W E D N E S D A Y
March 11, 2026 Vol. 46, No. 36
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JOURNAL @oakpark
of Oak Park and River Forest
Oak Park police share 2025 field data; over 70% of stops were Black Majority were Black men, some village trustees ask for revamped data delivery
and
Enrichment Guide
local schools | early learning | tutoring programs
Education Guide Page 15
‘Everyone has some kind of gift’
2015 OPRF grad Max Metzgar has eyes set on UFC
By BRENDAN HEFFERNAN Staff Reporter
Oak Park Police Chief Shatonya Johnson shared data for the department’s 2025 field stops with the village board this week, as some trustees asked for a more accessible presentation of the data in the future. The police department provided a record of every stop that officers made last year, including a spreadsheet that contained demographic data of the people police stopped, whether the stop had been initiated by officers or done in response to a resident’s call for service and a written narrative of each incident. The police department has committed to sharing data on field stops quarterly in a move for community transparency at the request of Trustee Cory Wesley, but that didn’t happen over the last year in part because of the murder of Detective Allan Reddins in November 2024, Johnson said. “As we prepared to honor Detective Reddins throughout the year it created a delay,” she said. “So we compiled the in-
Spring 2026
Education
By GREGG VOSS Contributing Reporter
called the police. About 74% of people stopped by police in Oak Park last year were Black and roughly 83% of all stops were in response to a call for service, ac-
If you spend even a little time with Max Metzgar, you might be prompted to sit down and think about your life and choices. I know I did. I talked to the Oak Park native Sunday evening, and we covered the full breadth of his career – not just his success as a mixed martial arts fighter and his aspirations to participate in UFC, but the two businesses he runs in Columbus, Ohio, and his counsel to people who are finding their way. The key takeaway came in the last question I asked him. Not everyone is going to be an MMA fighter, but I can see the parallels between that and life, as far as toughness and goal setting. How do you counsel people in those areas? “It’s all about authenticity,” the 2015 Oak Park and River Forest High School graduate told me. “The hardest thing to find out is who
See POLICE STOPS on page 24
See METZGAR on page 25
JAVIER GOVEA
formation into a year report.” The data shared this week again showed that the vast majority of people stopped in Oak Park are Black, particularly Black men and boys, and that most stops occurred because a resident had
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