For Kates Security Officer Latoya, Safety At CHA Of Utmost Importance

Latoya Davis has worked as a security officer with Kates for a few months now where she is responsible for protecting two Chicago Housing Authority sites, but it hasn’t been easy. “No one trained me when I started. I learned everything on my own,” Latoya remembers.

Several times alarms have gone off in the building, but Latoya didn’t know what they meant or what to do since she had never been prepared for this situation by Kates. In one instance she called the building manager who gave her a code to put in to disable the alarm, but she was unable to because the buttons were half way pushed in. So she sat there and let the alarm ring, until a janitor came by and showed her another way to turn off the alarm.

Kates puts residents at risk every day by not providing adequate training for officers. But, not only are residents being harmed, so are the families of the many officers like Latoya who find it difficult to make ends meet on low wages. Latoya has had trouble putting her 11-year-old daughter in daycare. Her struggles got to the point where she needed to take up a second job to provide for her family. “It’s a lot on me and my body,” Latoya says.

Reasons like these are why Latoya is fighting for a union so that families like hers can have a voice on the job. “A union helps everybody,” Latoya says. “As long as there’s no authority at Kates, they can do anything.” A union voice would help make CHA buildings safer for residents and officers alike.