Vol. 2, Issue 14: City Council Hearing Kicks off This Tuesday
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At Issue: Chicago Prepares for Major Mayoral Address on Police Accountability
The City Council’s Joint Budget and Public Safety Committee will hold a hearing on Tuesday, September 13, at 10 a.m. in council chambers to consider the mayor’s ordinance establishing a new police accountability agency and an inspector general for public safety, according to a memorandum from Budget Chair Carrie Austin and Public Safety Chair Ariel Reboyras.
Negotiations over the details of the ordinance are ongoing. Mayor Emanuel plans to seek a vote on the ordinance at the September 29 council meeting.
Advocates and reform aldermen continue to push for a dedicated budget for the two new agencies and for the mayor’s proposed Civilian Office of Police Accountability to have the authority to hire its own independent counsel.
Some are urging the joint committee to consider competing ordinances. One, sponsored by Ald. Leslie Hairston and Ald. Jason Ervin, would create a community oversight board in addition to an Independent Citizen Investigator of the Police and an Inspector General for Public Safety. Under this proposal, the investigator and inspector general would be appointed by the oversight board, which itself would be appointed by the inspector general, ensuring representation of key constituencies.
Another ordinance, sponsored by Ald. Carlos Ramirez, would establish an elected Civilian Police Accountability Council, which would have the authority to hire the police superintendent, investigate misconduct, and set the police department’s policies and budget.
See all of the proposed ordinances side by side at IPRA Tracker, a public tool and collaboration from the Invisible Institute and City Bureau.
VIOLENCE PREVENTION: As Mayor Emanuel prepares what he describes as a major address on Chicago’s violence crisis—expected to include an announcement of additional police hiring and a call for stricter gun laws—Rhymefest has a suggestion: a citywide Truth and Reconciliation Project “to help us all communicate and understand each other’s traumas.”
The Grammy-winning rapper wrote in Crain’s about his meeting with Emanuel after struggling to report a crime. He says he is launching the process “by assembling a committee of Chicagoans who represent various voices in law enforcement and restorative justice.”
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In April, the mayor’s Task Force on Police Accountability recommended engaging the National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice to implement a “reconciliation process.” The group’s model includes public acknowledgment of past harms—such as biased policing and “outright illegality”—followed by sustained listening to community constituencies, fact-finding, a clear commitment to specific policy and practice changes, and “a mechanism for driving changes.”
Meanwhile, Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli warns that public officials advocating for a “war on guns” through increased penalties for gun possession are “sadly mistaken.”
“A war on guns that focuses solely on punishment sounds like an easy fix, but it will fail just as did the war on drugs,” she writes in a Chicago Tribune op-ed. “Increasing prison terms while failing to address the causes of gun violence will serve only to, once again, demonize and incarcerate another generation of mostly young African-American and Latino men.” She further argues that prison terms “often exacerbate the problem.”
Campanelli calls for policies to reduce violence, starting with more police on the streets and expanding to include initiatives such as mentorship programs for at-risk youth, treatment facilities, faith-based groups, community centers, job training, and police-involved programs.
At Beachwood Reporter, Roosevelt University professor emeritus Steve Balkin proposes a broad violence reduction plan that would “drastically reconfigure” the legal and policy frameworks surrounding criminal activity. His recommendations include the decriminalization of all street drugs, social work training for police, neighborhood patrols by residents, programs to engage young people after high school, development policies aimed at reducing—not increasing—race and class segregation, and economic policies that promote high employment and high wages.
FOOT CHASES: More than a third of the 235 shootings by Chicago police from 2010 through 2015 followed foot chases—about half of them initiated after stops for minor offenses—according to a Chicago Tribune analysis. Ninety-four percent of those shot during foot chases were African American.
“In examining foot pursuit policies in other cities, [U.S.] Justice Department officials often zeroed in on the pretext behind the stops,” the Tribune reports.
Weapons were recovered from suspects in 84 percent of these shootings, according to police. However, the Tribune found “case after case” in which police reports used similar language to allege the suspect had turned and pointed a gun. In about a quarter of the fatal shootings, suspects were shot in the back.
Superintendent Eddie Johnson was a deputy commander in 2013 when he approved an investigation that found the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Christian Green to be justified. The official report stated Green had been shot in the chest, but an autopsy conducted the following day revealed he had been shot in the back. A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Green’s family claims he had thrown away a gun during the chase and that the only weapon recovered at the scene was 75 feet from his body.
SUPPORT FOR EVANS: Community supporters chanted “Bring him back” as former Commander Glenn Evans held a press event at a South Side church last week. Evans, now a lieutenant, has sued the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) and WBEZ for allegedly leaking details about his complaint history.
A judge acquitted Evans last year of assault and misconduct charges stemming from a 2013 incident in which he allegedly shoved a gun down a suspect’s throat, ruling that Evans was a more credible witness—even though the suspect’s DNA was found on Evans’ gun.
In May, IPRA moved to fire Evans for allegedly breaking a woman’s nose while forcing her to submit to fingerprinting in 2011, but the agency acted after the statute of limitations had expired.
Evans has been the subject of at least 50 civilian complaints since 2001, and the city has paid more than $250,000 in legal costs settling cases accusing him of abuse and misconduct. More lawsuits are pending.
“When asked about the dozens of excessive force violations filed against Evans throughout his career, his attorney said the gathered supporters should counter that,” WBEZ reported.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Obed DeLeon’s case exemplifies the long delays that characterize a broken police accountability system.
In 2006, DeLeon was beaten by three off-duty police officers at a taco stand and filed a complaint with IPRA within days. However, the agency took a year to interview the officers and another six months to speak with the responding sergeant—who had arrested two eyewitnesses after they stated that DeLeon had not started the fight.
Surveillance video of the assault of DeLeon from March 24, 2006.
In 2010, Supt. Jody Weis recommended that two officers be fired, and the Police Board agreed. However, two years later, a judge reversed the decision, stating, “All you have to do is look at [DeLeon] and know he’s a gangbanger.” The officers were reinstated with back pay.
Last month, an appeals court unanimously overturned that ruling, calling it “inexplicable.”
DeLeon told the Chicago Tribune last week that he was shocked to learn that, ten years later, the officers were still on the force.
Meanwhile, the Cook County State’s Attorney filed charges last week against Officer Brett Khan after video footage showed him striking a man in the face with his baton at a West Side block party more than two years ago.
IPRA investigators found that Khan’s account of the incident contradicted a witness’s video. The Tribune reports, “It’s unclear why more than two years elapsed before charges were filed.”
In another case, State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez announced last week that no charges would be filed against the officers involved in the 2015 arrest of Heriberto Godinez, 24, who died in custody. Dashcam footage showed an officer placing his foot on Godinez’s neck as he flailed about while handcuffed. Alvarez stated that it could not be proven that the officer’s actions caused Godinez’s death.