Chicago Politics

US Conference of Mayors Safety Conference 4.28.25

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Mayor Brandon Johnson attends the US Conference of Mayors Safety Conference

Transcript

0:01 All right, well, good morning, everyone. Thank you all for being here today on behalf of the city of Chicago. I am honored to welcome the United States Conference of Mayors to our beloved city. In this conference, mayors, city leaders, and police chiefs are convening in our city under the shared goal to foster safe communities across our country. While there are those who like to focus on Chicago's challenges with violence, the truth is community violence is a challenge that all cities are experiencing.

0:33 And it is that challenge that we can only tackle by working together. I'm grateful for this opportunity to share best practices from Chicago and learn from other cities about the best ways to uplift our people and serve our respective communities. Joining us today at this conference are leaders from around the country, and I'm grateful to have all of them there. But, of course, those who are connected to me, we have our chief police superintendent.

1:04 I only added chief because other cities apparently refer to their superintendent as chiefs. So, Larry, if you want that title, you're going to have to go before city council. But in the meantime, he said he's fine. All right. So our superintendent, Larry Snelling, we also have mayors from police, police chiefs from over 40 different cities across this country. I'm thrilled to welcome each and every one of them to our city. I look forward to the conversations that we will have in this conference.

1:36 And, of course, the Fresno mayor, Jerry Dyer, who is the co-chair of United States Conference of Mayors. and, of course, he also heads up our Police Chief Task Force. And with that, I would turn it over to Mayor Jerry Dyer. We usually clap for mayors in the round. Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate that introduction. And before I make my comments, what I thought I'd do, even though there's a lot of them here,

2:07 that I would have each of our mayors introduce themselves and what city they represent and also to identify their police chief with them if, in fact, they brought them. So we'll start over here to the far left with any mayor that wants to start. Mayor Angie Nelson, Dyer, and police chief.

2:43 Nathaniel George Booker, Village of Maywood, Illinois, and Chief Elijah Willis. Mayor Vicki Skamen, Village of Oak Park, here with Chief Tanya Johnson. Mayor Travis Stovall, Gresham, Oregon, and my chief, Travis Goldberg. Mayor Stephen Reed, Montgomery, Alabama. My chief, Jim Gray-Boys from Montgomery. And Mayor Jim Ross, Arlington, Texas. I'm here with my chief, Al Jones. Mayor Valerie Mesquite, City of Santa Ana, California, with my chief, Robert Rodriguez.

3:16 Mayor Joe Gannon, Bridgeport, Connecticut, with my chief, Ron Porter. Nancy Rotary, Mayor Highland Park, Illinois, with Chief Lou Jodlin. Mayor, India, Kincannon, Knoxville, Tennessee. I'm Tom Coffin, the CEO of U.S. Conference in Arizona, Washington. Any other mayors? Mayor Byron Nolan from the city of Inkster, with my police chief, Tameka Jenkins. Any other mayors? And Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, and I have my police chief with me, Mindy Castro.

3:49 So let me just kind of share with you. I spent 40 years in the Fresno Police Department, and the last 18 is a police chief, which is one of the reasons why I get to be the co-chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting for mayors and police chiefs. But I had the privilege of appointing two police chiefs and also worked for three different mayors. So if anyone, I understand the importance of the relationship between mayors and police chiefs,

4:21 which is all the more reason why we have these types of gatherings so that police chiefs and mayors, quite frankly, can be on the same page when it comes to policing strategies, understanding best practices that are occurring across the country, and making sure that they agree on whatever policing strategies that they have. The truth is mayors have a lot of responsibility. We're responsible for making sure our streets are paved, our signal lights are working, that we're in charge of our airports and other transportation.

4:54 But I will say this, that the most important thing that we do as mayors, and we all agree upon this, is that we keep our community safe, because public safety is the foundation of local government. And so we take that obligation very, very seriously. And what we find is that cities across the country, they may be of different populations, They may be of different political views, but the truth is they all face similar issues

5:26 when it comes to crime and quality of life issues within their individual communities. And so that's why we're here today talking about some of those issues that are very common to each and every one of our cities. We just finished an important session on reducing gun violence and some of the strategies that cities like Chicago have taken to reduce gun violence. I know in Fresno, we've had considerable success reducing gun violence, 60% reduction in homicide since 2021, a 70% reduction in shootings

6:03 since 2021. And as I look back at some of the strategies are very common with many of the other cities and police departments that have taken on. Organized retail theft, something very, very important to all of us. We're seeing that across the country, the use of technology, policing protests in our communities. And the other area that we know is, just as of this morning, hearing about some of the issues with policing and immigration, we have to make sure that we

6:38 We are consistent in how we view those things. So it is an honor to be able to be here representing U.S. Conference of Mayors, to be able to assemble this fine group of mayors and police chiefs, and look forward to any questions you might have shortly. But it is my opportunity now to be able to introduce the police chief or superintendent, whatever you want to call him, but that is Superintendent Larry Snelling, Chicago Police Department. there. First of all, thank you to Mayor Dyer. Thank you to Mayor Brandon Johnson for making

7:17 sure he invited me here. First off, before I get started on anything, today and tomorrow, we'll be laying to rest a first responder, Captain David Meyer, who lost his life tragically a few days ago. So we'll be at the wake tonight and tomorrow at the funeral. So please keep his family in your prayers. First of all, good morning. And what I want to say is thank

7:48 you for being here. The experience that we've had so far this morning has been great. You know, just a collaboration, ideas, talking, communicating with each other. This is extremely important because, as you've already heard, that, you know, across the country, we hear about issues from one city to the next city. We find out that some of our issues may be different, but we're all dealing with some of the exact same problems. And communicating, collaborating in this

8:18 way is going to help us all. I mean, this morning, I picked up some things from some people. If you look back at the DNC, the reason that the DNC went so well was because of collaboration. It was because of connections, connections to our local federal partners. It was communication with our communities, with our businesses. Having everybody involved was the key. And until we started to collaborate, everything breaks down.

8:50 Now, within the Chicago Police Department, all of our bureaus are working collaboratively across the board. So starting with our Bureau of Patrol, our Bureau of Detectives, and our Bureau of Counterterrorism, along with our Bureau of Constitutional Policing, working together with all of these bureaus allows us to utilize resources from each bureau to attack one particular issue. Issues that have plagued us, gun violence, robberies, vehicular hijackings,

9:25 all of those things that we've seen a major decrease in over the years. And this year alone, violent crimes as a whole, we're down 22%. We're down 23% in homicides. Shootings are down 31%. Our shooting victims are down 32%. And for Chicago, that means 214 less people shot this year in the first quarter than last year, comparatively. Our robberies are down 37 percent. This is a direct result of our robbery task force, our vehicular hijacking task force, utilizing air support to help us with these particular incidents, our connections and our partnership with the state's attorney's office to make sure that we keep repeat offenders where they're supposed to be in jail.

10:18 We cannot do this alone. We've talked about this before. I've said it a million times. We cannot lock everybody up and police our way out of this. If we're going to get to the bottom of crime in this city and public safety, we're going to have to make sure that everyone is involved and there's accountability across the board. I can tell you this right now. We are a department in reform. Some of the things that we're going to talk about today or later on today has to do with reform.

10:54 I'm standing here with with Chief Commissioner Ramsey, who has seen his share of consent decrees. If there's anybody that I will ever reach out to and I already have for information, anything that would be helpful, that's going to be Chief Ramsey. He started in this department when I was a young officer. I looked up to him, and he does a great job of making sure that he reaches out to every department that he can.

11:27 And I know he gets it. He really does. He understands. This is a heavy job. It's a heavy lift for our officers. It's a heavy lift for our mayors to run cities with different voices, people wanting different things. we can sit down have a conversation with each other educate each other and when we do that we're better for it this is what's going to help us create better relationships across the board and it's going to help us get to the bottom of public safety so thank you everyone for being

12:00 here i'd like to thank all of the mayors and all of the chiefs for being here because this is not Not an easy job, but I appreciate the collaboration, I appreciate the work, and I appreciate the greatest city in the world hosting this right now. I'm sure some of them would disagree, but this is the most beautiful city in the world. So thank you for that. And with that, I'm going to turn it back over to Mayor Brandon Johnson.

12:30 Thank you, Superintendent. And I just want to clarify, we officially anointed Charles Ramsey as the godfather of of community safety. So I just want to make sure we get his title right. So great to have all these mayors in the city of Chicago. It makes my job a little bit easier over these next couple of days because all of these mayors will be helping me run the city. And so I appreciate that. So with that, I think we'll take some questions. Why do you think that the drop in crime Chicago is seeing

13:07 as a result of specific policies here and not just part of it? Well, it is a part of a broader national trend, right? I mean, that's something that this conference has been poised to express, be nice if we got more credit from the federal government, that we're seeing a drop in crime all over the country. Now, what we are experiencing in Chicago, which I think is something that all of the mayors have spoken of, you have to create opportunity and accountability. Everybody agrees that we're not going to police our way to safety,

13:39 that we have to make sure that we're building affordable homes, providing opportunities for our young people, ensuring that there's behavior and mental health support services, and that includes our first responders. But it also requires us to have partnerships within our communities, right? Safe communities across America have a collective responsibility to continue to invest in people, and that's what this is all about. It's not just about more police officers, but it's not all, it's not about just simply better technology, which all of that plays a part, but it's also about making sure that we're taking the full force

14:11 of government towards creating safer communities, and that's something that we all collectively share. Are there any specific policies? Well, it's not just Chicago. I mean, again, Tom, who is our executive director, was just talking about cuts for CVI that will affect, you know, many cities across America. Look, anything that defunds the quality of life experience for families is a threat to our overall community safety,

14:44 whether it's education, whether it's the Department of Justice, whether it's health care. You know, I'm grateful that we have many of my western suburbs mayors that are here, and they can tell you, you know, as we approach community safety, they're all and all of these mayors are committed to making sure that we're investing in every single aspect of a person's experience. That's how we create safe communities. Hi, Mayor. Hey. Well, we do know that our young people are valuable assets to all of our communities.

15:39 All of the mayors here have expressed a commitment to ensure that our young people are fully supported and their families are. What we have not seen, and I speak for the city of Chicago, where lowering a curfew is going to change the outcome of the type of activity we've seen in certain sections of the city. I can speak from a very personal level. This is not something that is unique to Streeterville or downtown.

16:11 I can tell you there's been large gatherings around the city of Chicago that sometimes break out as a result of someone's birthday party. People hang around a little bit longer. More people come over, and then things begin to spill out into the streets. One of the things that I know we see in major cities, I can speak about the city of Chicago, sometimes there are memorials that happen where a loved one is lost and people gather to remember their honor. There are a lot of different type of gatherings that take place, and we have not seen any substantive evidence that lowering the curfew is going to change that.

16:43 Now, as far as my commitment to collaborating and working with the alder, I've made that commitment from the time that I've been mayor. And so we're going to continue to work with all of the alders to ensure that our young people have opportunities, but yet that they have accountability if certain occurrences like that do take place. And is that different at all from how the department already has to issue dispersal orders or arrest people for disorderly conduct?

17:19 Well, the first thing is to define immediate. As the Chicago Police Department, we're well aware that we need notice, signage, things of that nature. And those are the things that we're looking at. So we don't want to put a parent in a position where they take their kids to a particular location, maybe to a movie, and when that movie lets out, there's a curfew that has been imposed. We're looking to do that based on intel and things that we think are going to happen or things that we know could happen.

17:55 What we want to do is prevent violence. We want to prevent young teens who are coming down to wreak havoc on the city to not form up. So if we have the information ahead of time, that's going to help us prevent anything from happening. As you know, if we wait for it to happen, there's a possibility that it could end in violence. And that's what we're trying to avoid. What we want to do here is make sure that we keep everyone in the city safe because public safety is number one. And we don't want anyone showing up because we've had a couple of incidents that have ended in shootings.

18:30 We want to stop that. And the Chicago Police Department and our police officers are dedicated to keeping everyone safe in this city. And if that means that this would be a tool that could help us get there, then I'll utilize that tool. But we would do it constitutionally.

19:01 Absolutely. So there was a question that was asked earlier. You know, crime is down across the country. That's true. But each place is unique. And as you know, Chicago is a very unique place. When we looked at the number of robberies that were occurring, working across bureaus, we were able to determine that these were robbery crews who would then go on robbery sprees. When we would catch some of these individuals, they would be released, and then they would offend again.

19:37 So we've worked closely with everybody across the bureaus and with the state's attorney's office to make sure that we're holding people accountable who are committing these robberies. Because one of the things that we know about armed robberies, those things can turn into a shooting in a minute. And what we don't want are people being harmed because the trauma of someone who has been robbed, period, affects them forever. So we want to make sure that we keep repeat offenders off the street. That's number one. Number two, our air support has been very helpful because we know that a lot of these crimes were being committed in stolen cars.

20:13 And as being opposed to our officers always having to pursue these vehicles in vehicles, which could now place people in danger, We have air support because these individuals to get away will drive recklessly, and they don't care who they hurt to get away. So we want to make sure that we're being as responsible as we possibly can, and our officers are working hard to keep them off the street. Is that air support from the new helicopter from last year? Yes.

20:44 That has made a definite impact? We have three new helicopters. It has made a major impact. We're utilizing them the best way that we can to make sure that when someone commits a robbery, a vehicle or hijacking, that we call for air support. Our officers do it all the time. They pursue the vehicle from the air. Our officers get to the location, and they're able to make arrests under those circumstances. One area that had burglaries, and if so, it happened to them?

21:18 Well, the smash and grabs and the burglaries have always been there, but I'll tell you right now, that hasn't been an increase. We've actually seen a decrease in that, especially in the downtown area where you saw a lot of cars just driving into businesses. We've been able to work around that, work with businesses. Now, we do know smaller local businesses. Each district has to work with those businesses to make sure that we keep those down, and that's what our district commanders are doing now.

21:48 We're actually going to have more high-visibility bike patrol things out there to help keep those things down. How are you, Heather?

22:22 Well, if you read our policy, Heather, our policy does not say pretextual stops. But listen, those are your words. So let me explain. That's your definition of what a pretextual stop is. Please allow me to finish, Heather. Here's the deal. Your definition of what a pretextual stop is. Our officers are out there every single day making stops. If they are not allowed to make stops, people start to run red lights.

22:56 They start to run stop signs. Then it becomes more dangerous for everyone who are driving. I understand what you're trying to get at, Heather, but here's the deal. Our officers, multiple officers, have been murdered during traffic stops. Our officers have to be safe when they're making these stops. The policy is a draft policy. So until we finish that policy, until we get it complete, we don't know what's going to be in there.

23:28 We're still working with CCPSA on this. But what I will not allow is that I will not allow a policy or a change in policy or the law that's going to put our officers in danger or put our citizens in danger. We know how many cars have been stolen across this city, and we also know how many of those stolen cars have been used in secondary crimes, shootings, robberies, drive-by, those types of things. We have to be very careful about going outside of the law and making our policies so restrictive that our officers can't make stops that are going to keep the public safe.

24:10 I understand what you're saying, but when we get to a finalized policy, I'm sure we can have a better conversation about this, Heather. Well, here's what we are ultimately getting at. We have to make sure that we are restoring confidence and trust within our communities, right?

24:45 And the superintendent has worked hard, and I know that there are chiefs all over the country and mayors who recognize that community trust is paramount to community safety. As this policy continues to unfold, and we don't have secrets here in the city of Chicago, where we know where there has been usage of stops that have had a disparate impact on black and brown communities, right? There's no secret there, you know, and the ultimate goal is to create constitutional policing that ensures trust,

25:21 that keeps everyone safe, and we're going to continue to work to ensure that the policy reflects my values for the city of Chicago. Good morning. Yeah. You know, Canada is not part of the United States, and apparently doesn't want to be. And the Gulf of Mexico is not the Gulf of America, by the way. But Vancouver had an incident over the last few days of a car driving into a crowded festival in New Orleans.

25:56 had that happen, how much do incidents like that force a rethinking of the kinds of festivals? And it's not, I mean, it's for you mainly, Mayor, but for any mayors there, that people gathering this summer will probably be involved in it. Do you now have to think more about the possibility of incidents like that? We all do. Yeah, we absolutely all do. You know, Mayor Quinton Lucas was not able to be with us today.

26:28 He also, unfortunately, had a first responder that was killed in the line of duty. And, you know, as much as we appreciate, you know, Godfather Ramsey rooting for the Bears and the Eagles, you know, after a Super Bowl celebration or during the celebration, you know, the mayor of Kansas City, You know, our hearts were all just gripped by the tragedy that occurred there. So, you know, whether it's Super Bowl celebrations or just community festivals,

27:01 that we all have to be far more thoughtful about how we secure the perimeters, but also how we make sure that it is vibrant and joyful without people feeling captured. So, you know, we've talked about ways in which we can better utilize city infrastructure to help keep people safe in the barricades and ballots. So that is a part of an ongoing discussion around how we keep people safe during these festivities and celebrations without it coming across as a concentration space.

27:44 So it's something that we think about all the time, I mean, because it's not just these festivals or even celebrations. It's also people expressing their First Amendment right. May Day is coming up. You all know the city of Chicago is the most pro-worker city in America. And people gather in protest in the city of Chicago. So we think about all of that, right? And it's an ongoing effort for all of the mayors and chiefs and superintendents across this country to ensure maximum safety for people who celebrate.

28:19 Thank you. Thank you, Craig. Good morning, Mayor. Hey, good morning. Strengthen law enforcement to pursue criminals and then publish a list of state and local jurisdictions that obstruct immigration laws.

28:49 It seems that's just following up on the lawsuit. What are your concerns about what this could actually mean for Chicago, and is anything policy-wise going to change with stepped-up efforts by the government? Well, look, let me start off with some wishful thinking and being hopeful that every single mayor across this country, we need our federal government to invest in our cities. I think there's a broad agreement around that, and this is a nonpartisan group that recognizes that our cities, cities build continents, right?

29:30 We are the driving force of government. And what, you know, and I don't have all the details either around these executive orders. What I will just emphasize is that immigration policy is a federal responsibility. Like, there are enough responsibilities that mayors have. Same thing with our police department. There's enough responsibilities that they have.

30:00 We're here gathering as a conference to come up with solutions of how we can collaborate that alleviates some of the pressure and tension that mayors and chiefs and superintendents have. We're not going to police our way out of it. The fact that across the board, this was asked earlier by one of your colleagues, that violent crime is going down across America, it's proof positive that when we collaborate and work together, make the critical investments that are needed, making sure that our police departments have the tools that they need and we're moving constitutionally, we are getting good results.

30:33 And so, you know, the impact that that could have on our cities, you know, I don't want to sound hyperbolic, but we do have to sound the alarm that all of us are here today because we know that collaboration allows us to build solutions collectively to respond to the critical challenges that we're all facing. You know, so, you know, the federal government has to do its job by passing comprehensive immigration reform policy. They can do that. To me, it is one of the laziest forms of government.

31:06 As mayors, we don't sit around and think about executive orders, right? We actually have to work hard every single day to work with city council, to work with community groups. We need this administration to recognize the power and the value of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. we've put forth solutions that the federal government can institute. Listen to the mayors who run the cities across America. Yeah, please, Mayor Dyer. Thank you. I want to speak on both issues.

31:37 Number one, we appreciate any support the federal government will give law enforcement in terms of resources. We know that oftentimes local government is resource challenged, And so anything the federal government can do to enhance the abilities of local law enforcement, we appreciate it. When it comes to immigration, from law enforcement, we have to be very, very careful. When our dispatchers pick up the emergency line and someone calls 911, we don't ask what a person's political party is.

32:10 We say 911, state your emergency. We don't say 911, state your party. We don't say 911 stage or immigration status because we're there to protect everyone in our community, regardless of whether they're documented or not. And then the second thing is, is that we want to partner with law enforcement agencies. We want to partner with everyone out there, with ATF, with the FBI. We partner with federal agencies every single day. The concern is that if there's going to be any language that takes away funding from local law enforcement

32:46 or local government, that's going to be a challenge for us based on that jurisdiction being identified as a sanctuary city when that city may not feel it's a sanctuary city. We have a limited amount of resources in every one of our departments. Those limited resources should be focused on going after criminals, violent criminals, offenders that are out there committing burglary, robbery, whatever the case is.

33:18 We do not want our officers out there doing the things that federal government should be doing, and that is immigration enforcement. And the reality is what we do in local law enforcement, local government, relies on trust, community trust. If our community doesn't trust us, they're not going to call us to report crimes. And if they're fearful that our police officers are going to be out there, engage in deportation activities and sweeps,

33:51 we're not going to get the calls that we need that's going to help keep our community safe. for somebody to be able to report as a witness on a drive-by shooting. That's what this is all about, capacity. Do we have the resources to go out and do the job of a federal entity? And secondly, do we want to do those things that are going to damage the trust to the point where we can't receive information that keeps the community safe? And that's really what this boils down to.

34:38 That's why you're the mayor. Yeah, well. So as a former social studies teacher, I can just say, you know, look, I think this president has made it a concerted effort to undermine and to erase black history from our country. He has. He literally has taken on the task to dictate what museums do.

35:12 Now, look, I think I could comfortably speak for all mayors. We don't wake up every single day figuring out how to enact policies around what museums should do, right? And the fact that he has made it his business to erase the incredible history of the diversity of this country is problematic. You know, as far as, you know, Indigenous People's Day, it's something that I believe the country has embraced.

35:43 It's important that, you know, those of us who understand the makeup of our country and the horrific, devastating and genocidal policies that have harmed our indigenous people is something that, you know, our country owes, quite frankly, reparations and profound apology for indigenous people. So, you know, if people want to celebrate, you know, Christopher Columbus, they're well within their right to do that.

36:39 Well, first of all, how are you doing, Wojo? Look, you know, when it the first 100 days, I don't focus. I try not to focus as much as I can on the politics of it because we've got a city to keep safe. And when we start getting into politics, we have officers who vote however they see fit to vote. And I really don't care about that. I want to make sure that our officers are taking care of each other and they're taking care of the public.

37:10 We want to make sure that they're going out there, keeping the city safe and doing everything they can and doing it constitutionally. When it comes to ICE, we haven't dealt with ICE in that way. being a sanctuary city, you know, the welcoming city ordinance, we follow the law. That's what we do. However, we work hand in hand with our federal partners, especially as it relates to drug trafficking, sex trafficking, violent crimes. We have TFOs, right? Our officers who

37:45 work directly with our federal partners to break up drug conspiracies, to lock people up for violent crimes like murder, our relationship with the ATF and our CIGIC Center, our Crime Gun Intelligence Center, all of those things have helped us through everyday work, getting the crime down, getting the violent crime down. And Mayor Dyer mentioned this earlier.

38:17 When someone calls the police, we don't care about their status. We don't care about any of that. When you're calling us for help, we want to get there and give you the help. We don't want anyone to be afraid to call the police because, you know, of their immigration status. If they're a victim of a crime, we want to know so that we can get to the bottom of that crime. The key here is to get violent offenders off the street. So we're going to continue to do what we do as a police department. There are some things that are beyond our control,

38:49 but what isn't beyond our control is the resilience of those officers to get up and go back out there and do it every single day. And we're going to continue to do that. And we're going to continue to serve the city regardless of what the politics are around it. We're here to make this city safe, to be partners with our community, our community members. And we want people to be able to walk their kids to school without looking over their shoulders.

39:32 No city can prepare for federal withdrawal of resources. Let's just let that question sit for a second, though. Cities are being threatened by the federal government to withdraw resources that ultimately will hurt our cities. That's the type of administration that we're dealing with. Now, you all in Chicago know that I've said repeatedly, there are those in power at the federal level that have refused to accept the results of the Civil War.

40:09 They have. And they're working to relitigate it. And they're attacking cities. Now, you've heard from police chiefs, superintendents, personneling, mayors, who approach community safety not on a partisan basis. So what are we going to start doing? Only responding to crises or emergencies based upon their political affiliation? Now, look, I taught seventh and eighth grade social studies, a year of high school as well.

40:40 I'm not trying to sound hyperbolic here, But that type of threat is something that has led to some of the most egregious forms of government in our world's history. To politically punish people based upon their political affiliation, that is no longer a democracy. And so I get the premise of the question, but I just want some full context here. that mayors, police chiefs, and superintendents are waking up every single day to do our very best to keep people safe.

41:16 47% of the people who voted did not vote for me, but I am still their mayor. There are individuals who have gotten elected, maybe with larger margins than I did, but we don't determine our leadership based upon polling or even results of the election. This president is looking to settle a score that we have already settled a generation ago.

41:47 We are a country of laws, but more importantly, we are a country that recognizes that every single individual gets to pursue happiness. Happiness. How is that allowing cities to govern in a way to put forth policies that allow people to pursue happiness? That's ultimately what we're trying to do as mayors and police chiefs and superintendents. And so, of course, you know, the ideal of our tax dollars and we send billions of them to the federal government,

42:18 that that would be withheld because of politics, because of someone's political views or local ordinances. That is not only raggedy, but it is the most dangerous form of government that we've seen in a generation. Look, you all know how I feel about this. This president is off. He's just off. But this conference is about collaborating and bringing our ideas together to ensure that we maximize security.

42:58 This is about keeping people safe. That's the ultimate goal here. Look, everybody knows, and I know a lot of mayors who are doing this around the country are investing in youth, summer jobs, investing in our education system. Some of these mayors don't have, you know, that type of direct control, but we're finding ways around this country to invest in people. This is about keeping people safe. But it's also about making sure that we are policing constitutionally, right? Remember, the initial proposal was to insert a curfew in one segment of the city.

43:32 Now, look, that is irresponsible. I don't even know if it's constitutionally permissive, right? So this is about keeping people safe. I've brought people together to come up with a plan that ensures maximum safety, and, you know, we'll see what that product ultimately lends itself to be. What do you mean by that? That was really about, the shot spotter really was about what the people of Chicago voted for.

44:06 I ran on eliminating something that didn't work. Approve what ordinance? Approve what ordinance? Approve what ordinance? For a shot spotter? No, there was no ordinance for a shot spotter. They don't have the ability to control that. That's why it's not with us anymore, which was illegal as well, right? They didn't pass an ordinance, right, because technically it wasn't legal, right?

44:37 So they can't give authority to someone that I have the authority to do. But go ahead with your question. This is about keeping people safe. Now, one thing I can say for sure, the mayors and the chiefs do not have curfews. They can spend as much money as they want all throughout the night because I'm going to need that revenue to continue to invest in people. I love the curfew ordinance.

45:13 That was done in conjunction with talks with your department. And that you didn't want to propose anything that wouldn't be helping CPD do its job better. Do you believe that that proposal that would allow SNAP curfews to be stated by someone from your department, would that be helpful? So here, the first part of your question, yes, we have had these conversations because they're important. And it's important to educate everyone around the laws and the way that we police constitutionally, right?

45:48 What I didn't want to do is have a situation where there's one particular part of the city where a curfew can be imposed and not everywhere else in the city, because there are other places in the city that have seen those types of similar gatherings. It just doesn't get as much media attention as the particular area where it happened last. Using it as a deterrent and not using it to lock people up is going to be the most effective thing.

46:21 That's the key. The key is if we have intel, and here's how we deal with these types of gatherings. When we get intel, when we get information that these things are going to happen, there are flyers that go out, and some of these things have violence associated with it. So we know that the people who are following those flyers showing up there, they're going down there to perform some of the things that are being requested on this flyer. When that happens, we want to make sure that we have tools in place to prevent it from happening.

46:54 That's it in a nutshell. What we don't want are people, and especially our youth, who are down there just trying to have a good time, getting caught up in the shuffle. So those are the things that we want to avoid. So we will be very careful, regardless of what happens. We're going to continue to show up at these locations to prevent them from happening because it's for the safety of everyone. our citizens who are walking, our residents, and the kids who actually show up.

47:29 We know that fights break out. There's a lot of violence associated with it. So we want to make sure that we have tools in place to prevent these things from happening. But we will, we will do this constitutionally. It depends. Once we see the finished product, it could be. So I just, I don't want to give you a concrete answer right now until we have a finished product. Okay. This is great. Thank you all. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. You're always so patient here.

48:02 Listen, I want all the mayors of Chiefs Veronica, you see how they treat me in Chicago? They don't pay them now. Same way they treat us at home. Yes, sir.

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