Veteran Chicago Police Officer, Frederick Collins, is running for mayor to fight for the best of Chicago. Born and raised on the west side of Chicago, his parents instilled in him the traditional American values of truth, honesty, justice, respect, and love for his fellow man. Collins has been active in community activism, politics, and public service since he was 17. With 29 years of dedicated public service as a Chicago police officer, Collins says he is a man of action who wants to make Chicago a safe, clean, and fun city to live in.
Chicago Defender: This is your second time running for Mayor of Chicago. Why are you running again?
Frederick Collins: The reason why I’m running for mayor for the second time is the first time I ran is because Chicago is not just a city, it’s my home. It’s where I was born, raised, attended church, made friends, worked, and raised my children. I have a lot invested in Chicago.
Chicago Defender: What are your top priorities in your first year if you become mayor?
Frederick Collins: The top priority is to bring back law and order and institute public safety so that every citizen in Chicago under my administration feels safe outside their homes, sending their children to school, going to work, church, and seeing a future in staying in Chicago.
Chicago Defender: As a 29-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, how do you plan to reduce crime in Chicago?
Frederick Collins: There are several ways I plan to reduce crime. The first thing to do is to repeal and institute new policies and changes. One of the policies we will repeal right away is the no-chase policy. It makes no sense that criminals believe that justice won’t go after them when they break the law. The other thing we must do is to continue building upon and ensuring a true relationship between the public and law enforcement. And actually, that is not hard to do. The police come from the public. All of our officers are members of the community and should be seen that way. We can’t allow politicians who seem to put a wedge between law enforcement and the community. We are all the same. The other way is by addressing the immediate issues. We know that over 51% of the crimes committed today are done by our youth between the ages of 9 and 17. We have to address that issue. We need to enforce curfew laws and hold parents accountable if their children repeatedly violate curfew laws. We have children who have been shot, hurt, victims of crime who were out past curfew. We got to make sure that we enforce the curfew law to protect our children and keep them from becoming participants or victims of crime.
Second, we must build up our law enforcement by hiring 20,000 new Chicago police officers. I’m going to run the police academy 24/7 with morning classes with 2,500 officers and evening classes with 2,500 officers. We will be able to hire 5,000 new officers each year for four years, which will get us to 20,000. The other thing is, we got to promote experienced officers with 10-15 or more years of service to detectives. We really don’t have enough officers in our detective division. Many of our crimes have gone unsolved because we don’t have enough detectives to address cold cases and current crimes that are happening. We have to ensure we can protect the public in every way possible. We will create a new Chicago nationwide task force to work with federal, state, and cook county law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute criminals.
Third, we are going to invest in education. Many of our schools are still stuck in the 19th century. I want to boost them to the 22nd century. This means using smartboards instead of chalkboards. We want a big screen in the classroom that allows them to talk to the teachers, see things in real-time, and learn lesson plans to keep their attention.
Also, to make sure the curriculum is updated. Much of the school’s curriculum is 30-40 years behind. We will also bring new programs to our schools, and have afterschool programs, and activities in our parks to help lower the crimes so that our teens are involved in something positive.
I will also bring back stop and frisk. It will be utilized and modernized and retraining our officers. In real-time, there will be a video for every traffic stop and every stop-and-frisk investigation, so there is true transparency. It will also give a chance for our experienced officers who work and know those areas very well through their experience and years of working there when something is out of order or seem strange to investigate it and protect the citizens.
Chicago Defender: The SAFE-T Act will go into effect in 2023. Are you for or against the Act?
Frederick Collins: Absolutely, against it. There is nothing to protect the citizens of Chicago, and as a matter of fact, it’s unconstitutional. It hinders law enforcement from being able to live up to the 14th Amendment, which is equal protection under the law.
Chicago Defender: What will you do to bring trust between the community and police?
Frederick Collins: We have to start training diversity and culture. Our hiring needs to reflect the diversity of our great city. When the community sees a reflection of themselves in the uniform, they will feel more comfortable with law enforcement. We also have to teach our officers about the various cultures of ethnicity, how to approach them, understand them and identify those cultural riches within every community.
Chicago Defender: What do you plan to do when police officers abuse their authority and make them accountable and the spike of police committing suicide?
Frederick Collins: When a police officer violates the public trust and their oath of office, they will be dealt with accordingly, quickly. They will have due process. I believe in equal protection under the law. We will do a thorough investigation. After the thorough investigation is completed, then it will be transparent what the findings are.
When it comes to police suicide, I have never seen this many in the 29 years I’ve been on the job. We have to understand that we put a lot on our police officers. They are human beings at the end of the day. They are being asked to do a lot. Many police officers are being asked to do more than what we ask our soldiers to do when they fight for us in other countries. We have to ensure that we have training that allows officers to know that they are supported by the community, mayor, and command staff. If there is a personal problem that we need to know about, they will be free to come to us and get help without being judged or penalized. We must understand that being a police officer is not a job everyone can do. When we are doing recruitment and training, there will be specific questions that we will talk about with applicants to see if they can handle being a police officers.
Chicago Defender: College is not for every student when they graduate from high school. What is your position on getting high school graduates into a trade since it’s no longer in high schools?
Frederick Collins: We need to utilize community block grants to invest in trade schools within each community. We need to address students who dropped out of high school and help them get their GED and some labor skills. There are a lot of young people that are good with their hands. As mayor, I will build facilities that utilize and give opportunities to the youth, especially those that have been released from jail and want a second chance in life. We want to train them to utilize their hands to become roofers, mechanics, cement layers, and electricians. There are several jobs young people can do with their hands and be successful. We want to make sure this is a city of opportunities for all.
Chicago Defender: What is your position on the amount of trash on the south side and west side of Chicago?
Frederick Collins: We will have a system in place where within 24-48 hours, citizens can call the city’s 1-800 hotline, and we will take care of the trash. There will be an event number that has to be signed off by a supervisor. When the job is completed, there will be a date and time. There will also be a time stamp when that call is made. We must understand in order to look like a global, world-class city, it takes effort. We must make an effort to keep the city clean, safe and viable.
Chicago Defender: As a candidate running for mayor, what do you love about Chicago?
Frederick Collins: There is a lot to love about the City of Chicago. You can go anywhere in the city and find any ethnicity with a great diversity of food, music, culture, and we have the best skyline. There is plenty to do in Chicago. As much as Chicago is talked about, you can always find someone who has visited our great city with positive things to say.
We have a lot of work to do. Right now, crime is destroying our city. I’m the only policeman, crime fighter, and community activist qualified and prepared to get the job done as the next mayor.
For more information on the mayoral candidate, Frederick Collins, go to https://collinsformayorofchicago2023.com.
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