Vol. 2, Issue 36: Chicago's Criminal Justice Playbook
At Issue: Oversight is “complicated, messy”
Sharon Fairley has been studying the history of civilian review of police across the country, tracing it back to the first example in Washington, D.C., in 1948. Details vary widely across localities. “It doesn’t matter what you do—officers are always going to fight civilian oversight,” she said at an Invisible Institute forum on April 22.
“They just generally don’t like the idea of a civilian judging what officers do,” she said. “All we can do is assure them that they are going to get a fair shake.” Civilian oversight of police “is just a complicated, messy thing—so many stakeholders have interests that come into conflict.” She added, “I really wish that the [police] union was taking a little more leadership.”
Fairley is the chief administrator of the Independent Police Review Authority and is responsible for establishing its successor, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. However, she argued against using the term “transition” for the changeover, stating that COPA would be a completely new agency.
Fairley noted that draft rules for COPA procedures and guidelines for the release of information will be issued for public comment.
She also stated that she had provided comments on the Chicago Police Department’s latest draft of a new use-of-force policy. While she praised the policy on deadly force, she asserted that it should explicitly prohibit the use of deadly force unless an assailant poses an immediate threat.
When asked by moderator Jamie Kalven about the code of silence and its enforcement by high-ranking personnel, Fairley emphasized that change “really has to come from the top.”
FIRST REPORT ON STOP AND FRISK AGREEMENT
African Americans comprised 71% of individuals subjected to street stops by Chicago officers during the first six months of 2016 and 73% of those frisked during stops—far out of proportion to the city’s population—according to the first report issued by a court-appointed monitor. Retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys was appointed under a 2015 agreement between the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). According to the report, only 465 weapons were recovered in over 18,000 frisks.
Keys found that between 6% and 10% of stops failed to meet legal standards, The Chicago Sun-Times reported. That figure appears to represent a significant improvement from the period analyzed by the ACLU in the lead-up to the agreement. However, the report found that Black and Hispanic individuals were more than twice as likely as White individuals to be subjected to unlawful stops.
The rollout of new investigative stop reports under the agreement was not without difficulties. An initial version, which included three narrative sections to describe reasons for stops and frisks, was later reduced to a single narrative section. Additionally, only about one-third of department members were trained to use the new form by the March 1, 2016, deadline set by the agreement.
Despite written training materials approved by Keys and the ACLU, Keys observed that classroom trainers “emphasized the burdens” of the new form “rather than the benefits of detailed data and transparency” and “failed to emphasize the need for police officers to adhere to long-established constitutional imperatives.” The U.S. Department of Justice report on CPD identified similar shortcomings. However, Keys noted that a later training session indicated his recommendations for improving training had largely been adopted.
Contrary to some reports, Keys stated that his field observations showed completing the forms took only 10 to 15 minutes. He asserted that the time spent was justified, arguing, “The individual rights of individuals who are detained by police officers [are] every bit as important as the public interest served by police officers in detecting and deterring criminal activity.”
GRASSROOTS RECOMMENDATIONS
The Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA) issued a Community Conversations Report, compiling recommendations from 19 neighborhood meetings attended by 1,650 residents over recent months.
“Participants didn’t just support tweaks to police department policies” or “small-scale reform” but called for “transformational change—fundamentally rethinking the role of the police officer, reimagining the way police officers engage with residents, and restructuring the way the police department is governed to ensure that it embraces the values and priorities of the people it serves,” according to the report.
Participants discussed “a long history of disrespect, abuse and humiliation” suffered by marginalized communities, stating that “racism is at the core of this abusive and humiliating behavior.” They argued that “overly aggressive tactics” are “degrading, dehumanizing and probably illegal” and that bias, disrespect, and violence by police make residents less likely to cooperate with law enforcement.
The report lists dozens of recommendations for promoting community policing, revamping police tactics, involving the community in recruitment and training, improving accountability, changing police union contracts, and providing support for officers.
The coalition formed last year to push for the recommendation by the mayor’s Police Accountability Task Force to create a Community Safety Oversight Board. GAPA will hold additional community meetings focused on that issue over the coming months, according to the report.
In preliminary discussions on a community oversight board, participants were “deeply skeptical” that a board selected by the mayor could be “independent and accountable to the community.” Some participants favored electing board members, while others supported “a selection process that ensures the board is diverse and representative.”
According to the report, the community oversight board should appoint the Civilian Office of Police Accountability’s (COPA) chief administrator, play a role in selecting the police superintendent, and contribute to setting department policies.
Organizers stated that Mayor Rahm Emanuel was aware of GAPA’s scheduled press conference to release its report and chose the same day to announce that the Community Policing Advisory Council would hold three town hall “listening sessions” in April and May.
“The difference is top-down versus bottom-up,” said Delmarie Cobb of GAPA. The community conversations were positive and productive “because they were conducted by community leaders from community organizations within the respective communities,” she said.
ACCESS TO COUNSEL
Cook County Chief Justice Timothy Evans signed an order granting a blanket appointment of the public defender’s office to represent individuals in police custody before their court appearance.
This marks the first action on one of the simpler recommendations issued by the Police Accountability Task Force last year. The task force cited a study by First Defense Legal Aid, which found that fewer than 1% of individuals arrested last year were able to consult with an attorney while at the police station.
The effectiveness of the order “may ultimately depend on the cooperation of Chicago police, who in the past, say legal aid officials, have been reluctant to grant suspects phone calls or give attorneys access to suspects while they’re being questioned,” according to the Chicago Tribune.
A police spokesperson stated that the department had agreed to post phone numbers for free legal services in stations “but did not comment on questions about granting phone calls to those in custody” (Chicago Tribune).
In the first week since the order was issued, nearly all calls have come from a single police station, raising concerns about whether phone numbers were posted uniformly and whether arrestees have access to phones, Eliza Solowiej of First Defense told View from the Ground.
The Cook County Public Defender’s Office is currently responding to calls from police stations during the day and is exploring the possibility of stationing attorneys at stations. First Defense is recruiting volunteer attorneys to provide coverage at night.
JOHNSON ISSUES “NEXT STEPS”
Superintendent Eddie Johnson issued a framework for Next Steps for Reform last week in an effort to underscore the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) commitment to reform.
“We’re not just saying we’re going to reform—we’re showing that we’re reforming,” Johnson told reporters.
The 27-page document outlines goals for reinvigorating community policing, improving training, supervision, and accountability systems, and revising use-of-force policies.
Regarding the use of force, the document references language that was removed from a new draft of the department’s proposed policy, including requirements for professional and respectful treatment of individuals, ensuring that racial bias does not influence use-of-force decisions, and using only the necessary level of force.
Several initiatives align with recommendations from the U.S. Department of Justice’s report on CPD, including general improvements to training, more effective training on investigatory stops, enhancements in recruitment and training of field training officers, reductions in supervisory ratios, leadership and management training for supervisors, expanded access to officer wellness programs, and the separation of officer witnesses before they provide statements following shootings.
The command channel review of disciplinary decisions—criticized by the mayor’s task force last year—will be reassessed and may be replaced with a streamlined process advocated by the Police Accountability Task Force (PATF).
Next Steps for Reform is “not a detailed project plan,” but such a plan is “in development within CPD,” according to the document.
“If these specific reforms are implemented in 2017, I feel confident they will create a foundation on which the department can continue to build,” said Police Board President Lori Lightfoot, who appeared with Johnson at the release of the framework.
“We’ll reserve judgment until they ‘walk the walk,’ but they’re clearly ‘talking the talk’—feeling and responding to public pressure,” commented Andy Shaw of the Better Government Association. However, some of the agenda items have been promised before, according to the Chicago Reporter.
FOX ON WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx is revamping her office’s Conviction Integrity Unit and “elevating [its] work,” aiming to reverse the county’s reputation as the wrongful conviction capital of the United States, The Sun-Times reported.
Meanwhile, Foxx is walking back her campaign promise to seek special prosecutors to investigate all police shootings, now stating that the priority is moving swiftly to file charges, The Sun-Times reported.
In her first three months in office, Foxx has charged two law enforcement officers with murder. However, her office declined to charge Chicago Police Officer Robert Rialmo in the shooting deaths of Quintonio Legrier and Bettie Jones. According to The Sun-Times, five people have been fatally shot by police officers in Cook County so far this year.
EVADING DISCIPLINE
The Sun-Times examined the case of Chicago Police Officer Clay Walker, who has evaded discipline for 14 years after being accused of punching a 22-year-old woman in the face.
Walker avoided a 15-day suspension by going on disability leave and later filing a grievance over the punishment. In the meantime, the department opened 11 additional disciplinary investigations against him. He is one of 400 still-unresolved complaints lodged against police officers during the administration of former Mayor Richard M. Daley.
The Tribune has identified over a dozen misconduct cases in which suspensions were ordered but never served, attributing this issue to a “startlingly disjointed system” for discipline.
IMMEDIATE STEPS ON BAIL REFORM
While a consensus is emerging over the need for bail reform in Cook County, “grand statements” have so far been “backed up by little action,” County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia wrote in The Tribune. An immediate solution would be for judges to release inmates on personal or affordable bonds—and if they refuse, “the Illinois Supreme Court should issue rules to that effect,” following the lead of the court’s administrative office, Garcia proposed.
ANGELO TO MEET WITH TRUMP
Chicago Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) President Dean Angelo has been summoned, along with national FOP leadership, to meet with President Donald Trump, according to a letter from Angelo to FOP members reported by The Sun-Times. “We could only assume the topic of Chicago crime might find its way on the agenda,” which may also “include the necessity to impose a consent decree," the letter stated.
The summons comes as Angelo faces a runoff against Officer Kenneth Graham in the FOP presidential election.