Do you have an experience with the police officers in your school that you would like to share?

“A police officer harassed my friends and I while we were sitting at a park nearby. They accused my friend of selling pills and followed to try and search us with no probable cause.” - Anonymous, ℅ 2020

“As a white-passing student, I have not had and will never have the experiences that my Black classmates did and do with police. I urge the prioritization of their voices and stories over anything I have witnessed from the privileged standpoint of a bystander. However, I have seen the police officers stationed at my school slam a disabled Black student face-first into a pane of glass. I have seen police trainees jeer, catcall, and laugh at students just trying to get to and from school. Whitney Young students are constantly listening to the sound of gunfire from the police training facility next door. The same trainees are at times given free reign to move about our campus, at times moving in great, militarized swaths through the halls for the sake of “training.” This is unacceptable. Not once has this police presence solved any problem that occurred at Whitney Young (of which there are many, most of which affect BIPOC students and are already ignored and excused by the administration).” - Anonymous, ℅ 2019

“One student got into some sort of argument/fight with another student or someone at the school, and they ended up bringing 6 police cars to the school to de-escalate and deal with 1 student. 1 student, an entire fleet of police inside and outside the school. Never necessary to have police in a school in the first place, let alone need that much backup.” - Anonymous, ℅ 2019

“Police officers at Jones often aggressively dealt with incredibly minor issues, such as students not wearing proper identification in the hallways or riding on the elevator. Police are not needed to deal with such issues; it is not in their job description. With that being said, there was not always a nurse present at school.” - Anonymous, ℅ 2018

“I’ve seen them punish Black children more harshly for doing the same things I did. I was not as punished as someone who did the same exact thing as me.” - Anonymous, ℅ 2017

“I could find a police officer on every floor of our school, every day yet the therapist in our school was only there once a week.” - Anonymous, ℅ 2018

“One student had about TEN COP CARS show up to “handle him”. Was that necessary? He also was not being physical. Why did CPS find it necessary to have that many cops come?” - Anonymous, ℅ 2017

“Police officers were called with multiple cars because a Black student was playing music in the hallway.” - Alice Sickler ℅ 2018

“I was privileged enough to never have had a personal experience with police officers at the selective enrollment school, Lane Tech. However, I noticed the stark difference my freshman year when I talked to my neighborhood friends. They attended neighborhood schools like Taft, Roosevelt, Mather, and Schurz. At Lane, we had daily security checks which I found so weird. I worked 30+ hours my last 2 years of HS and I was thankful for any sleep I could get. Sometimes I would be late to school and the security checks only made me tardier, causing me to receive demerits, requiring me to donate goods to the school so that they can be cleared and I can walk at graduation. Security checks systematically target low income students who work part time jobs during the school year to support their family. That was my experience at Lane Tech. My friends that went to neighborhood schools said that they felt like they were treated like criminals. On top of a situation similar to mine. Just the very police presence is so detrimental to coming of age students and their outlook on the world. If they are seen as criminals when they are out to receive an education, how does that instill motivation? Low income students do not often have the privilege of being coached by their parents through these experiences. We barely saw our parents because they have to work the 2nd or 3rd shift. Instead of wasting money on a CPD contract, invest into mental health services that have a positive impact on students. Even at Lane Tech, I tried building a relationship with the only gay counselor but he was inundated with so many other students that he often did not even recognize me. I needed someone to talk to but the budget wasn’t prioritizing mental health. It prioritized having a CPD officer present to instill an authoritarian regime onto us.” - Anonymous, ℅ 2016

“I remember having to go through metal detectors every morning and be randomly searched, which was a huge invasion of my privacy. I doubt this occurs in private schools. What must CPS students be surveilled?” - Anonymous, ℅ 2017

“I work in admissions at a private school just outside of Chicago. Many of our applicants are looking for somewhere safe to send their children after negative experiences with CPD in school. This especially occurs with neurodivergent students who are treated very roughly during outbursts.  If funds are allocated towards professionals who can de-escalate rather than physically intimidating students much trauma would be avoided.” - Anonymous

“Cops intimidate students. Their presence poses a threat to the sanctity of education. If you agree that we have a corrupt Police Dept, why have that energy around young students?” - Joshua Smith ℅ 2015

“The closest thing we had to police officers at Payton were security guards because we were in an upper class neighborhood on the north side of the city. This proves that they are absolutely 100% unnecessary. Any other reason that could be given for having cops in schools is actually produced by inequalities in Chicago and the CPS system. Now we know that "school resource officers" are mainly going to be placed at schools in low income neighborhoods where the majority of students are POC, under the guise of providing safety. Those schools need FUNDING, not cops. Give those schools the same funding and resources that the white kids in the wealthy neighborhoods get and then get back to me if you still think we need police in schools.” - Anonymous, ℅ 2016

“They harass students for no reason and make us feel intimidated by their presence. Why must I feel like a criminal at school?” - Anonymous, ℅ 2018

“I got pulled over and they assumed I was ditching but I was on my way to my class at gallery 37. This has happened a few times.” - Anonymous, ℅ 2020

“No personal experience with the police officers at my school but I am aware of how absolutely unacceptable it is that there are schools that are underfunded and crowded with students that do not have access to adequate resources. There should be enough counselors to comfortably serve the schools’ student population. Funding for extracurricular activities should be increased, including enough funding for interscholastic athletics at the elementary school level (as there once was). The way I see it, money that could be used to better schools which are very obviously struggling is instead being used to criminalize non-white students across Chicago. There are other options for ensuring safety at our schools so please explore them after terminating the contract and funding our schools.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“My little brother had the police called on him because he was assigned an undertrained aide as part of his IEP. When he misbehaved the aide grabbed him and he became terrified and violent so this aide called the cops. If this aide had been properly trained the situation would have never escalated and the cops would never have been called, the cops were never the solution to the problem regardless. While this issue was not caused by CPD in CPS, it just shows that rather than cops in schools we need to focus on other measures that help and protect students.” - Anonymous ℅ 2021

“I have spent more time in high school getting told by my school’s officers to take my hat off in the hallway than I have ever spent talking to the school’s one social worker after I sought out her help during a personal crisis. She didn’t have time to talk to me because she was already dealing with another student who was crying in her office. Meanwhile, the officers sat around in the hallway with nothing to do. I have spent more time standing in security lines to have my bag checked for weapons everyday from third through eighth grade than I spent with my high school’s one psychologist as she watched me have a panic attack and promptly sent me to go sit in the nurse’s office to wait until I felt better because she was too busy dealing with another student that she had kept waiting because of my crisis. I never brought a weapon to school, but I really needed that help and didn’t get it.” - Kellianne Bazzell ℅ 2018

“I noticed that they really did no good. It seemed some days I saw them and others I didn’t. I personally never really saw them do anything beneficial for the school and if anything they were a waste of money.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“We had a cop box at Taft that was a pointless waste of money because they would do nothing but terrorize students that were doing nothing wrong.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“At my grade school a friend of mine who is Latino was referred to the police for a matter that could've been dealt with internally and would never have triggered police involvement had he been white.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“As a white student, I consistently witnessed my fellow students of color be pulled aside for the ‘random screening’ of backpacks and belongings. Though the screening was supposed to be a random assortment of kids as they walked through Northside’s doors, there were almost entirely students of color who were selected for this process.” - Anonymous ℅ 2021

“Not to me personally, but they often addressed students who were just loud and hyper using disrespectful names. They called security on my friend for defending himself against a disrespectful substitute teacher.” - Asha Edwards ℅ 2019

“Yes, I had a brush in with them which was the day I realized CPS employed police officers. I was thoroughly searched but not arrested for the then illegal quantity of weed I had on my person. The problem I take is not with my dismissed case but rather the inequality I witnessed, a year earlier. I was sweating in the security office, waiting to be arrested, after seeing my friend had been arrested for a possession of weed. Taken out of the school to a holding cell, for the same reason they detained me, a year earlier. But his last name is Valadez and mine is Ross. I had every reason to be taken away, with more weed than he had on him, and yet I got away with a suspension. In the end, though not by being a victim, my intense averse reaction to this clear discrimination on both accounts of race and class is the epitome of the wave of concern. It is real and happening behind the cameras.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“Witnessed countless situations where police assumed negative and dangerous behavior from students without actually engaging with them, demonizing students before understanding the situation.” - Kevin Goldwater ℅ 2015

“I have never seen the officer at my school do anything to actively help the environment except make students feel uncomfortable in his presence. I honestly do not know why we needed him (or any other officer) on campus.” - Anonymous ℅ 2020

“I had horrible experiences with some of the off-duty police officers who worked as security guards at Whitney M. Young High School when I was a student there. By far the most traumatic of those experiences happened when a boy sexually harassed me, picked me up and slammed me against a locker, and then felt me up against my will while the officers did NOTHING but stand there and laugh.” - Nora Lubin ℅ 2013

“My sister saw her best friend arrested in the 7th grade in front of her class. This fact is completely unethical and wrong. I don’t want any other CHILD to be arrested in school.” - Anonymous ℅ 2007

“Police presence was unnecessary. One instance of crime that actually happened was when an old man followed my friend into the school with a camera phone up her skirt, and the police allowed him into the building and did not take her seriously. The police had an overwhelming presence and did nothing to actually help or protect students.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“In high school I remember seeing police officers around school but never really saw the need for them to be there. And in elementary school we had an amazing officer who was actually involved in the students life and he never wore a uniform. Definitely when cops wear uniforms in the school and are armed with guns makes things uncomfortable and is very unnecessary.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“Liaison officers would corner Black and Latinx students specifically on baseball fields in Oz Park, in hallways and throw them against buildings or onto the floor for no reason and harass them till they ‘found something.’ These students are children who don’t have a full understanding of their rights and are being harassed by bored racist police officers.” - Mitsuru Nelson ℅ 2009

“I had one encounter with the police at my school letting them know that there was someone following me to school and oftentimes when I’m on my way home. I told them they also tried to follow my friend and I on social media even though we were both private accounts. Even after we rejected them, they made new accounts to try to get in contact with us. We told the police officers at school but they weren’t too helpful and told us to go to the actual station and request a restraining order.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“CPD officers at Lane Tech legitimately bullied students. I did not feel safer whatsoever with the two of them in my presence. I can only imagine how POC felt.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“I was actually ‘arrested’ by the cops in my school my senior year, and they did everything in their power to spew negativity at me, and instill fear within me.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016

“I was chased down by police officers around my school because I didn’t print my student ID before the bell rang.” Madeline Mariani ℅ 2016

“School police would talk to all of us as if we were small children (the few times they decided to take the time to look up from their cell phones) until administration requested them for disciplinary action. When they arrived, they would use intimidation tactics to get you to feel guilty. Ultimately, they would just hand you off to one of our vice principals. I think their lax attitudes paired perfectly with the administrators to preserve the facade that Northside ‘wasn’t your normal high school.’ This all goes without saying that they effectively dissuaded a fellow student from filing a sexual assault report with any officers (at the school or station) in order to preserve their comfortable jobs and positive PR of the school.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“As a white student, I never interacted with the police, but it was well known that they targeted Black and brown students.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“Police at Jones harassed girls as soon as they turned 18 and made jokes about them being ‘legal.’ They also only enforced the dress code when girls didn’t play along with their advances.” Cristal Alvarez, ℅ 2018

“I went to a predominantly white school and distinctly remember being kept in a room until I provided names of people I believed to be involved in selling cannabis.” - Anonymous ℅ 2008

“They would come into our school with big dogs and try to bust people for having weed or other drugs. They would raid lockers.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“I was wrongfully accused of possession of marijuana and almost arrested. The two police officers refused to listen to me until a Lane Tech Security guard spoke up on my behalf.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“The individual officers at my high school were rude and made me feel inferior, particularly when I was late to class one time because I was on crutches and got in trouble by an officer, although I had a doctor’s note allotting me extra time.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“Cops were used to control the black students, never the white students. I’m sure I caused a scene in class more than once, but I never had the same repercussion as black students.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“The police officers in my school did not do one single thing to help in my six years at Whitney Young. There were numerous incidents of racism, sexual assault, harassment, bullying, and other events of misconduct that were either reported and ignored by administration, the inadequate and small counseling department and social workers, and the ‘school resource officers’ who were all meant to help, OR not reported at all by students out of fear of being ignored, or even in some instances fear of being BLAMED as the victim for the situation. The school resource officers were completely useless. Not once did I see any of them doing their jobs as a resource or enforcing whatever security rules they were meant to; they only stood there and intimidated the student body. There absolutely needs to be a better system at Whitney Young for students to find help through counselors and social workers, and maybe even training for the teachers. Whether that be with domestic abuse, in school abuse, substance abuse, mental health, or other, because in all my time there not one single problem or concern by a student was solved or helped in any way by the ‘school resource officers’ or any other resources meant to help.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“I was once profiled by a police officer (I am Mexican/Native American) immediately outside my high school but still on school property, and was told to empty my pockets. Upon emptying my pockets I was pinned to the ground with my arms behind my back and told ‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing emptying your pockets? I call the shots and I will empty your fucking pockets.’” - Anonymous ℅ 2008

“I was wrongfully detained my sophomore year and escorted through the halls in handcuffs as a way to publicly shame. Escorted to 6TH PERIOD! It was an unnecessary display of power.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016

“I am white and privileged enough to have not had any personal altercations with the officers in our school, but seeing the guns on their belts still invoked fear. Armed officers have no place inside a learning environment that is promoted as a ‘safe space.’” - Chloe Luning ℅ 2017

“I am white, so they were perfectly friendly to *me.* I'd walk right past security whilst brown and Black peers arriving at school at the same time as me would get questioned. I was usually a few minutes late, so security would rush me through so I could get to first period in time to not be marked late -- meaning the kids who were getting extra questioned were probably also getting marked late, which would accumulate to getting marked down, impact GPA, impact teachers' and counselors views of them, recommendations and college acceptance, etc etc etc.” - Naomi Kilonsky ℅ 2012

“A sense of threat and violence from the presence of the police officers was used for behavioral ‘discipline’ to exist among students.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“Police officers tend to harass students verbally and seem to simply take up space and hate their job thus bringing down the atmosphere at the school and not adding any safety or protection to the school.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“Predatory police officers at Whitney Young, hitting on young girls (especially Nico).” - Anonymous ℅ 2018.

“I witnessed one [police officer] almost drop-kick a 17 year old girl at our Homecoming dance in 2013.” - Linda Loya ℅ 2014

“With officers patrolling the hallways as if in search for criminals, I have not met one Black or brown student who feels safer in their presence. If anything, I’ve felt uneasy, scrutinized, looked at as if I was guilty of a crime I did not commit. We have 2 or more cops patrolling the school every day but a nurse who only works 2-3 days a week. What do we children need more?” - Naseeba Yunusa ℅ 2020

“The officers at Taft would dress code the academic center kids, when we were in eighth grade, and have us push the garbage cans around the lunchroom if we were coded. Really weird.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“Having to walk through metal detectors and put my bag through a scanner everyday should not be normal in the schooling environment. When I went to college in California and spoke on this, not one person in my class could relate with their own high school experience.” - Ashlie Harris ℅ 2018

“A police officer harassed my friends and I while we were sitting at a park nearby. They accused my friend of selling pills and followed to try and search us with no probable cause.” - Anonymous ℅ 2020

“They did nothing. Were paid to stand around. Our school security did all of the things that they might have done. All of my four years I can’t name a single incident they ‘protected’ students from.” - Dejashana

“There was one incident where several police cars showed up due to a rumor that spread regarding a large school fight. No fights were broken however.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“I would just like for CPD to be defunded.Those funds should be reallocated to things such as more school counselors, career fairs, more and better qualified teachers, and just more overall resources for children. That will significantly reduce the need for policing in the first place.” - Damisola ℅ 2012

“Police officers would more often than not target Black students and other students of color as opposed to other wealthy white students, whether through seemingly random searches or simply by observing their every move. As an undocumented student, seeing cop cars outside of my high school would often cause me anxiety. Whenever there were police officers around, I would feel tense, not safe.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016

“The police in my school targeted Black students which made up half of the student population and one even was arrested for a relationship with an underage student.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016

“I had the privilege of transferring from Lindblom Math & Science Academy to Jones College Prep my sophomore year and the difference in police presence was night and day. In fact, there were no police officers at Jones, but Lindblom always had police cruisers stationed outside. When I got to Jones, the new building was just opening with a brand new, top of the line theater, a 7th floor pool, multiple computer and science labs. Lindblom has a majority black student body.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016

“Just having them in my high school made me feel very uneasy. A white man with a gun and badge inside of predominantly minority school every day when we had a nurse twice a week if we were lucky. Why did I see this man daily for four years and a social worker once after waiting MONTHS. Doing nothing but installing fear. Literally never saw him do anything worthwhile in four years.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“I didn’t go to CPS, but I have taught in CPS schools to varying degrees over the last few years, in predominantly Black & Latinx communities. We encourage anonymous questions (we teach health and sometimes students feel uncomfortable asking questions to the whole class), and constantly get questions about minors rights that indicate that they feel uncomfortable or watched by CPD officers. A surveillance state is not conducive to learning or growth. If you want the best out of your students, if you want the most effective education system, you need to make students comfortable. Listen to what young people are telling you for feedback and put them in an environment where they feel like they have agency.” - Chris Birch ℅ 2017

“Marijuana was found in a kindergartener's cubby after my brother's 8th grade class had gone to play with them. He was accused of bringing marijuana to school based on the fact the marijuana was found in a gum packet and he likes to chew gum as a coping mechanism for his sensory processing disorder. He was then left alone in a room with a police officer who forced a confession out of him after sometime. It was a traumatic experience for him and goes to show how school administration will racially profile Black and brown adolescents and then irresponsibly hand them over to the police in order to punish them rather than provide resources should he have had a drug abuse problem. While my brother has never smoked, the school administration and the police officer found it incomprehensible that a Mexican boy wouldn't have brought the marijuana into class. Thankfully, my brother never got in trouble but the school was never held accountable for their irresponsible and dangerous actions.” - Carina Sandoval ℅ 2019

“Officers at Payton have much different roles than officers at other schools, presumably because of bias toward other students in non-selective enrollment or South Side Schools. I was at Payton when we got a $17 million expansion and 5 high schools on the South Side were closed because of lack of resources. Now I know how much funding that year also went to CPD.” - Lindsay Opie ℅ 2017

“The police officers never made me feel more safe at school. So many girls felt uncomfortable with them as they would catch the officers staring at their butts or making rude comments to them. Many students would only befriend the officers so that they could leave school early.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“I remember my high school was swarmed with cops who would repeatedly disrespect and violate the rights of students of color. It made me feel very uncomfortable and unsafe having their presence in my school. I eventually dropped out and got my diploma online (not directly related to the police in my school, but it certainly didn’t help).” - Evan Shepard ℅ 2015

“From the time I went into the CPS system at age 5 until the moment I graduated at 17, there was always police presence in my schools. They accosted and criminalized my Black and brown friends, and held them in police custody while still on the school grounds. We have had enough.” - Caitlyn Johnson ℅ 2014

“We had to go through metal detectors every day at the start of school and police officers were always roaming the hallways. Being policed inside of schools is extremely unnecessary!” - Anonymous ℅ 2015

“Police officers sat in the office behind the computer lab in the library and watched TV while eating lunch. GREAT use of our money and time.” - Anonymous ℅ 2021

“At McCutcheon, I remember having to go through metal detectors in the morning, and being strictly policed by in-school security. We weren’t allowed to speak during our lunch periods and went through the halls. We were a bunch of young kids expected to have a militant discipline- a set up for failure. McCutcheon has a majority Black, Latinx, and Asian student body. My mom transferred me to Goudy in the 5th grade where the students were mostly Asian. My first day there we were announced to receive iPads in my class. We had sports teams, a number of clubs, and special overnight trips while McCutcheon faced potential shutdown. The schools are five minutes apart. The students are all of the same neighborhood. The only difference I see is people expecting one school to succeed and one to fail. CPS students don’t need more policing. We need more resources put towards student learning and success such as extracurriculars, counseling, nurses.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“Police trainees LOVE to stare at the highschool girls walking around campus. It’s not only impolite but WRONG. We are all minors while they are out of highschool.” - Anonymous ℅ 2020

“Targeted for dress code once for the length of my shorts despite the white girl in front of me walking through security freely when her shorts were even shorter than mine. I was merely being oversexualized because I was a Black girl. Similar situation with a vice principal because I was wearing a cardigan and cropped sweater.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“They intimidated a lot of the students and there were times where a conflict could’ve been resolved by a simple conflict resolution by the administration but the ‘security’ was just called instead.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“They tried to arrest me for shaking another student's hand. They might have thought it was a gang-thing but still that was extreme.” - Anonymous ℅ 2010

“Police officer almost shot my friend.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016

“I just want to ask, how can CPS be in such dire financial straits that we can not afford to have a full school year and yet refuse to eliminate the actively harmful practice of allowing school officers?” - Matthew Czech ℅ 2020

“The police officers would often be extremely sexist and predatory towards the girls at my school. They would often be super uncomfortable and all around don’t do anything to ensure ‘safety’ around the school. In fact, their presence made things feel a bit more unsafe and I personally always felt surveilled.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

 “CPD held our Black boys at King College Prep at gunpoint over WATER GUNS on a hot day after school in 2015.” - Anonymous ℅ 2015

“I used to be screened every morning before walking into the school building. Not just myself but my bag as well. And may I add the book bag was clear.” - Emani Olive ℅ 2016

“I distinctly remember watching students get arrested during my Academic Center lunch periods. I remember seeing the constant police presence and feeling terrified the first few months because the atmosphere felt like we were being reprimanded, not one conducive to learning. I was 12 years old.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016

“After multiple students and myself shared with our former principal (Micheal Wang) and vice principal (Abbey Cullen) that having CPD at our peaceful protest for fair pay for our teachers was truly putting the students and students of color in danger I was gaslighted, and told that it wasn’t a big deal and that I did not know what I was talking about and was constantly ignored. In the months to follow at our all school assembly after the LaQuan McDonald trial our principal got on the stage and talked about how Black lives and voices and dreams mattered but continued to ignore the Black voices in our school.” - Sarah Bonds ℅ 2020

“We don’t necessarily have police officers but we do have security guards and it’s very uncomfortable sometimes.They will follow you and make you feel horrible even though you’re not doing anything wrong. They target specific people.” - Anonymous ℅ 2020

“Officers strangled my friend while we were talking in an alley during our lunch period in high school. Came out of their car armed with a pistol in hand.” - Anonymous ℅ 2014

“Police showing up on campus after school to monitor streets during dismissal. Our campus is predominately Black and Latinx students. This is clearly a microaggression.” - Anonymous ℅ 2020

“Any experience I’ve had with the police has been fearful and anxiety provoking.” - Anonymous ℅ 2013

“A CPD officer made racist comments to me about BLM.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“Whenever there was a minor mishap with students, the police were called. I always saw this as incredibly unnecessary. My school was predominantly Black and hispanic, so nothing about police being called for very minor reasons sits right with me.” - Anonymous ℅ 2020

“They cause anxiety.” - Anonymous ℅ 2015

“My liaison officer sat around all day doing nothing while we had students suffering from a lack of counseling options. There are better ways to spend our money than CPD presence in our schools.” - Nathan Huber ℅ 2012

“I don't remember them in my elementary school, and that made me feel safe. The dean was buddy buddy with cops in high school and that made me feel unsafe, at any moment it felt like things would escalate. In class and hall, white kids were given a pass and at the smallest hint of an attitude from a Black or brown kid, it was the end of the world.” - Jhoanna Maldonado ℅ 2003

“I am a white girl who watched police officers not only racial profile my peers on a daily basis, but also stereotype my friends based on their sex, class, and attitude towards a system which openly oppresses KIDS. FUCK CPD.” - Lily Allspaugh ℅ 2017

“I went to school in Oak Park. Even there the presence of police and the usual targeting from them and security of Black students for things I, as a white Latina, could get away with ease was hugely telling– and that was in Chicago's "progressive" Western neighborhood. Cops have no place in ANY school, especially in CPS where there's already limited funding and capacity for faculty and facility (if only there were some 2 billion dollars sink we could pull funding from).” - Anonymous

“The police are called to kick students off school grounds after school.” - Anonymous ℅ 2015

“Constant harassment and unnecessary force.” Anonymous ℅ 2018

“Our security officers at school were parents of past high school students. We had two police officers/drug dogs that came two days a week.” - Anonymous

“I’ve seen a kid get arrested at my school.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“They would be called in immediately when fights broke out.” - Doris Salgado ℅ 2015

“There was a police office in my school which I always felt was unnecessary because we already have security guards. The unnecessary presence of police officers makes students uncomfortable.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“A man smacked my ass and I informed the police officers who it was and where he was and they did not do anything to help me.” - Erin Hicks, ℅ 2017

“I remembered the police present at our entrance every day. Yet we didn't have a nurse on duty every day and we lost our librarians. Why is it that we had funding for multiple police officers everyday but not a nurse?” - Bailey DuBoe ℅ 2018

“There has always been an atmosphere of intimidation and fear. We don’t need police in schools, we need counselors and social workers.” - Blake Firedman ℅ 2011

“As a white student, it was always clear the police presence in my school had a heavier hand with Black students. And the police in my school never stopped a shooting, bomb threat, or teacher sexual abuse. When a teacher was abusing me, even as a 12 year old girl, I knew that the under-qualified officer at my school would not help me. And so the police are obsolete in schools. I cannot think of one good purpose they served in my time as a student. They do actual harm preventing students of color from thriving.” - Anonymous ℅ 2013

“There was a security guard who was also police who would constantly harass female students and make them feel uncomfortable.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“While nothing happened to me specifically, one of the most wild things I've seen in high school was watching 3 or 4 squad cars pull up to our front campus and storm into the school to arrest kids just because a couple big fights happened at the same time.” - Alejandro Hernandez ℅ 2016

“There was one day this year where we had a school-shooter threat and suddenly so many cops were in our school and the admin didn’t warn anyone. I don’t have trauma from police, but I know many people who do and it was just very inconsiderate and frightening to suddenly have so many police in the school and not think to make an announcement or form a safe space for those with trauma.” - Anonymous ℅ 2020

“They are useless. It makes no sense to pay for them if they don’t do anything to better the school experience. Are we there to learn or be watched for criminal behavior?” - Guy Lohoua ℅ 2018

 “If my friends were ever in trouble most of the time they would have to interact with the police officers. This by no way is a good idea. We are still children and should not be processed in school by police officers. If we are in trouble we should get the attention and resources we need to learn from our mistakes like counselors or other meaningful activities. Additionally the officers at my school constantly followed and patrolled my Black and other classmates of color. This forms an environment of fear and intimidation. Especially when the cops blatantly have guns.” - Anonymous ℅ 2015

“The cops at Jones didn’t seem to ever do much, besides act as a more threatening school security guard. (However, I am white so this only speaks to my privileged experience with them.)” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“The fact that there is somebody with a gun in the hallway alone is a terrifying thought to me. Regardless if they are an officer or not.” - Anonymous ℅ 2015

“I heard from a few female friends that during our senior year one of the officers was accused of being inappropriate with the female students.” - Anonymous ℅ 2013

“I remember seeing more Black and brown kids selected for the metal detector in the morning. I also remember Black kids being questioned by cops on the CTA going to school. They were asked where they were going and had to show their student ID.” - Anonymous ℅ 2014

“I have seen multiple Black students arrested and put in handcuffs after school hours on school property for virtually no reason.” - Anonymous

“The disparate treatment Black students faced from police (getting body slammed into lockers, being followed in the neighborhood, being told to shut up in hallways) versus what I faced as a white student (minimal to no police contact for the same actions) was what made me realize my white privilege. I never saw a single situation in high school deescalated by a cop, although I saw hundreds of instances where teachers and counselors successfully and expertly deescalated a tense situation. Fund teachers not cops.” - Marisa Leib-Neri ℅ 2013

“When I was a student at Hubbard High School the school police officer, John Catanzara, got fired after posting a controversial picture of himself. In that picture he held a sign that said ‘I stand for the anthem, I love the american flag, I support my president and the 2nd amendment.’ Just recently that same officer has now become the new president of the police union.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“There have been many accounts where I have seen situations become even more unnecessarily violent when the police stepped in. For minor offenses, the police may step in as a form of intimidation but they don’t realize they are contributing and playing into the already existing fear and disdain Black and brown students sometimes have for the police.” - Anonymous ℅ 2022

“Although the police were not present at my school too often, I live in an underprivileged neighborhood where the police are around constantly. I can only imagine what it's like to be in school listening to police sirens all day... My parents made the decision to put me and my siblings in a CPS school outside of our neighborhood because they felt that the schools in our area couldn't adequately support us, and they wanted a suitable environment for us to learn in. These schools couldn't and they still can't create that space for students who don't have the option to travel 45+ minutes a day, because funding is being taken from schools while the CPD stands with a majority of the city's budget. There's also the concern of the education to prison pipeline, and I'm just sitting here wondering when Black communities will get the resources and opportunities to help students AND parents financially, emotionally, and mentally. There's always a push to ‘keep these kids off the streets’ but there's nothing within our communities to do it. Anyway, I just think there needs to be a change in how CPS supports it's students, because it's obviously not through the CPD.” - Anonymous ℅ 2020

“I spent the day at a station for a minor offense due to a mandatory policy back then. It was like being babysat by CPD until my father got off work late at night. No charges, no nothing of the sort. Waste of time/resources iIm pretty sure. Since I’m saying this now as an adult, and given the other egregious things that happen in the city... it’s time to change things.” Anonymous

“When I was in high school, I would arrive late often due to morning delays on the red line because I was coming from the south side. I would constantly be bombarded with questions about my whereabouts by cops who demanded to know why I was late. They were questioning me without the presence of my parents, since at the time I was a minor, and without a warrant. On my way to the thorndale stop there were many times in which I was followed by CPD officers in their cars as I walked on the sidewalk with friends or onto the train platform. I was simply a young girl trying to get to and from school.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“They constantly sexually harassed young women at Whitney Young under the guise of being those, ‘hey, girl...where’s my hug?’ type of pervs.” - Anonymous ℅ 2005

“Some officers would pick on me in the halls for waiting outside of class for the bell to ring. No other students would be targeted. An officer also urged me to stay away from my boyfriend because he was a delinquent and would grow up to beat me. This was all said without knowing anything about me or my boyfriend.” - Anonymous ℅ 2012

“In the 7th grade there was a male, Latinx student who was arrested in the middle of our math class for marijuana use. This was such a ridiculous use of aggression from CPD on literal children. Even as I remember it now as an adult I think about how horrible it was to watch 2 cops come into our math class, interrupt the teacher and proceed to handcuff a child. I had classmates who broke down in tears, and others who started shouting. I was shocked that something like this could happen. And then the very next class period we acted like it didn't even happen. There was no mention of it from teachers or administrators and we did not have proper closure on what happened to the student.” - Marina Silva ℅ 2013

“Several times CPD has been dispatched to my school to deal with students in crisis situations....They need intervention, counseling, and mental health services- not police. The psychological damage on young middle schoolers is irreparable.” - Anonymous ℅ 1997

“They are constantly yelling at us and instead of making us feel safe they make me feel unsafe in a place I use to consider my second home.” - Anonymous ℅ 2020

“There were always police officers in the hall throughout the entire school day as students were coming in and out of buildings. There was never really a reason for them to be there, but they would just stand outside of their car looking at students, making a majority uncomfortable.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“I had friends that were physically assaulted in their ‘office’ multiple times at LPHS.” - Anonymous ℅ 2007

“SROs in our school would raid students' lockers that they suspected of drug use. They would make a huge scene in the middle of the school day, cutting the lock and throwing everything out while the assistant principal watched. They would tear everything apart. They also would bribe students with less punishment/not calling the actual cops if they ratted out other students. They would patrol around the south loop to find kids drinking or smoking, which was wack and a total invasion of privacy. As a non-Black POC, it’s quite clear this disproportionately affected Black students at Jones.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016

“Every day I had to go through metal detectors and get my bag checked before entering the school. This was also done during lunch time. Sometimes I didn’t know if I was walking into a school or airport.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016

“A friend of mine was traumatized after being searched by the police for drugs. The drugs were not hers and they interrogated her for upwards of an hour. We were only 15.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“My friend and I were preparing to leave the building. While in the doorway of the building (never leaving), she remembers she left her phone in her locker. She turned around to go back, at the same time students are horse-playing. The male officer grabbed my friend roughly by the arm. Accusing her of being involved in the undesired behaviors, we both attempt to explain to him what she’s trying to do. Still with her arm tightly gripped between his palms he tells us that we’re lying. At this point, we were more concerned with the way he was handling my friend, who at the time was 5’0” and the size of a Slim Jim. Tensions begin to rise because he’s refusing to let her retrieve her phone, accusing us of lying, and man-handling a student. We end up in the principal's office, because the officer flung her out of the building. My friend was crying because she had never experienced that before. She was also embarrassed as it happened in front of the whole school. The officer tells our principal that we were being rowdy and tried to re-enter the building after leaving. School policy stated you cannot re-enter the building once leaving. He was not reprimanded. We somehow had to apologize to him even though his actions were uncalled for. Now, my friend and I had never been in any behavioral trouble. Our mothers did not allow it, but what we did have was strong personalities. Our only fault in this case was standing up for ourselves and safety.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016

“There were always cops parked outside of our school whenever we got out. The school said they were there to prevent fights, but they never got out of their cars to stop the fights. They only intervened if there was something big going on. I saw this happen once out of my four years in high school.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“Because of my privilege, I did not have any incidents with police officers in my school which made me feel unsafe, unlike I am sure some of my peers had. But, I do recall a time where I was seen as a suspicious individual in the school building which was very unreasonable. I had stayed for an after school club, so I walked out of the school at around 5:00 PM. On the way out, a guest who my club was waiting to have a meeting with was standing outside, so I introduced myself to them and told them I could lead them to where the club's advisor was meeting them. I walked back in with the guest to the front desk and told the officer what they were there for. The officer questioned me on what club I was there for and why I was going back up to the building. I had just walked out and was still in my uniform, a very distinctive uniform at that. The officer was looking for very specific information about what club I was there for to see if they were going to let me in. As they questioned me, they laughed like they were having fun interrogating me. It was not until my club advisor called from the stairs that they let us in. It was after that experience that I realized that officers in my school were not there to protect me or my peers, but they were there to question and moderate our behavior at all times. I know that other peers of mine must have had worse experiences which discouraged them from even attending school. Police are not in schools to protect students; police are in schools to intimidate and have dominance over children, especially Black and brown children. Terminate the CPS-CPD contract now.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“One of my classmates was arrested in the middle of the day. The police came in, disrupted class, and made us all put our heads down.” - Anonymous ℅ 2011

“Arriving at Morgan Park was like going through security at O’Hare: stand in a long line to go through the metal detector, put your backpack on the conveyor belt to be x-rayed, get wanded down with yet another metal detector, then open your backpack for security a second time before going to your locker two minutes before first period while the cops spend all day riding around in not a cop car, but a paddy wagon, doing nothing but waiting for the moment to get tough on kids smoking cigarettes too close to the perimeter of the school. Implied criminality via police presence in the education system is completely unnecessary, a gross misallocation of funds, and needs to end. We were taught to think of ourselves as criminals instead of students. They never do that to kids on the North Side or in the suburbs. If they can invest in their education and emotional development why couldn’t they do that for us? It’s appalling that this is still happening today.” - Anonymous ℅ 2006

“Police officers used to assault kids, make sexual comments towards kids' families and allow certain students to sell drugs so that they could profit.” - Anonymous ℅ 2010

“The fact that my high school experience as a teenager was remembering being patted down by security as an incoming freshman. I never felt safe. If anything, the police made it feel worse. They didn’t help, they didn’t care. They were racist and ensured certain students were protected. Please don’t let other kids go through that. It’s damaging and unnecessary.” - Jose Patino ℅ 2013

“They’re openly racist.” - Anonymous ℅ 2022

“We were searched each day we came into school. They would choose who would go into the back room to be searched more thoroughly at random. Police officers roamed throughout the building regularly.” - Anonymous ℅ 2014

“I was detained and brought to school before school started for no reason, embarrassed in front of my peers. CPD also tried to claim they found crystal meth that belonged to me and my group of friends.” - Jacob Schaper ℅ 2008

“The white officer at my school (I never interacted directly with him so I never learned his real name, but he was there during 2013-2016) was heard using racial slurs constantly, as well xenophobic slurs regarding the Latinx and Asian American students. He was also notoriously anti-Semitic.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016

“I learned about sex for the first time in 7th grade. Technically, I was supposed to learn about it in 8th grade in health class, but instead I learned about it from an officer who came in and showed all the girls a video about a girl who was kidnapped, raped and killed in an attempt to ‘educate’ us on online safety. My first knowledge of sex was of violent rape, because this officer didnt know how else to educate girls on safety.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016

“The police officers assigned to Jones were often seen fraternizing with the students and not assisting in much that needed to be a job only done by them and not the staff. In addition, they took a liking to harassing the female students in their free time during the day. I in no moment as a student in high school felt protected by these individuals.” - Vanessa Gonzalez ℅ 2017

“There were none at my schools at the time, and I thrived.” - Anonymous ℅ 2002

“The police at our school would stare lustfully at young women aka minors at school.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“The cops were always too touchy feely with the female students or too aggressive with the male students consistently.” - Anonymous ℅ 1998

“In my CPS grade school we had a police officer in our school and I never understood why. He was nice, but his gun scared me from a really young age.” - Anonymous ℅ 2008

“No, all my schools were on the Northside (Albany Park, North Park) so that’s very telling of itself.” - Anonymous ℅ 2010

“I was never stopped by police at Lane Tech, presumably because as a young white girl I was not viewed as a threat. I knew, even at this young age, that the experience of going through metal detectors was not to make us feel safe, but rather to exert power on Black and brown bodies. It was obvious who was stopped for ‘random,’ racist checks every morning. End this now.” - Randi Stone ℅ 2006

“Police officers did nothing but intimidate. They didn’t help, or communicate with students, they stood in corners eyeing everyone down.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“Cops body slammed kids in my old high school a couple years ago. We saw it as normal and felt like we had no power since we were kids and most of us didn’t have a cell phone then.” - Anonymous ℅ 2012

“No - I am a white person who went to high school in Downers Grove. We did not have police officers in our schools. I think I was about 15 when I learned that CPS does.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016

“I was a teacher in CPS and consistently saw the intimidating force CPD officers had in schools and the run-ins with them that should never have happened.” - Anonymous ℅ 2009

“Having gone to two vastly different Chicago Public Schools, the first being the #1 state ranked, well funded school and the second being my underfunded and over crowded neighborhood school in Belmont-Craigen it becomes apparent that these two schools may as well be on two different planets. Both of these schools had CPD presence but in majorly different ways. At Northside it was very easy to go about your day without seeing cops or police cars. Their presence wasn’t a prominent feature of our school and even though they were there, we didn’t think about them and we weren’t scared of facing them as a repercussions of our actions. At Foreman, there was no way you could get through a single day without numerous of their cars lining the perimeter of the school grounds. You see their lights, hear them interacting with the students, almost intimidating or provoking them. If a student misbehaved the first recourse of action would be to threaten the student by getting an officer involved. Both schools are filled with young naive teenagers, but only one ready with handcuffs to send kids, mostly Black or brown, to jail. This is why we need CPD out of our schools. The racism is evident and rampant. Instead of spending all that money to keep Foreman equipped with the police. Why didn’t we use that money to buy new books, computers, art teachers, counselors, social workers, nurses? Why are we so ready to lock up students at Foreman but roll out the red carpet of resources for a student at Northside Prep?” - Karen Chavez ℅ 2012

“I never had any personal experience with one, thank God but I do remember that they'll be close to the few Black students in my high school. Majority of the school were white and Hispanic so it doesn't make sense as to why they'll linger around the Black students. It’s like they're waiting for something to happen as an excuse to use their weapons on kids.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“Although the police officer we had in our school at the time was friendly, he was still a cop and ACAB. We do not need police on school grounds. They are not there to protect us. They are there to criminalize us.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“Police have been called on students in the K-8 building I work at which is extremely disappointing and unnecessary.” - Anonymous ℅ 2008

“I have heard a student yell ‘help’ from an office where police were in. They were handcuffing a 17year old Black kid.” - Anonymous ℅ 2015

“The dropout rate in my high school increased dramatically after police officers were allowed into the school. 50% of the folks I started school with were no longer there by my senior year. Police were way more aggressive than school security and would intervene when school security dealt with minor infractions (missing id, cutting class, being in the hallway during class). I once was stopped by a police officer during a passing period in a sparsely populated hallway and he physically prevented me from moving past him on the staircase until I let him look in my backpack. He was only looking to be close to me physically. To cover himself he confiscated my pencil case that I used to store my tampons.” - Anonymous ℅ 2007

“As someone who struggled with mental health in highschool I think it would be more helpful to use this money to hire more social workers. Give students the tools they need to work through issues they have in the place they should feel most safe. School should be a place of growth, both academically and mentally.” - Zachary Stensland ℅ 2015

“When I transferred to a gifted program high school on the north side it became very evident the difference in how the schools were ‘punished.’ The 8th grade trip in the old school was to the cook county jail and my 8th grade trip was to a campsite.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“Although my school doesn’t have any cops that police regularly, my school, like many other CPS schools, is under funded. Basic material like books, pencils, notebooks, etc can be hard for my students to access. Time and time again scenarios happen where we need a nurse or other counselors but there aren’t any. Fund schools, put money into the students.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“Just having to go through metal detectors and the racial bias of who was ‘randomly’ selected. Students shouldn’t have to start their morning like that.” - Elsa Rodriguez ℅ 2005

“I have seen security guards/hall monitors keep my classmates and I more safe than the officers that we have. These officers have no reason to be here. The city puts a ridiculous amount of money into something we do not need. We need to defund the police.” - Anonymous ℅ 2023

“Very disgusting and always staring at all of the younger girls. Hit on a few of my friends.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“I have seen people get dragged out in handcuffs.” - Anonymous ℅ 2021

“When fights emerged in school, in addition to school staff, the police stationed in the school would intervene and arrest students involved in said fights.” - Quabeeny Daniels ℅ 2014

“Yes, everyday was terrifying and disgusting with the sexual looks they give all the girls.” - Val Rivera ℅ 2007

“In the early 1990s I saw police arresting a male student outside of Kenwood. Police asked him to lay face-down on the ground and as he was complying he was kicked in the stomach by the officer.” - Anonymous ℅ 1992

“We don’t feel safer with them and they’re just there as middle men for the school to prison pipeline.” - Kona Mazariegos ℅ 2008

“As I was calling down from a panic attack, I came back to my senses and realized there were two police officers in the room. Not even asking about my mental health but just interrogating me with all these questions before I can even ask ‘what just happened to me?’ Separating me and the student who I was with trying to calm me down from the panic attack. There was no therapist in sight, the presence of police officers did not make me feel safe, they thought it was best I leave school early without even getting my issue resolved, they made the other student sound like a criminal. These police officers should not have the job to handle these mental health situations. I still to this day don’t even truly know what triggered it since I cannot afford to go to a therapist.” - Itzel Velazquez ℅ 2020

“I never felt safe around and just made me feel threatened at school. School should feel like a safe environment, but with police officers at the school it just made the environment feel less safe and more threatened and intimidating. Students should feel safe.” - Anonymous ℅ 2020

“Seeing the officers every day made us students feel like we were being watched, not protected. We knew that students of color were more likely to be harassed and that even though we knew some of the officers by their first names, they were there to protect the building from us, not us from anything else.” - Leah Schneck ℅ 2014

“CPD presence was never a deterrent for violence, truancy, etc, in my school. Any reform came from my principal Elizabeth Kirby (who did such an amazing job she became chief of school strategy and planning) and those she worked with in the school, community, and faith in her students. No change or help ever came from CPD.” - Kyle Avants ℅ 2009

“No, but I am white.” - Anonymous ℅ 2008

“I didn't have a personal experience with police officers, I just want the contract to end instantly between CPS and the CPD because I witnessed a lot of injustice and discrimination Black students have faced with police officers. If two Black students were in a fight, they would face harsher punishments and somehow the cops would be involved compared to white students. If a Black student was caught smoking, cops would get involved and search them for drugs while cops would ignore the white students who were smoking weed in OZ park. When there was a disagreement or an outburst between a student and teacher, for a Black student the teacher would ring up security but with a white student they would either talk to them after class or talk in the hallway about what's going on. When the police came to visit or stuck around, they made themselves feel like prison guards. I hope CPS will finally listen to Black students and alumni voices, to listen to how it was CPD that made school more scary and unsafe. I want justice and peace served for my Black peers, what they had to face during our time in school. I want current Black students to be able to feel safe at school, to feel they can concentrate on their lessons rather than feel they're always watched and perceived as a bad student.” - Anonymous ℅ 2013

“I remember significantly less policing and police presence in my school than that of my sister’s school (Kenwood Academy).” - Anonymous ℅ 2015

“I was volunteering as a health educator in a CPS high school. During one workshop, a student was singled out by the homeroom teacher for ‘misconduct’ and instead of de-escalating, the teacher called for security. A CPD officer came in and removed the student from my workshop. During the 50 minutes that I had to teach young HS students about navigating wellness and finding resources, the students that need the information aren't there to receive it. The disruption of it made it hard for students to focus, it took time away from their learning, and unsettled the whole room. A setting like that is not conducive to meaningful education, building trusting relationships, and developing self-worth. Our kids deserve so much better.” - Anonymous ℅ 2015

“Please find alternatives to incarceration for students to protect their futures. Instead of keeping this contract with CPD find other restorative measures to help them. Students need more counselors and nurses and psychologists. I saw a video of a policeman handcuffing a 6 year old black girl. Why? Why traumatize her like that? Please consider other ways to help our students, and our future generations. It’s not radical. It’s the right and moral thing to do. Defund the police and kick them out of our Chicago Public Schools.” - Anonymous ℅ 2012

“I remember always being weary of officers around the school. In general I remember the students always being treated like cattle going through metal detectors, police standing around intimidating students throughout the school day. I was always uncomfortable with the police around, especially if a fight broke out amongst students, the school always involved the Police, not the school staff.” - Anonymous ℅ 2004

“I never once felt safer by seeing police officers with guns in my schools.” - Anonymous ℅ 2009

“I went to a predominantly Black and Latinx middle school. We were policed by officers every day because of the color of our skin. Officers were always present and would harass the “bad” (Black and Brown boys) whose family members were gang affiliated. We were only 10.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016

“I don’t have personal experience so I’m not sure if this counts, but I fully support the termination of the CPS-CPD contract. The budget should be reallocated to fund the additions of more social workers, nurses, and mental health services for students while attending school. School should be a safe space for children to go to, not one where police presence causes them unnecessary stress and anxiety. There are better ways to handle this. Please terminate the contract and give the children of the CPS the services and resources they need to be happy, healthy, and educated for the future.” - Nina Bumstead ℅ 2015

“I saw the explicit over criminalization and harassment of Black and Latino students, unnecessary searches and verbal harassment.” - Anonymous ℅ 2006

“A guy once pulled a gun on me because I rejected him and the police officer said ‘give him a chance, he only did it because he likes you so much.’” - Anonymous ℅ 2014

“In every CPS school that I have attended, CPD police officers always had their own office within the school. So, not only would they take up space in our hallways, but they would take up large office space and resources within our school. The police never made my classmates, nor I, feel safe. We always avoided eye contact and tensed our bodies out of fear of drawing attention and seeming ‘suspicious’ in any way. The police were always armed and dressed in large bullet proof vests.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016

“I’ve seen police arrest a black student for not sitting in his assigned seat my junior year at LP.” - Anonymous ℅ 2009

[CW: self-harm]

“I have been basically strip searched and handcuffed for bringing a box cutter to elementary school for self harm purposes while 2 people associated with gang members weren't cuffed at all. One went on to push the principal down a set of stairs while I was still on suspension.” - Anonymous ℅ 2010

“There was a time I was walking past their office and I heard some grunting sounds. As I got closer it sounded as if someone was hitting a punching bag at a gym. When I peered in there were 3 students handcuffed to a rail. One of them was being hit in his mid section by one of these officers. I didn't know who to report the incident to because I heard that the previous reports didn't change anything. I never felt comfortable around those two police officers again.” - Anonymous ℅ 2010

“My high school chemistry teacher brought in her husband and his partner who worked for CPD. I remember feeling very icky after they spoke to us. Though I can't remember what was said exactly, it was clear these men found enjoyment by asserting dominance on others. It's just funny that they didn't even bother putting up a front.” - Madison Mattox ℅ 2012

“I did not attend CPS but having attended a school without any police presence I wish the same for the children under Chicago public education. I know many Chicago teachers and mental health professionals who wish the best for the children and teenagers of Chicago and I respect and agree with their demands.” - Anonymous ℅ 2007

“They targeted my boyfriend and accused him of not being a high school student and were going to take him out of school despite having his school ID.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“I have no personal experiences of my own, but I have heard horrendous stories from my friends. School should be a safe self actualization environment, not one where authority can wield power over young minds. Students need nurses, counselors and other resources that all have been defunded to fund CPD, not police.” - Anonymous

I personally have not, but my youngest brother was subjected to kneeling and holding books over his head by Jose De Diego school’s ‘security’ officer and was backed up by the vice principal at the time. It turned out the officer and vice principal were in some kind of relationship and the officer subjected my brother to this mistreatment because he ‘disrespected’ the vice principal.” - Anonymous ℅ 2009

“Police presence at LPHS & the setup of the school essentially as a prison - bars and boarded windows, limited entrance points, metal detectors, random locker searches, inability to enter without an ID - created an entire culture of fear and violence throughout high school. As part of the IB Program, it was also clear that Black and brown students in other programs were policed more than our classrooms which were majority white or non-Black international students. There was constant police presence inside and outside the building on school premises and in the park around school. The few times I was punished - for wearing a beanie in the hallway in the winter or for making inappropriate remarks in class - detention was literally a space where ‘bad kids’ had to just sit and do nothing. No reflection, no conversation. Teachers were also woefully unprepared for deescalating situations that did or potentially could have turned violent. What would school have been like without this punitive culture? What would school have been like without constant police presence? What would school have been like if we were holding each other accountable instead of expecting an authority figure to jump in and whisk someone away? I sincerely wish for the removal of police and fear culture from our schools so students can grow and expand themselves individually and with their peers. Abolish the Police at CPS and let’s move towards REAL collective, restorative justice and transformative programs and policies.” - Rebecca Maria Goldschmidt ℅ 2004

“Officers were strictly punitive, they offered no conflict resolution and were meant to be threatening figures for students. CPS claims a constructive relationship with CPD, but their presence in schools is meant to instill fear in students and enforce strict punishment.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“Through most of my CPS experience, I've noticed that there was always some security guard dressed up as a police officer stationed at the schools I've attended. To be honest, it always made me uncomfortable because I didn't think that there should ever be an instance where students would ever commit anything that required police intervention. The security guards would act as ‘disciplinary figures’ if students behaved out of line but there was rarely ever a licensed psychologist or counselor on hand. It gave me the sense that we can easily be criminalized but there wasn't much effort with the school administration in extending legitimate resources in which students can seek professional help.” - Vivian Le ℅ 2010

“Lane tech is the largest public high school in Chicago with over 4,000+ students, but we have only 1 social worker, 1 school nurse, and 13 school counselors for the entire student population. Instead of extreme police presence at lane tech, I would like to see the money better allocated to student support services like school psychologists, nurses, and social workers.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“I spent 12 years in the public school system and would never trade the experience for anything and believe in the value and power of a good public education. Though, at the time, I felt I'd had a good experience with police in the school (as a white person), as an adult I wish that instead of police - who I'd perceived to be there to protect me (and the funds to pay for them), there were instead redirected to have mediators, social workers and de-escalators as they can have done the same work without threat or pain of criminal records or imprisonment for kids having a rough time. To have seen fellow kids in handcuffs—and that this was normal—for petty crimes or minor fights, that our school had a holding room to keep kids awaiting prisoner transport, etc., even back in the rough period that was the 90s in Chicago, is mortifying knowing that we can do better and I wish we would make the choice to end the school-to-prison pipeline.” - Tony Coppoletta ℅ 1997

“They were an intimidating presence and not helpful overall. I did not trust them, their presence stressed me out at school.” - Colleen Prendergast ℅ 2010

“This happened as a teacher...we didn't have a staffed SRO but the officer assigned to our school in case of emergencies would also come to talk to our students about safety and such but wound up using scare tactics and weaponizing police jargon and anecdotes for effect/as a fear factor with our K-8th elementary school students, which as a result retraumatized some children who'd had unpleasant experiences with the police, had been harassed by CPD (one witnessed his dog killed by CPD), had parents incarcerated, etc. When my principal called that officer in for sexually harassing/inappropriately touching a teacher, this officer handcuffed and put this student in his squad car without parents' notification/authorization. This student, a Black male, was 13 y.o..” - Maraliz Salgado ℅ 1992

“I watched a supposed friendly officer threaten and attack Black youth daily. I even sat inside that office one day in handcuffs for no reason, while officer Jenkins threatened every student in there with his nightstick. This was daily, attempting to instill fear into students because he didn’t get to be a bad boy best cop anymore.” - Anonymous ℅ 2011

“As a worker who came back to CPS to give back, I have been spoken to rudely and have seen police officers mistreat students.” - Anonymous ℅ 2004

“The police officers in our school were the ones that sold drugs in the school. One was having a known relationship with one of the underage students and many of them would extort money from students in exchange for not getting them in trouble.” - Anonymous ℅ 2001

“I have had experiences with school cops since becoming a substitute for CPS. Police officers often serve outside of the neighborhoods they live in, and have limited understandings of the students’ circumstances. It’s my firm belief that cops in schools fosters the school to prison pipeline, which disproportionately affects Black children.” - Anonymous ℅ 2010

“I did not understand why we had a whole police station in our school.” - Juliet Alejandre ℅ 1996

“Seen them take strong legal action with every violent interaction involving students. You don't need to involve a criminal record for every schoolyard fight, this creates an atmosphere of paranoia and ruins lives forever. Fuck the gestapo Chicago Cops.” - Anonymous ℅ 2009

“Yes, I personally know of someone who was CPD and engaged in a sexual relationship with a minor while he was employed by the school she attended at the time.” - Anonymous ℅ 1993

“I saw a classmate of mine physically detained by police officers in the lunchroom. It was disturbing and entirely unnecessary. Police should NOT be in our schools.” - Margaret Kushiner ℅ 2002

“The police officer that was assigned to our school Clemente body slammed a student while trying to break up a fight.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“As a current CPS teacher, I've seen countless CPD officers invade my students' space, act inappropriately, and abuse their power. This was best demonstrated on the day that two Black female students started arguing in a hallway outside my door. Security and CPD officers approached, the girls continued to yell but were never physical. When the CPD officer reached to grab one of the girls, she started to panic, and had a panic induced asthma attack. The officer proceeded to restrain her and handcuff her to her desk WHILE SHE WAS DENIED ACCESS TO HER INHALER.” - Anonymous ℅ 2014

“A white police officer called me dumb because I was nervous and scared to tell him about me almost being kidnapped.” - Dajanae Shaw ℅ 2022

“I do not personally but my mentee went to a CPS High School and there was always a cop stationed outside their building. Getting the cops involved when someone was acting out made them feel more like a prisoner than a high schooler.” - Anonymous ℅ 2009

“They were perverts to the high school senior girls.” - Anonymous ℅ 2012

“Cop would follow us off campus grounds AFTER school hours.” - Anonymous ℅ 2012

“Inappropriate conduct with minors.” - Anonymous ℅ 2012

“Police were solely brought in to target the Black and brown students in my school. Bringing police dogs into our school to ‘randomly search for drugs and drug paraphernalia’ is not ‘random’ at all. It was strategic and a way to target the Black and brown students exclusively in our school and criminalize them.” - Anonymous ℅ 2010

“In conjunction with our principal, in the 1999-2000 school year, police conducted a mass search of all students entering the school. They hid inside the front entrance so that kids who might be carrying any contraband (cell phones, cigarettes, other LEGAL objects) would not have a chance to turn around so as not to get searched. All of us were patted down, and had our bags searched, objects stolen from us. A few female students were groped. There was a lawsuit resulting from this incident.” - Anonymous ℅ 2000

“Police officers would often intimidate students, even when they weren’t doing anything wrong. As a student of color, their presence did not instill safety, but incited fear.” - Anonymous ℅ 2002

“I had an officer that was following me around even after school saying I was dating a murderer. He forced the school to call a parent conference and not one school official attended just the cops. The kid who supposedly murderer someone is my partner till this day and never murder anyone. It was scary and uncalled for.” - Anonymous ℅ 1996

“This is more of a general experience, but in high school I just remember them picking random numbers each day to search and making us late for class. And seeing police officers walking around the hallways all day, and hearing rumors that they trained drug dogs in the building over the weekends. I don't think that made anyone feel safe and I don't think it helped facilitate learning.” - Anonymous ℅ 2015

“When reporting homicidal threats on a CPS student (perpetrator trying to keep student quiet) officers did NOTHING. It was up to a non-profit to assist family in staying safe. Unacceptable. And this is only one example.” - Anonymous ℅ 2001

“It was weird to me as a Lane Tech Student that we had one SRO per 4000+ students and yet high schools on the south and west side of Chicago had more SROs and a lower student density. At Lane we somewhat had resources, but I know some schools who were so defunded and yet they always had the budget for police. They need to fund the schools and not the police.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“Think about which schools have metal detectors and which don’t. Think about which schools allow stop and frisk based solely on having a phone in your hands.” - Anonymous ℅ 2012

“I’ve witnessed several experiences of racial bias and prejudice from police officers in Chicago public schools. I have never once felt safer because a police officer was in my school, if anything they always were too aggressive and mean to students. This is school not jail.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“No, but I'm an attorney that represents minors in DCFS care and have had experience through that context. Time and again, ‘normal’ misbehavior that used to be handled as a school disciplinary matter are used to criminalize kids. That traumatizes the child and does nothing to benefit our society as a whole.” - Anonymous ℅ 1984

“Yes, I always felt sexually targeted and would sometimes be harassed into getting to class later than I arrived because the guards would talk to me and not let me leave until they said so.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“Yes. When my son was in 4th grade, the armed guard was called because he refused to follow a direction in the lunchroom.” - Anonymous ℅ 1984

“Middle School & HS; have had officers say inappropriate things to me and touch me (like placing their hands on my shoulders/arms) without my own consent (which shouldn’t even be needed because I was a MINOR).” - Stephany Ochoa ℅ 2014

“In the late ‘70s there were undercover officers, ostensibly to address drug use and sales. Nonetheless, undercover cops in a HS setting are just wrong.” - Anonymous ℅ 1980

“Local officers were high school alumni and had their favorites among younger classmates. This group was free to partake in illegal activities and not be reprimanded or charged. The two Black students in our school were not only harassed by police at after-school activities like football games, but their apartment complex was faced with a cop car every night.” - Brittany Blankenburg ℅ 2013

“I went to Taft High School for 7th and 8th grade, where there was a lot of police presence. Everytime they walked into the lunchroom we were filled with terror, seeing their guns and their readiness to use force against children.” - Sophia Hopp ℅ 2020

“I personally do not, but the female students used to complain that the cops would sexually harass them.” - Erik Robles ℅ 2001

“Walking into my school building every day seeing multiple police officers but knowing there is only one school nurse in a tiny office for over 4,000 kids always really bothered me!” - Emma Singer ℅ 2018

“For 5 years I worked for an arts education organization that partnered with 75+ CPS schools annually. We saw budgets slashed *every year*, keeping these eager young minds from having the opportunity to learn more about creative expression and the arts. Defunding the CPD and getting them out of our CPS schools not only means actual safety for your students, but provides the opportunity for young people to learn and thrive and most importantly - live.” - Anonymous

“The presence of police in my school gave me a feeling of automatic guilt even though I never did anything that would put me in contact with the police.” - Xochitl Lopez ℅ 2005

“When I was in high school we had to enter through metal detectors and bag searches that were supposedly ‘random,’ however, I felt that I was disproportionately stopped for random bag searches and I rarely saw white students who were stopped for bag searches.” - Anonymous ℅ 2013

“Honestly, having a police presence made me feel unsafe. Why would we even need police @ a high-school? How would that fix the issue? I only saw it would escalate it. When I did encounter them, they weren't helpful because they don't have the skills or resources to de-escalate and prevent.” - Anonymous ℅ 2012

“My school's officers did little to stop actual crime at the school, if anything they harassed students and intimidated them more than anything. One even confiscated my iPod my Sophomore year, and ‘lost’ it. Sounds like theft to me.” - Anonymous ℅ 2012

“I was arrested for marijuana possession and humiliated in front of the whole school handcuffed behind my back.This situation did not require handcuffs or me being arrested.” - Anonymous ℅ 2012

“I've had students slammed to the ground and put in handcuffs in my classroom and I never saw them again. Our students should have been taken downstairs to the social worker to talk through the trauma that led to them lashing out, but we had to let our social worker go because of budgetary issues. CPS prioritized our student's hands being in cuffs rather than her heart being nurtured. THIS MUST END.” - Anonymous, CPS Teacher

“Arresting a kid who played a prank on a fellow student w/ a fake $20 bill that the other student later unwittingly tried to use at a nearby gas station. This should have been a school punishment situation, not ruining the life of a student of color in honors classes who did something reckless & stupid.” - Anonymous ℅ 2005

“We had an off duty police officer (who wore plain street clothes) at an elementary school I worked at in Chicago. It was a new position and I noticed a very different environment as soon as he started. He sat at the front door and his role seemed to be to intimidate and keep parents out. I noticed a large decrease in our school’s connection with families. He also came out at recess with the middle school students and I never saw a single positive interaction between him and the middle school students.” - Anonymous. Former CPS Teacher

“Physical restraining of students where de-escalation would have been the proper response.” - Anonymous ℅ 2005

“Not that I recall, and I think that speaks to how much having police in schools is a bad idea. I know that I was very anxious when I saw them in the halls, and I knew of stories from classmates.” - Shani Blackwell ℅ 1994

“I am an educator in a public charter school in Chicago. We do not have police officers in our building, and we do not need them because we rely on restorative justice practices, focus on Social Emotional Learning, and foster communities of care and trust between our students, staff and families. I have been in schools where police officers are stationed, and they create a community of fear, racism, and hate in schools.” - Carrie Goodrich ℅ 2006

“As a pediatrician, we are well versed in the ways that toxic stress has real mental and physical health manifestations that individuals carry in their bodies and can even pass on to their children (Nadine Burke Harris has written and spoken extensively on the topic). The presence of police in schools can in and of itself be traumatizing, which doesn't even account for the additional trauma and activation of the "fight-or-flight" response that students experience when police use aggression and violence towards them (which we know is disproportionately targeted at Black and Brown students. If we want to make schools safer, and beyond that, if we are truly committed to fostering an environment where students grow, heal and succeed we owe it to them to provide counselors, nurses and other holistic support rather than fill their schools with threatening police.” - Rebeca Stern, Chicago Pediatrician

“We always had a police presence at school and it felt like a threat more than support. They often were called when someone was upset or angry instead of de-escalating. I witnessed them take students away in handcuffs more than one time without addressing the underlying problem. My school was always short on funding but every year that went by there seemed to be more police officers.” - Anonymous ℅ 2010

“A police officer tased a student at my high school.” - Anonymous ℅ 2011

“When I needed a school nurse or counselor for my frequent panic attacks, there wasn’t anyone available most days. When there was asbestos powder falling from the ceiling, there was no funding for fixing that. But all this time we have been paying for school officers that have been shown NOT to enhance safety. Our kids deserve better. If we actually want to reduce crime we need to invest in education, mental health and social services, not incarceration and other punitive measures.” - Emilia Belciak ℅ 2012

“I just didn’t feel safe with CPD around.” - Monique Quiroz ℅ 2020

“While I did not have experience with police officers on school premises, I experienced numerous occasions of security officers and administrative officials treating students of color with vastly different expectations and standards of conduct. From doling out more punitive responses to tardiness, missed classes/assignments or even being ‘loud’ in the atrium, to the Dean of students reprimanding a classmate and myself (both white women) for singing & dancing in the hallways saying ‘it’s fine when you girls do it but imagine if the Black students started to be rowdy like that.’ I have no doubt that systemic prejudice and injustice would be augmented with police present in CPS.” - Nicole Bertsche ℅ 2012

“The security at my high school had multiple issues with sexual harassment and overall inappropriate behavior towards the female students. One of the officers was temporarily fired after multiple reports of sexual harassment were filed against him by students, but he was hired back the next year.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“I'm lucky and grateful for my non-experiences with police officers: That when I needed help supporting students in mental crisis (some violently so), our social worker and/or school psychiatrist happened to be in the building those days. That no one entered my classroom with a gun, that there was no escalation of violence, and that none of my students in the room experienced further trauma. Please, for the love and lives of our children, fund social workers, counselors, nurses, student housing, and the education & implementation of restorative practices. Stop funding policing - the illusion of safety for a few at the expense of the actual safety of most - and start funding the actual safety of all.” - Anonymous

“While being questioned by police in the cpd office at LPHS I witnessed the officers leave a kid in a small dark closet for over 3 hours while he begged to be let out and asked for food. They laughed about with each other and told him to shut up.” - Nicholas Hennessey ℅ 2008

“They were arresting me for ‘stealing’ a library book, really the librarian didn’t check me out correctly.” - Anonymous ℅ 2010

“My junior year of high school, I was caught with study drugs in my backpack. I was taken into the security room and questioned/searched, though my only punishment was that I could not go beyond the patio behind Northside during lunch for the remainder of the first quarter and my mom got called. Many of my friends of color, however, have faced far more punishment for less severe offenses (or no offense at all). One of my Latinx friends was arrested at Northside for having weed, a substantially less harmful substance than Adderall. Another friend, who was Black, was accused of smelling like weed when he had no cannabis on his person and had not been smoking. He was taken into the security room, and searched more thoroughly than I (he had to take off his shoes, pull out his waistband, roll up his sleeves, etc., none of which happened to me). His parents were called and he missed a substantial amount of class despite the fact that he had not broken any school policy.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“The SRO presence at our school was very alarming. They would often chide students and try to instigate conflict. The atmosphere in the school when the SROs were present was never one of calm learning or feeling safe. They always presented something harsh to the school environment, and many of my friends who are BIPOC had many incidents where they were met with violence and aggression in situations where it could have 100% been avoided. I never once felt like I could approach them for help- they were there to intimidate and punish, and that is not an environment that is conducive to learning.” - Anonymous ℅ 2011

“Police were notoriously violent when made to chase people. Friends were hit and roughed up when caught from a chase. Every blow was accompanied by screams of ‘You never run from a cop! You see what happens when you run!’ My friends and I are either fully Latino or mixed race.” - Anonymous ℅ 1990

“Police officers being predatory and making students feel uncomfortable.” - Anonymous ℅ 2021

“I’ve seen too many of my school friends arrested for fighting in school instead of guided and mentored. In Chicago most of the time fighting is for survival not for pleasure. Those kids needed ample help. I’ve never seen any white friends arrested either, they targeted Black underprivileged teens.” - Kaffia Gray ℅ 2010

“My mother was in an emotionally abusive relationship when I was in high school. Lake View has a police room in the school, so I went to the police room for help. They told me it wasn’t their job to assist students with ‘family matters’ and that I shouldn’t come to the police for that kind of issue.” - Anonymous ℅ 2014

“I was wrongfully suspended. The police presence is not needed and it is very detrimental to the youth. I now work as a counselor and see how the police target and mess with the youth at schools.” - Leonardo Quintero ℅ 2008

“Just as a teacher, they aren't needed.” - Mueze Bawany ℅ 2005

“My ex-boyfriend assaulted me in the hallway of the school and the cops and administration didn’t do anything.” - Anonymous ℅ 2014

“The only 2 times police have interacted with me was 1) To search me and another classmate with no probable cause whatsoever, and 2) A misunderstanding that led to me being kicked out of a nearby restaurant. Their presence at school did not make me or my classmates feel safer, in fact it made us feel like we were troublesome, distrusted, and generally unwelcome. Security is there to mark tardys/break up fights/man metal detectors & they do a fine job. Cpd has no place in schools at all.” - Jeffrey ℅ 2009

“They just brought fear into the environment where I should feel safe.” - Angie ℅ 2019

“I remember the cops at the front desk making me feel uncomfortable when I would leave early because of my chronic illness acting up. And after I graduated they would hound me for signing my sibling out when their same chronic illness would act up, telling me I was signing them out too often and just generally giving me a hard time. I always felt intimidated, and that is extra exhausting for a person who can only do so much in one day.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“Police would just walk into some classrooms just to look for ‘trouble makers’ and it was honestly more distracting to our learning than said ‘troublemakers’ ever were. And it would be over trivial things too, like people who were always late. Maybe protect our citizens instead of harassing truant teens? Priorities all out of whack.” - Rhyann ℅ 2019

“No I do not because thankfully when I was in the system Police were not.” - V. Stephanie Garnett ℅ 1990

“One time me and my friends who were Black stayed late for after school till around 5 and we walked to the blue line [train station] where the police department next to our school saw us and stopped us. He thought that my friend was kidnapping me cause I looked younger and he looked older so he handcuffed and brought him into the station while we both told him we are friends and just want to go back home.” - Anonymous ℅ 2023

“The SRO’s at my school we’re not needed in the slightest. They would just walk around the hallways or sit down and talk to each other all day long. I can’t think or remember one incident in which they were needed. The minorities in the school felt that they paid more attention to them than their white counterparts. As President of our school’s Student Voice Committee, we received anonymous messages saying that students who were minorities felt targeted by the SRO’s and our school security guards.” - Eileen Keller ℅ 2020

“The police officer in our school did nothing productive. It was the teachers, the faculty, and students who fostered an environment of support. The police officer never got to know any of the students and walked around like she was always on a power trip. She did not prevent crimes, she didn't help create an atmosphere of safety, she did not do anything. I hate to think about how her salary could have gone towards a teacher or a counselor who could have provided guidance and brought out the best in the students.” - Anonymous ℅ 2012

“Yes. I experienced the presence of police in my school since elementary. I attended Mozart Elementary School in Logan Square. The school’s majority population was Latino, mainly of Mexican descent, and police detaining and arresting CHILDREN was very common practice. The highest level was 8th grade so the oldest child must have been barely 13 years old. I witnessed my first arrest or detain or whatever because CHILDREN can’t tell the difference during this time, when I was in second grade.” - Jasmin Garcia ℅ 2016

“Started high school without having cops in the hallways, then moved to a school that had a few of them every day walking the hallways. It is a hard thing to focus when you feel as though your environment is not safe. A cop doesn't make me feel safe, it makes me feel as though they're expecting something- so I'm on guard, at school, expecting something. Or say a high schooler who, as is natural for a teenager, has an issue with authority, they may/will do things to do them in spite of the police. Now rather than a school reprimanding a student should they be caught, it's immediately in the hands of a broken system prepared to incarcerate them. The mere presence of police is provoking, they are a symbol of oppression in walls that are meant to foster open enlightenment. Where is the reasoning? What is the logic? Because it doesn't make sense. There was violence amongst the students sometimes, but rarely and generally nothing that couldn't be handled by other means. There are other ways to handle such situations without enforcing a police state. It does not fix issues.” - B. Nickels ℅ 2010

“I've never personally had an altercation with a police officer, however, I wouldn't have thought I would run into them anyways. They park their car in our lot in the morning, leave for the rest of the day, and then return when school ends. I can't believe a 33 million dollar contract is paying for this type of foolery. And also, brown and Black students are searched way more heavily than white counterparts. I've seen it almost everyday and trust me, some non POC students are not innocent, but they don't get stopped and search because police officers will always target minorities at school.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“Police officers made the students feel like we were all antagonists.” - Anonymous ℅ 2020

“Police make school feel more unsafe and like jail.” - Anonymous ℅ 2018

“They once arrested a friend just by calling them down to the office. That isn’t okay.” - Anonymous ℅ 2020

“While ive never had a personal negative experience with cpd in cps i will say that cpd officers that were in my school truly did nothing to keep the school safe, and often times it was people who were hired independent of cpd for student safety that were the most proactive” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“I was searched and so was my locker in front of my peers for drugs. Despite never touching any narcotic, alcohol, or any illegal substance I was implicated as such.” -Alvin Gray ℅ 2003

“I didn't have direct experience (i.e. they took me out of class), it was more like going into the building with metal detectors and once in a while getting your bag searched. I thought this was normal everywhere but apparently not!” - Anonymous ℅ 2003

“A police officer slammed my head into a dashboard after he suspected me of fighting.” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“The police officers often times sat around being useless. Nobody in the school posed a threat, they made us feel like criminals.” - Anonymous ℅ 2017

“Officers in my high school made several students feel unsafe and targeted. And Whitney Young didn’t even have a huge police presence. I can’t imagine how students feel in schools with more officers. KEEP THE CPD OUT OF SCHOOLS!!!!” - Anonymous ℅ 2019

“Yes. Injust policing practices toward students from challenging backgrounds.” - Anonymous ℅ 2016