Wayne A. Strnad - The CAPS that doesn't work
Background Information
Historical Perspective
Back in
February of 2003 a member of the Citizens for Community Action, Inc. requested
an election for a beat facilitator. This lady was then subjected to intimidation by one of Chicago’s
Not-So-Finest Police Personnel. He
had threatened to have her banded from the meetings that occur at St. Stanislaus
B & M Church, using the “Rules for CAPS” as a rationale.
The Citizens
for Community Action, Inc. filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request
with the Chicago Police Department seeking the Rules for CAPS. We were told that the 25th District didn’t have any rules.
We reasoned
that if one police district didn’t have any rules, how many really have rules? So, we expanded on the FOIA and sought the Rules for CAPS for all 25 Districts. All but two districts complied and provided the rules for the
District Advisory Council (DAC) or the District Steering Committee. The two districts that did not comply
are District 13 and District 25.
After
reviewing the DAC information from several police districts, it was noted that
the DAC uses public funds. So,
another FOIA was prepared seeking information relating to the monies the 13th and 25th District use. You can find this request online.
Again the
Chicago Police Department did not comply with our request.
The Citizens
for Community Action, Inc. then filed an appeal with Mayor Daley and Police
Superintendent Hillard. We are
still awaiting a reply.
Informational Picket
The Citizens
for Community Action, Inc. held an informational picket on the South end of the
Bricktown Mall. You can view
information pertaining to that picket on the main page of this website.
During that
picket Wayne A. Strnad, the Director of the organization, received two tickets
for alleged illegal parking and no front plate (date for tickets – July 2,
2003). This was a clear act of
retaliation aimed at Mr. Strnad because of the picket’s ability to bring light
to the crime that was occurring in the area and the poor service McCotter was
giving to the community.
A property tax
comparison was made between the area that McCotter lives and an area of the 25th District. This can also be found
online from the opening page of this website.
Petition Drive
The Preamble
to the Constitution of the United States allows for citizens to petition the
government. Seeing that there was
no cooperation with the community, a petition was written to seek the removal of
the commander of the 25th District, Michael McCotter.
During the 2-3
weeks prior to presentation, we collected more than 2,100 signatures. Needless to say, there is a great deal
of dissatisfaction with the services provided by the 25th District
under the direction of McCotter.
To see the
original petition, View text of petition.
During this
circulation, Wayne A. Strnad received a third ticket. Clearly, this is retaliation.
Petition Presentation
On August 12,
2003 a press conference was called so that we could explain the purpose of the
petition. After the conference we
walked inside Chicago Police Headquarters to present the petition to the
Superintendent of Police, Terry Hillard. Of course, we did not see Hillard but met with one of his aids. The petition was then officially
presented and received by this aid.
The day we
presented the petition to Superintendent Hillard, a media representative for the
Chicago Police Department tried to downplay the petition saying that it
represented only a small number of individuals in the district - about 1%.
Fact is the
number of signatures one needs to run for alderman in Chicago is 240. We accumulated nearly 9 times that
amount in our petition drive.
Also, any
sampling for a poll is considered a good sampling if 500 – 1000 people
participate in the poll. We’ve
accumulated between 2 – 4 times that amount.
Needless to
say, the Chicago Police Department simply cannot ignore this petition for it is
a good representation of the will of the people.
To view the
names of those individuals who signed the petition, please click here. Note: The ordering of the online version of people who signed is not
necessarily the ordering of the original petition i.e. there is not necessarily
a 1 to 1 correspondence in pagination although all pages are presented online.
To protect the
privacy of the individuals who signed, we have edited the original scanned
document to exclude their address.
Former 25th District Commander Michael McCotter.
How pristine an area McCotter lives in.
Picket on the South end of the Brickyard Mall.