Our analysis found that 40% of Flock stops in Oak Park were mistakes due to outdated data or officer error. In one Flock stop the officer did not verify the license plate before the stop. A Black person was included in all of these Flock-stops-as-a-result-of-mistakes except one, where the occupant’s race was unknown.

During our 10 months study period, 84% of the drivers stopped by Oak Park police in a Flock traffic stop were Black. By comparison, the Illinois Traffic Stop Report for 2022 reported that 53% of drivers stopped by Oak Park police in traffic stops were Black. Black residents comprise 19% of Oak Park’s population, and 23.6% of Cook County’s population.

Freedom to Thrive Oak Park publishes zine analyzing the use of Flock Safety Automated License Plate Readers in Oak Park, Illinois.

Email the Village Board with your Public Comment at PublicComment@oak-park.us and tell the Village Board to set aside funds in the FY 2022 budget for a Non-Police Crisis Response Team. Budget Board meetings are taking place on Nov 1, 8, 11, 15, and Dec 6. Email your public comment and make your voice heard!

Here at Freedom to Thrive Oak Park, our answer is that you should vote “yes” on the April 6th referendum about defunding Oak Park’s police department—not just because it is time for a serious look at policing and community safety in Oak Park. But also because we think it is time to build on the discussions we have had in our community and move towards tangible actions we can make so that everyone feels safe in our community.

Freedom to Thrive Oak Park held an information session with Village of Oak Park board candidates on January 13, 2021. The information session included a presentation to the candidates, which was recorded. Because transparency and research are the foundations for our work, we are sharing this recording. Freedom to Thrive Oak Park has hosted other information sessions for the general public and regularly posts the results of its research and findings.

Trustee Boutet made an incorrect statement during the Village of Oak Park board meeting on January 19, 2021. The racial demographics of drivers stopped by police were inaccurately cited. We would like to correct the record.

The issue of defunding the police will require difficult conversations, a hard look at the practices and results of the current model of policing, and a commitment to the notion that our community can do better by its residents. It’s beyond time for the Village Board to lead and act on this issue. Not, but the issue on the ballot for a referendum vote.

2020 was a year unlike any other. A yea that forced us to have a conversation about the nature and history of policing in the United States and in Oak Park. Sadly, our Village leadership failed to enact many of the changes we and our community demands. As community organizers, we spent the end of the year reflecting on our work, our successes, and the things we wished could have gone better.

The Village Board, which funds the Oak Park Police Department, has started deliberations on its 2021 budget and will vote on it in December. We want to ask you - what are your priorities for the Village Budget? What programs and services do you want to see funded? Fill out our survey and share your priorities with your elected officials.

A discussion to Lexipol, a private contractor, and their relationship to on-going police reform in Oak Park. Lexipol is currently contracted by the Village of Oak Park to update and implement changes to the Oak Park Police Department existing policies called general rules or orders. Freedom to Thrive Oak Park is trying to understand the type and degree of work this private contractor is providing to the Village and Police Department.

Oak Park Police stopped more 10-year-old Black boys than white minors of any age between January 2015 and June 2020.

It is beyond time that we acknowledge that our current system of public safety isn’t working. And that it is actually doing more harm than good. It is time that we finally right this wrong, and create a community where everyone feels like they don’t just belong here and can live here, but that they can really thrive here - freely - without question and without fear. That’s the Oak Park we need to build today.

94% of minors stopped in the field by Oak Park police were Black. In the same five and a half years that Oak Park Police stopped 96 young Black people, only 1 white young man was stopped.

Data doesn’t speak for itself, it requires interpretation and sometimes visualization.  We are sharing our process for submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to obtain public records.

This post includes resources and tips to demystify the public records access process. It’s slightly technical, and slightly historical, but it’s a solid primer on FOIA (or FOIA-ing) and how to use records for community oversight. 

Newly collected information reveals that Black people are disproportionately impacted by policing in Oak Park.

A new report released by Freedom to Thrive Oak Park and Local Progress highlights the need to reimagine budgeting in Oak Park amid the coronavirus crisis.