Applications are open for an experienced West Side attorney to join the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability because Kelly Presley is moving and vacating the position at the end of the month.  

The District Council Nominating Committee is looking for an attorney with at least a decade of experience in civil rights, criminal law or prosecution. The attorney must also live on Chicago’s West Side because of CCPSA’s geographic residency requirements.  

To apply, you must live in Austin, East or West Garfield Park, North or South Lawndale, Humboldt Park, West Town, the Near West Side, Little Village or the Lower West Side.  

Applications are due Nov. 6. Then, the nominating committee will conduct interviews and choose at least two applicants as a recommendation. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson will choose one to serve on the CCPSA. Commissioners receive a $1,000 monthly stipend. 

Over three years ago, the Chicago City Council created the CCPSA and District Councils as a model for police oversight and accountability. While district councilors are elected bodies that help improve public safety and policing, the CCPSA has the power to advance reform and make recommendations in those areas. 

The CCPSA oversees the Chicago Police Department, the Police Board, and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. Its job is to prioritize transparency of these organizations and facilitate community input on them. 

More specifically, the CCPSA has the ability to set the police department’s policy, review its budget, recommend solutions to non-policing, and evaluate the progress of the police department, its board, and COPA. 

The new West Side attorney will fill an upcoming vacancy on the CCPSA after Presley’s resignation on Oct. 31. Presley was appointed to the CCPSA in June of this year to a four-year term but is moving out of Chicago.  

Presley was an attorney at the Office of the Cook County Public Guardian for nearly six years, then deputy chief legal counsel and chief public safety legal counsel at the Illinois Department of Corrections for six years. 

“Commissioner Presley’s contributions to increasing public safety and police accountability has been invaluable” said Angelica Green, a 25th District councilor, in a statement. “Having already conducted a successful nomination process that resulted in the appointments of Commissioners Anthony Driver Jr., Aaron Gottlieb, Abierre Minor, Angel Rubi Navarijo, Remel Terry, and Sandra Wortham, we are confident that our selection process will identify passionate and qualified candidates to continue the vital role she leaves behind.”   

Since its inception, the CCPSA has had several major contributions to policing and public safety in Chicago.  

Last summer, the CCPSA nominated Larry Snelling to be the next superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. The Chicago City Council appointed Snelling last September.  

The CCPSA helped to eliminate the police department’s gang database, which was reported to be full of errors and targeting Black and Latino residents. 

The commission has also held public hearings on ShotSpotter — City Council is fighting to reinstate the gunshot detection system after its contract expired last month — and pretextual traffic stops. 

For more information about the CCPSA and to apply by Nov. 6, visit www.cityofchicago.org/ChicagoCommunityCommission.