused them of being off-duty police officers whom she recognized from previous community meetings. Afterwards, Lozano says the two men whom she suspected of being off-duty police officers approached her outside the building in an intimidating manner.in an email sent to the Reader after this story was published, Chacon disputed Lozano’s allegation that the men were police officers, and said Lozano approached him and another man after the meeting, not the other way around.
Gaona confirmed her attendance at the public safety meeting, adding that she has attended “all the meetings” to date. She said she did not identify herself as an off-duty police officer because she was not representing the department there.
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