Vol. 2, Issue 17: COPA Vote Set for Wednesday
Ald. Jason Ervin addresses supporters at a July press conference at City Hall. (Photo by Vidura Jang Bahadur)
At Issue: Police Accountability Council Vote Set – and Challenged
The joint budget and public safety committee of the City Council is holding a hearing Tuesday on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s ordinance establishing a Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) and an Inspector General for Public Safety (IGPS), with a vote by the entire council planned for Wednesday. Last week, The Daily Line posted the most recent version of the ordinance.
At a press conference Tuesday morning, Ald. Leslie Hairston and Ald. Jason Ervin stated that they would defer and publish Emanuel’s ordinance—postponing consideration of the measure—if their competing ordinance were not given a hearing. The Hairston-Ervin ordinance provides more funding for a new investigative agency and inspector general, establishes a community oversight board, includes more extensive transparency requirements, and shifts investigations of sexual misconduct and First Amendment violations to the new independent investigator.
A compromise offered by the mayor’s office, which purports to give COPA independent access to outside counsel, is insufficient since it requires pre-approval of law firms by the city’s law department, said Craig Futterman, professor at the University of Chicago Law School and an advisor on the Hairston-Ervin ordinance.
The Progressive Caucus backed Hairston and Ervin’s demand. “We urge the committee to take up both pieces of legislation for robust debate and careful consideration,” said Ald. Scott Waguespack. “This issue is too important to drive forward without fully discussing both of these options.”
The Rainbow Coalition, Community Renewal Society, Westside NAACP, and Leaders Network also called on council members to postpone consideration of the matter—or, failing that, to vote down the mayor’s ordinance.
FATAL FLAWS: Tracy Siska, executive director of the Chicago Justice Project, argues that across the country, “civilian review for the most part doesn’t work” because “it’s incredibly hard to get people to find cops guilty of anything.” However, the new inspector general has the capacity to address systemic change, he said in an interview with The Daily Line.
Siska predicted that COPA’s credibility would be “dead on arrival” if former Chicago police officers are allowed to serve as investigators and researchers at COPA and the IGPS. He also stated that housing the new police auditor in the Chicago Inspector General’s Office is a “fatal mistake” because the state’s Freedom of Information Act contains exemptions for local inspector generals.
A key challenge for the credibility of the new accountability system, Siska said, will be the process for choosing leaders of the new agencies. “We still have the mayor’s office and politics playing a role,” he said.
Siska called on the mayor and police department to produce a timeline for implementing the dozens of remaining recommendations from the mayor’s Police Accountability Task Force.
Tracy Siska at the Barbershop Show in 2012. (YouTube)
Laquan McDonald Witness Sues: So far, investigations into the cover-up of the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald have focused on discrepancies between video footage of the killing and statements made by police officers on the scene. Now, a lawsuit filed by a civilian witness to the shooting alleges that police officers illegally detained her and pressured her to change her story.
Officers at the scene seized Alma Benitez’s cell phone and took her to Area Central detective headquarters, where she was held for six hours along with other witnesses, according to her lawsuit, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. Officers allegedly told Benitez they had video evidence contradicting her account and pressured her to retract her statement.
In August, following a report by the inspector general, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson recommended that seven officers be fired for providing false information about the incident. The second phase of the inspector general’s investigation focuses on whether then-Superintendent Garry McCarthy and his staff were involved in the cover-up.
A grand jury is currently hearing evidence in a special prosecutor’s investigation of the police officers involved in the case.
Supreme Court Upholds Records Release: Last week, the Illinois Supreme Court denied a petition by the Fraternal Order of Police seeking review of an appeals court decision ordering the release of civilian complaints. In July, the appeals court ordered the release of CPD records of civilian complaints dating back to 1967, citing the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
The city now intends to release decades of police misconduct data to the public, according to the Invisible Institute, which maintains the Citizens Police Data Project.
Chicago Fraternal Order of Police president Dean Angelo addresses the City Club in June. (YouTube)
CIVIL FORFEITURE: Since 2007, CPD has collected nearly $72 million in cash and assets through civil forfeiture, which allows police and prosecutors to seize goods they believe are tied to a crime, even when the owner is not arrested or charged, according to an investigation by the Chicago Reader.
After splitting the funds with the state’s attorney and state police, CPD used $47 million for expenses, including the day-to-day operations of its narcotics unit—and “to secretly purchase controversial surveillance equipment without public scrutiny or City Council oversight,” according to the Reader.
Following the publication of the article, Ald. Ed Burke expressed surprise at the existence of the secret fund, and Budget Director Alex Holt promised “tighter controls” and “transparency.”