Statement of Ed Wojcicki,
ILACP Executive Director
In Response to Occasional Calls to "Defund the Police"
June 7, 2020

"Defunding the police" is a catchy phrase, but it does not capture the complexities and the harm to individuals that would result in actually doing that. We've been listening carefully because it has been a difficult two weeks, and we are more than willing to meet with lawmakers about this and related issues.

We believe that building relationships and building trust is a much better approach. Illinois chiefs have been very publicly side by side with NAACP leaders in recent years promoting Ten Shared Principles (https://ilacp.memberclicks.net/ten-shared-pinciples) everywhere in Illinois. So the concerns we are hearing now are not new to us, and we already have been addressing them proactively and collaboratively.