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Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel was heckled during an appearance at the University of Michigan Friday about his plan to spend $95 million on a new west side police-training academy, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Emanuel was visiting the university to convince students to move to Chicago after graduation. Some objectors to the project, including Chance the Rapper, who was raised on the city’s south side, have argued the money would be better directed to schools, job training or mental health services.
In a video posted to Twitter, one heckler can be heard interrupting Emanuel’s presentation to argue that Chicago has a $600 million deficit, implying that the new academy is a poor use of public funds.
“Money for kids, not for cops, no cop academy,” the heckler repeated.
Chicago’s city council voted 48 to 1 in November to approve purchasing 30 vacant acres in West Garfield Park for $10 million to develop the police-training academy. Emanuel has framed the project as a way to improve police training and reform efforts after a report by the Justice Department last year criticized the city’s police-training standards.
