<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>CPD – Chicago Council of Lawyers</title> <atom:link href="https://chicagocouncil.org/tag/cpd/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://chicagocouncil.org</link> <description>Chicago's Public Interest Bar Association</description> <lastBuildDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2020 17:17:36 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1</generator> <image> <url>https://chicagocouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-logo_site-icon-32x32.jpg</url> <title>CPD – Chicago Council of Lawyers</title> <link>https://chicagocouncil.org</link> <width>32</width> <height>32</height> </image> <item> <title>Chicago Police Superintendent Wrongfully Blames Gun Violence on Bond Reform</title> <link>https://chicagocouncil.org/chicago-police-superintendent-wrongfully-blames-gun-violence-on-bond-reform/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[chicagocouncil]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 09 Jul 2020 17:04:39 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Collaboration for Justice]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Coalition to End Money Bond]]></category> <category><![CDATA[CPD]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://chicagocouncil.org/?p=3525</guid> <description><![CDATA[This is a joint statement from the member organizations of the Coalition to End Money Bond. You can find its original publication here. On July 6, 2020, new Chicago Police Department […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div style="height:25px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <p><em>This is a joint statement from the member organizations of the <a href="https://endmoneybond.org/about-us/">Coalition to End Money Bond</a>. You can find its original publication <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://endmoneybond.org/2020/07/08/chicago-police-superintendent-wrongfully-blames-gun-violence-on-bond-reform/" target="_blank">here</a>.</em></p> <div style="height:25px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <hr class="wp-block-separator"/> <div style="height:25px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <p>On July 6, 2020, new Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown held <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=302526174263830&ref=watch_permalink">a press conference</a> about the Fourth of July weekend’s gun violence. Between 6 PM on Thursday, July 2, and 5 AM on Monday, July 6, 87 people were shot in the city, and 17 of those people died. Tragically, the victims shot included 13 children and a 7-year-old girl was among those killed. Gun violence deaths on the South and West Sides of Chicago—especially the deaths of children—are a constant reminder of work our city must do to curb the root causes of violence in our neighborhoods.</p> <p>It was incredibly disappointing to see Superintendent Brown fall back on his Department’s <a href="https://endmoneybond.org/2019/08/09/setting-the-facts-straight-about-cpds-gun-offender-dashboard/">long-standing</a> but <a href="https://endmoneybond.org/2020/02/19/quibbles-over-data-dont-change-success-of-increased-pretrial-release-in-cook-county/">disproven</a> claim that bond reform is somehow to blame for gun violence in Chicago. Brown repeatedly stated that “keeping violent offenders in jail longer” and “revamping the electronic monitoring system” will reduce violence, but a quick look at the numbers proves these claims are no more true this year than they were any other: </p> <ul class="wp-block-list"><li><strong>First, the number of accused people incarcerated in jail this year is the same as it was last year. </strong>Cook County detains people accused of crimes in two ways: some are imprisoned behind bars in the Cook County Jail and others are confined to their homes on draconian 24/7 house arrest with electronic monitoring (EM). Violations of the Court’s terms for pretrial house arrest are Class 3 felonies, which are carefully tracked by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. This year—because of the <a href="https://endmoneybond.org/2020/04/05/illinois-network-for-pretrial-justice-calls-for-statewide-jail-reduction-to-protect-public-health/">public health concerns caused by COVID-19</a>—a larger proportion of accused people are imprisoned in their homes on EM than last year. Despite this shift in location, the<em> total</em> number of people incarcerated pretrial in Cook County is slightly higher. As Brown noted, the number of people in the Cook County Jail has fallen dramatically since 2014 with no apparent effect on the rate of shootings.</li><li><strong>Next, fewer people were alleged to have violated the terms of their house arrest this year than last.</strong> Between January and May 2020, the State’s Attorney charged only 110 people with “Escape” from electronic monitoring, compared to 237 in the same time period in 2019. There is no reason whatsoever to believe that any significant number of people actively violate electronic monitoring to commit crimes.</li><li><strong>Further, violent crime has continued to fall throughout 2017, 2018, 2019, and the first half of 2020.</strong> The Superintendent cited the <em>Chicago Tribune</em>’s <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/investigations/ct-cook-county-bail-bond-reform-tim-evans-20200213-tkodxevlyvcp7k66q2v2ahboi4-story.html">reporting</a> on gun violence, which relied on an unpublished, non-peer reviewed paper authored by two researchers at the University of Utah. There is no study that suggests that violent crime has increased 33% since the beginning of bond reform, as claimed. The negative impacted predicted by the study are simply not born out by reality. Furthermore, Superintendent Brown did not reference the study correctly—even on its own terms. The entirety of the study has been thoroughly debunked by researchers at the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.jfa-associates.com/publications/reduce/Cook_County_Bail_Report.pdf" target="_blank">JFA in Denver</a> who found only a small increase in the number of people arrested for new crimes while released pretrial—the increase of under 500 people was statistically insignificant in the face of the over 134,000 arrests made in Cook County each year. These researchers also noted that “no credible researcher” would use the estimation methods that the <em>Tribune</em> used to predict rearrest rates.</li></ul> <p>Violence in Chicago is a complex problem driven by centuries of systemic racism and intentional policies of divestment, exclusion, and austerity. Despite decades of claims from City officials, the Chicago Police Department, and local media outlets that increased police presence and aggressive prosecution and punishment will reduce the violence, evidence has continually shown the opposite: increased use of police and jailing simply does not mitigate violence. We must focus on what is proven to work instead of wasting time returning to tired, disproven talking points that target and punish Black communities.</p> <p><strong>Superintendent Brown was right about one thing, however: the best way to stop violence is to prevent it from happening in the first place. But while the Chicago Police Department’s budget increases every year, </strong><a href="https://www.thetrace.org/2019/10/chicago-gun-violence-funding-lori-lightfoot-2020-budget/"><strong>community-based anti-violence groups received only $9-million of the $50-million in city funding requested in 2019</strong></a><strong>. </strong>We must shift the focus from criminalization after harm occurs to effective neighborhood-driven, community-based anti-violence programs; trauma and harm-reduction services; and jobs and youth programs. This summer in particular, when communities like Englewood are seeing unemployment rates top 35%, the City of Chicago must be deliberate in providing additional support to Black, Brown, and impoverished communities. </p> <p>It is disturbing to see our public officials continue to ignore the facts and cling to the same policies that have failed Chicagoans year after year. The current budget for the Chicago Police Department is over $1.7 billion. In 2018 <em>alone</em>, taxpayers also spent an additional <a href="https://www.chicagoreporter.com/chicago-spent-more-than-113-million-on-police-misconduct-lawsuits-in-2018/">$113-million settling police misconduct lawsuits<em>.</em></a> There is plenty of money available to help our communities heal. It is time for a new approach to anti-violence work in Chicago, <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2020/6/18/21296314/cook-county-defund-police-resolution-preckwinkle-johnson">one focused on reinvesting in our communities instead of funding police and jails</a>.<br></p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>CPD Barriers to Quality Stationhouse Representation</title> <link>https://chicagocouncil.org/062620-cpd-barriers-stationhouse-lawsuit/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[chicagocouncil]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2020 15:31:28 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Collaboration for Justice]]></category> <category><![CDATA[CPD]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Police Accountability]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Public Defender]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://chicagocouncil.org/?p=3515</guid> <description><![CDATA[On Tuesday, June 23, Public Defender Amy Campanelli held a press conference to announce the filing of a lawsuit demanding the Chicago Police Department (CPD) abide by state law to provide a phone […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div style="height:20px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <h4 class="wp-block-heading">On Tuesday, June 23, Public Defender Amy Campanelli <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/06/23/public-defender-joins-activists-to-sue-city-demand-end-to-incommunicado-detention/" target="_blank">held a press conference</a> to announce the filing of a lawsuit demanding the Chicago Police Department (CPD) abide by <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://codes.findlaw.com/il/chapter-725-criminal-procedure/il-st-sect-725-5-103-3.html" target="_blank">state law</a> to provide a phone – and phone number for her stationhouse unit – to all arrested people within one-hour of detainment. </h4> <div style="height:20px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <p>The lawsuit includes a coalition of activists (including Black Lives Matter, #LetUsBreathe Collective, Stop Chicago, UMedics, and GoodKids MadCity) and attorneys, including Campanelli, who are suing the city under the claim that the Chicago Police Department routinely denies arrested individuals their right to make a phone call within a “reasonable amount of time.” This lawsuit follows <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.chicagoreporter.com/chicago-police-arrested-more-people-for-protesting-than-for-looting-in-early-days-of-unrest-contradicting-original-claims/" target="_blank">mass arrests of mostly-peaceful protestors</a> in late-May and early-June following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minnesota Police. During the protests, police made <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/06/08/chicago-police-arrested-more-than-3000-people-for-civil-unrest-looting-in-last-9-days/" target="_blank">thousands of arrests</a>, and <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/criminal-justice/ct-public-defender-custody-lawsuit-20200623-ll6cr3nxxrhf3phznyyuifci6q-story.html" target="_blank">attorneys say</a> that their attempts to reach their clients were <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.chicagoreporter.com/denying-arrestees-access-to-lawyers-a-longstanding-problem-at-the-chicago-police-department/" target="_blank">repeatedly blocked</a>. Isolation from counsel – a situation which enables false confessions – remains a long-standing issue in Cook County, despite being made more visible by the events of the past month.</p> <p>The unwillingness of police in Cook County to provide reasonably-timely stationhouse representation – and the overwhelming access to justice issues that grow out of it – exists in the shadow of Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge. Between 1972 and 1991, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=C-1TDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT243&lpg=PT243&dq=burge+tortured+at+least+119+people,+most+of+whom+were+young+black+men&source=bl&ots=Uo0Yr_Ab40&sig=ACfU3U2VTduOQRCuRv0kpie4wxnmO2iVxQ&hl=en" target="_blank">Burge tortured at least 119 people – most of whom were young Black men</a> – in order to force false confessions. Cook County still lives in that legacy, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.chicagoappleseed.org/our-blog/proposed-law-would-guarantee-prompt-access-to-a-phone-and-a-lawyer-for-arrestees/" target="_blank">leading the nation</a> in exonerations based on false confessions. Between January 1989 and December 2013, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Documents/Exonerations_in_2013_Report.pdf" target="_blank">95 people were exonerated</a> in Cook County. False confessions accounted for almost <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.chicagoreporter.com/report-cook-county-leads-nation-exonerations-false-confessions/" target="_blank">40% of these wrongful convictions</a>. False confessions disproportionately affect the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/False-Confessions.aspx" target="_blank">most vulnerable arrestees</a>, including children and people with special needs or mental illnesses. Denying access to counsel within a reasonable time – one hour, the lawsuit urges, rather than “<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/06/23/public-defender-joins-activists-to-sue-city-demand-end-to-incommunicado-detention/" target="_blank">as soon as is practicable</a>” – increases the opportunity for and risk of false confessions.</p> <p><strong>The Public Defender has been </strong><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/criminal-justice/ct-public-defender-custody-lawsuit-20200623-ll6cr3nxxrhf3phznyyuifci6q-story.html" target="_blank"><strong>collecting data</strong></a><strong> on clients’ access to phone calls since April 2020, finding 33% of 1,468 defendants surveyed recounted that police <em>never</em> offered them access to a phone. Those who were given access to a phone faced an average wait time of 4.2-hours after being taken into custody. </strong></p> <p>Quality stationhouse representation is available in Cook County but it is not being utilized immediately following arrest. In 2017, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.chicagoappleseed.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/A-Report-on-Stationhouse-Representation-in-Cook-County.pdf" target="_blank">Chicago Appleseed found</a> that the Public Defender’s Police Station Representation Unit (PSRU) and First Defense Legal Aid (FDLA) provide high-quality, consistent, and passionate representation for their clients, but that only about 1.3-1.4% of arrested people (644 out of 50,083 arrests) in Cook County actually requested and successfully received a station visit in 2017. Clearly, the barriers to full representation of detained individuals in Cook County are represented in the Public Defender’s data, evidencing these barriers are controlled – almost entirely – by the Chicago Police Department.</p> <p>With this lawsuit, the court has the unique opportunity to ensure adequate access to counsel following arrest. A favorable opinion here would help to eliminate Cook County’s false confession problem and would support the fundamental right of access to counsel. Our state legislature is also well-positioned to address this unconscionable barrier to justice. <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=4796&GAID=15&DocTypeID=HB&SessionID=108&GA=101" target="_blank">Illinois House Bill 4796</a> (sponsored by Rep. Justin Slaughter) amends the Code of Criminal Procedure (1963) to explicitly provide that every person in police custody has “the right to communicate free of charge with an attorney of their choice and family members as soon as possible, upon being taken into police custody, but no later than one-hour after arrival at the first place of custody and before any questioning by law enforcement occurs.” Under this amended rule, detained individuals must be given access to a phone to make at least three calls; the ability to retrieve phone numbers contained in their cell phone; and, if the jurisdiction of custody has a stationhouse representation unit, that telephone number must be prominently displayed. Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers wholely support both of these efforts.</p> <div style="height:20px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <p class="has-medium-font-size"><em>Visit </em><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.first-defense.org/community/" target="_blank"><em>First Defense Legal Aid</em></a><em> and the website of the </em><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.cookcountypublicdefender.org/quick-help-topics/someones-been-arrested" target="_blank"><em>Cook County Public Defender</em></a><em> for more information on your rights when encountering the police.</em></p> <hr class="wp-block-separator"/> <div style="height:20px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="http://chicagocouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/square-collab-for-footer.png" alt="" class="wp-image-3484" width="199" height="137"/></figure></div> <h4 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="http://www.chicagoappleseed.org/about-us/our-staff/"><em>Kaitlyn Filip</em></a><em> is a Collaboration for Justice Fellow with Chicago Appleseed and is a JD-PhD Student at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law studying Communication Studies: Rhetoric and Public Culture.</em></h4> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Current System for Investigating Sexual Misconduct Complaints Against CPD Officers Welcomes Bias</title> <link>https://chicagocouncil.org/authorize-copa-to-investigate-sexual-misconduct/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[chicagocouncil]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 21 Jan 2020 17:23:30 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Collaboration for Justice]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Civil Liberties Committee]]></category> <category><![CDATA[COPA]]></category> <category><![CDATA[CPD]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Police Accountability]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://chicagocouncil.org/?p=3407</guid> <description><![CDATA[Chicago City Council Should Authorize COPA to Investigate Complaints of Sexual Misconduct Against Chicago Police Officers A letter of recommendation from the Civil Liberties & Police Accountability Committee of the Chicago Council of […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <figure class="wp-block-image"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="809" height="159" src="http://chicagocouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/collab.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-3246"/></figure> <h2 class="wp-block-heading" style="text-align:center">Chicago City Council Should Authorize COPA to Investigate Complaints of Sexual Misconduct Against Chicago Police Officers</h2> <h3 class="wp-block-heading" style="text-align:center"><em>A letter of recommendation from the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.chicagoappleseed.org/civil-liberties-police-accountability/" target="_blank">Civil Liberties & Police Accountability Committee</a> of the Chicago Council of Lawyers and Chicago Appleseed, written by Co-Chair Gordon Waldron</em></h3> <hr class="wp-block-separator"/> <p><strong>The Chicago City Council should promptly authorize the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) to investigate complaints of sexual misconduct against Chicago police officers.</strong></p> <p>Currently, complaints of sexual misconduct against Chicago police officers are investigated by the Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs (BIA).</p> <p>In 2018, the Chicago Council of Lawyers (“Council”) <a href="http://chicagocouncil.org/police-accountability-consent-decree-hearings/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recommended</a> that the Civilian Office of Police Accountability be authorized to investigate complaints against police of sexual harassment and sexual assault. The Council reasoned that a woman who was sexually assaulted by a police officer might be reluctant to tell her story to another police officer. Moreover, the practice of having a BIA police officer investigate such complaints against fellow officers does not guarantee independent investigations but instead provides an opportunity for bias.</p> <p>On January 31, 2019, the Chicago Police Consent Decree was entered in federal court in a suit filed by the Illinois Attorney General against the City of Chicago. That decree requires Chicago to use its “best efforts” to ensure that COPA has jurisdiction to investigate complaints against police officers of “sexual misconduct” – <a href="http://chicagopoliceconsentdecree.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/FINAL-CONSENT-DECREE-SIGNED-BY-JUDGE-DOW.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">defined</a> to include sexual assault, sexual abuse, and non-consensual sexual conduct. </p> <p><strong>In November 2019, the court-appointed Monitor of the Consent Decree <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://cpdmonitoringteam.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/2019_11_15-Independent-Monitoring-Report-1.pdf" target="_blank">concluded</a> that compliance with the Consent Decree “will require a city ordinance change” authorizing COPA to investigate such complaints.<br><br>But the Chicago City Council has not yet done so. It should do so now.</strong></p> <p>The City Council should amend Section 2-78-120 of the Chicago Municipal Code to give COPA such authority. That Section defines COPA’s powers and duties. Subsection (b) provides that those powers and duties include conducting “investigations into complaints against members of the Police Department alleging domestic violence, excessive force, coercion, or verbal abuse…” That section should be amended to add “sexual misconduct.” In addition, section 2-78-100 of the Municipal Code should be amended to add a definition of “sexual misconduct,” which should be copied from paragraph 782 of the Police Consent Decree.</p> <h4 class="wp-block-heading" style="text-align:center"> <br><strong>If you live in Chicago and agree that COPA should investigate complaints of sexual misconduct against police officers, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/provdrs/your_ward_and_alderman/svcs/find_my_alderman.html" target="_blank">please urge your alderman or alderwoman to give COPA such authority</a>.</strong> </h4> <p><em>You can read the full Police Consent Decree and the Monitor’s reports at <a href="http://chicagopoliceconsentdecree.org/resources">chicagopoliceconsentdecree.org/resources</a>.</em></p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Police Accountability in Chicago: Necessary Reforms</title> <link>https://chicagocouncil.org/police-accountability-in-chicago-necessary-reforms/</link> <comments>https://chicagocouncil.org/police-accountability-in-chicago-necessary-reforms/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[chicagocouncil]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 10 Feb 2016 15:00:15 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Policy Statements]]></category> <category><![CDATA[chicago police department]]></category> <category><![CDATA[CPD]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Independent Police Review Authority]]></category> <category><![CDATA[IPRA]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Police Accountability]]></category> <category><![CDATA[police brutality lawsuis]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chicagocouncil.org/?p=2331</guid> <description><![CDATA[Imagine that a police officer shoots a fleeing suspect. Imagine further that in his official report, the officer falsely claims that the suspect lunged at him with a knife. If […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Imagine that a police officer shoots a fleeing suspect. Imagine further that in his official report, the officer falsely claims that the suspect lunged at him with a knife. If a video clearly shows that the suspect did no such thing, should the officer be given the opportunity to change his original account?</p> <p>Under current policy in the city of Chicago, the answer is “yes.” The terms of the city’s collective bargaining agreement with the police union, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), permit an officer to “clarify and amend” his original report of an incident after reviewing video or audio that captured it.</p> <p>The Chicago Council of Lawyers (CCL) is calling for an end to this practice. In a <a href="http://www.chicagocouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/CCL-Police-Accountability-Statement-final.pdf">statement</a> released this week, the CCL declared that the policy “may discourage some officers from taking seriously their duty to tell the truth in the first instance.” They note that other public employees are not allowed to amend statements made in the course of their duties, and that witnesses in official investigations also lack such a right. Therefore, the CCL is urging the Mayor’s Office and the FOP to remove the “clarify and amend” provision from their collective bargaining agreement.</p> <p>In their statement, the CCL also called for another important measure to enhance police accountability: identifying and monitoring police officers who are have been named in unusually high numbers of misconduct complaints. Evidence shows that a small minority of officers are involved in a large proportion of misconduct incidents. According to <a href="http://chicagoreporter.com/abusing-badge/">one analysis</a>, just one percent of the police force was responsible for more than one-quarter of all damage payments incurred from police misconduct lawsuits between 2009 and 2011. A <a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-to-predict-which-chicago-cops-will-commit-misconduct/">separate report</a> found that between 2011 and 2015, 10 percent of the officers who had received complaints generated 30 percent of the total number of departmental complaints.</p> <p>Chicago’s failure to discipline the small number of police who repeatedly engage in misconduct comes at a high cost. It creates a climate of mistrust of the police, dishonors the vast majority of officers who serve the public honorably, and results in a substantial drain on scarce public resources. Over the past decade, <a href="http://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/7/71/167182/city-pays-heavy-price-for-police-brutality">police brutality-related lawsuits cost Chicago taxpayers</a> more than half a billion dollars.</p> <p>To address this problem, the CCL recommends that the city take four steps. Step one is identifying and closely monitoring officers named in an unusually high number of complaints—the CCL suggests 10 or more complaints in the last three years, or more than three complaints per year for those officers who have been on the force for fewer than three years. Step two involves setting up an early intervention system that identifies officers with performance problems and provides them with coaching and close supervision. Step three requires that the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) prioritize the investigation of officers named in an abnormally high number of complaints. The fourth and final step calls for IPRA to release more complete police misconduct records and publish them more frequently.</p> <p>In the wake of the shooting death of Laquan McDonald, the need for greater police accountability is acute. The reforms the CCL is recommending are essential for ensuring that accountability, and for building a system that fulfills the promise of justice for all. For the complete Policy Statement issued by the Chicago Council of Lawyers, please <a href="http://www.chicagocouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/CCL-Police-Accountability-Statement-final.pdf">click here</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://chicagocouncil.org/police-accountability-in-chicago-necessary-reforms/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Chicago Council of Lawyers Statement on the Chicago Police Department</title> <link>https://chicagocouncil.org/chicago-council-of-lawyers-statement-on-the-chicago-police-department/</link> <comments>https://chicagocouncil.org/chicago-council-of-lawyers-statement-on-the-chicago-police-department/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[chicagocouncil]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 10 Dec 2015 17:09:18 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Policy Statements]]></category> <category><![CDATA[chicago police department]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Civil Liberties Committee]]></category> <category><![CDATA[CPD]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chicagocouncil.org/?p=2321</guid> <description><![CDATA[The Civil Liberties Committee of the Chicago Council of Lawyers has issued a statement on the U.S. Department of Justice investigation into a pattern and practice of misuse of force […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Civil Liberties Committee of the Chicago Council of Lawyers has issued a statement on the U.S. Department of Justice investigation into a pattern and practice of misuse of force by the Chicago Police Department. <a href="http://www.chicagocouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/A-Good-First-Step-final-8.pdf">Download the statement here.</a></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://chicagocouncil.org/chicago-council-of-lawyers-statement-on-the-chicago-police-department/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> </channel> </rss>