Report analyzes police policies and budgets in Oak Park, IL
Tired of seeing Oak Park Police racially profile its Black and Latinx community members, Freedom to Thrive Oak Park organizers came together to examine Oak Park’s budgeting and police policies.
Freedom to Thrive Oak Park researchers collected publicly available documents and submitted numerous Freedom of Information Act requests. They partnered with Local Progress, a project of the Center for Popular Democracy, to use their Reform/Transform framework to analyze Oak Park’s budgeting and policing policies. This same framework has been applied to 12 other municipalities. Together they published their results in a report released this spring, Analysis of Policing Policy and Budgets in Oak Park, IL.
The report showed that the Village of Oak Park allocated 40% of its general fund expenditures to the police department while only 5% was dedicated to social services — including affordable housing, health services, and youth development programs.
The report also indicates that Oak Park’s policing policies reflect mixed results: some policies are strong—notably its protections against law enforcement being co-opted for immigration enforcement—while others could be significantly strengthened.
The report concludes with two recommendations for immediate focus:
The need for improved oversight is clear. Of the three policies evaluated in the report, Oak Park scored the lowest in its Independent Oversight of the police.
Budget investigations show a need for reducing the amount spent on policing and increasing the amount spent on human services that promote real community safety.
