Vol. 2, Issue 44: Chicago's Criminal Justice Playbook
At Issue: Emanuel Backs Off Consent Decree
“Woefully inadequate”—that is how the former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) official who oversaw the investigation of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) described Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to seek a memorandum of understanding with the federal government.
Emanuel “backed off” his prior commitment to enter a court-supervised consent decree following Donald Trump’s election as president, The Chicago Tribune reported.
Under the proposed agreement—details of which have not been made public—the city and the DOJ would appoint an independent monitor to oversee CPD reform. However, the arrangement would not include oversight by a federal judge.
“A memorandum of agreement is going to become yet another set of recommendations for the Chicago Police Department that are [not] going to have any teeth,” Vanita Gupta, former head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, told The Tribune.
Jonathan Smith of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, who previously oversaw DOJ investigations of police departments, characterized the agreement as a “handshake” deal. “They are going to rely on the City of Chicago’s good faith,” he told The Tribune, adding, “That is a disaster, under the circumstances.”
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the agreement would include an enforcement mechanism—a legally binding provision allowing the DOJ to take the city to court for noncompliance. However, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has expressed strong opposition to federal oversight of local law enforcement agencies.
A mayoral spokesperson declined to answer questions about the details of the agreement, according to The Tribune.
A better approach would involve a court-supervised consent decree with community groups representing CPD victims, said Craig Futterman of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic at the University of Chicago. The administration’s proposal “creates the veneer of, ‘Look, we are doing something,’” but in reality, it is “part of a strategy to avoid doing something real,” he told The Tribune.
CINCINNATI AND WASHINGTON D.C.
“A memorandum of agreement with an independent monitor and transparent, public reporting is a structure that has been used to drive police reform in Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati, and we believe it is a tool that can be used with success in Chicago as well,” mayoral spokesperson Adam Collins told The Chicago Tribune.
However, in Cincinnati, a private legal settlement between the police department and community groups was implemented alongside the DOJ’s memorandum of agreement. This arrangement ensured that organizations—including the ACLU, the Black United Front, and the local Fraternal Order of Police—were involved in policy decisions throughout the reform process.
A federal judge played a crucial role in Cincinnati’s reform efforts, according to police reform expert Sam Walker, professor emeritus at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The judge joined the Justice Department and community lawsuits, compelling the parties to negotiate a joint agreement. The judge also forced the Cincinnati Police Department into compliance after it refused to provide data to an independent monitor and barred a member of the monitoring team from police headquarters, Walker told View from the Ground. At one point, Judge Susan Dlott even threatened Cincinnati’s police chief with contempt of court, which could have resulted in jail time.
The Washington, D.C., agreement highlights the importance of strong local leadership, Walker noted. The reform process there was initiated by then-Police Chief Charles Ramsey, a vocal proponent of reform, who voluntarily requested a Justice Department investigation into police use of deadly force. Ramsey, a former Chicago police official, later chaired President Barack Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
Walker expressed doubts about whether Chicago’s leadership is equally committed to reform. He suggested that Emanuel “is trying to get through this with the appearance of reform but without the necessary action.”
“We have a long, long history of blue-ribbon commissions that make recommendations, and that mayors and police commissions pay lip service to,” Walker said. “Our library shelves groan with them.” What set the Obama administration’s police reform program apart, he explained, was the specificity of required reforms and the strong enforcement mechanisms in place.
On Monday, Emanuel maintained that a memorandum of agreement “allows us to achieve the same goal” as a court-supervised consent decree and denied that he was backing away from his earlier commitment.
Police Board President Lori Lightfoot called the memorandum “the next best thing,” given Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ opposition to consent decrees. However, she emphasized that the agreement must include strict deadlines, specific commitments of resources, and a mechanism for resolving impasses, potentially through arbitration.
She added that there are “many stakeholders” in the reform process and stressed that “the mayor has to engage those stakeholders in order for any agreement to have any legitimacy whatsoever.”
VAN DYKE CASE
The deputy chief and the detective who cleared Jason Van Dyke of wrongdoing following the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald will testify in a preliminary hearing on Van Dyke’s murder charge later this month.
Deputy Chief David McNaughton retired, and Detective David March resigned after the city’s inspector general recommended their termination for their roles in the investigation of the shooting.
Judge Vincent Gaughan stated that he wants to hear about their conversations with Van Dyke before ruling on whether Van Dyke’s statements to them can be used in special prosecutor Joseph McMahon’s investigation of the case.
Gaughan also ruled that McMahon could access statements made by five officers who were on the scene when McDonald was killed for investigatory purposes.
Last month, Gaughan denied motions by Van Dyke’s attorneys to dismiss the first-degree murder charges against him.
INSPECTOR GENERAL ON POLICE CONTRACTS
A review of upcoming city contract negotiations by Inspector General Joe Ferguson highlighted changes to police disciplinary provisions recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice and the mayor’s Police Accountability Task Force. Ferguson noted that “an ineffective disciplinary system can play a role in increasing municipal exposure to civil liability.” He urged the city and unions to collaborate to ensure that disciplinary systems “foster public trust and confidence, while both treating employees fairly and providing the city with effective tools to maintain a disciplined workforce.”
Fraternal Order of Police President Kevin Graham responded, “The evidence grows on a monthly basis that fraudulent claims are made regularly against Chicago police officers.”
Ferguson also called for the city to enforce provisions allowing it to restrict secondary employment. An investigation by The Chicago Reporter earlier this year found that CPD has the weakest oversight of secondary employment among major police departments and that the city incurs legal costs from lawsuits over misconduct by moonlighting officers.
TORTURE CENTER OPENS
The Chicago Torture Justice Center opened on May 26 at 63rd and Lowe, providing mental health and case management services to survivors of police torture and other community members affected by police violence. The center is part of the $5.5 million reparations ordinance passed by the City Council two years ago.
JUDGE CANNON RECUSES HERSELF
Days after criticizing defense attorneys for repeatedly seeking her removal from a murder case, Cook County Judge Diane Cannon recused herself “for ethical reasons” from the trial of Malvin Washington. Cannon presided over Washington’s 2004 trial, but his conviction was overturned, and a new trial was ordered in 2010.