CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The Chicago City Council on Tuesday voted to make it easier for some to remove name from the Chicago Police Department’s gang database.
The ordinance was blocked by a procedural maneuver at the last council meeting but this time the vote was 29 to 18 to let the Chicago Police Board set up an appeals process for people who feel they're wrongly included in the much-maligned gang database.
Ald. Andre Vasquez of the 40th Ward agreed with the intent but voted no.
"I think we haven't gotten enough information on the policy. And the latest I'd heard was that people that are going to be on the database wouldn't even be proactively informed that they are in the database. So I have a problem voting in any good conscience," Vasquez said.
But Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that's not true.
"The police department and others will be making sure that there's outreach through a variety of channels to make sure that individuals have the information that they need, understand what the process is," Lightfoot said.
A few aldermen said doing nothing while the database exists isn't acceptable.
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