Vol. 2, Issue 66: Chicago's Criminal Justice Playbook
At Issue: Public Safety Inspector General Audits Gang Database
The office of the Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety has launched an audit of the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) gang database and is conducting community hearings to collect public input on the subject (Hoy). The audit follows a recommendation from the mayor’s Police Accountability Task Force and lawsuits brought by two men placed in deportation hearings after being erroneously listed in the database.
Audit questions include the criteria used to list individuals, the accuracy of those designations, and the handling of the information.
According to advocates, individuals are included in the database without notification and have no opportunity to contest their inclusion. Listing in the database is permanent and can affect eligibility for immigration relief. CPD is “known to share extensive personal history” with state and federal authorities, including the Department of Homeland Security, Hoy reports. The list is also used in criminal investigations and court proceedings.
The End the Gang Database coalition welcomed the audit. The database is “a dangerous tool [used] to criminalize communities of color,” with “devastating effects on our communities, from decreasing job opportunities to increasing risk of deportation,” said Janae Bonsu of Black Youth Project 100 (Mijente).
Bonsu is co-author of a report that found the database includes over 90,000 African Americans, 32,000 Latinos, and 6,000 whites (Policing in Chicago Research Group).
ProPublica recently obtained a list of 128,000 people in the database, which it reports is “riddled with dubious entries, discrepancies and outright errors”—including dozens of individuals in their 70s and 80s and thirteen who are listed as being 118 years old. The list continues to expand: “Over the last three years, police added thousands of people they had never arrested.” CPD told ProPublica that it is drafting a plan to vet names that are added, limit other agencies’ access, and provide people with a means to challenge their inclusion (ProPublica).
The audit is part of the Deputy Inspector General’s first list of projects, which also includes: an evaluation of compliance with the city’s new video release policy; a review of CPD’s grievance process; an evaluation of compliance with bodycam review procedures; an assessment of recruitment and training of school resource officers; an evaluation of the Strategic Subject List, which reportedly includes over 400,000 individuals considered likely to be “party to violence”; and an assessment of CPD’s record management system (Office of Inspector General).
COUNCIL TO CONSIDER CPAC ORDINANCE
Alderman Ariel Reboyras (30th), chair of the City Council’s public safety committee, has agreed to include an ordinance proposing an elected Community Police Accountability Council (CPAC) in upcoming neighborhood hearings planned to consider proposals for a community police commission. He did so after CPAC’s sponsor, Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (33rd), agreed not to call CPAC for an immediate vote on the council floor (Chicago Tribune).
Reboyras had previously maintained that the CPAC ordinance did not merit consideration. Late last week, he scheduled a last-minute hearing on the ordinance, which was viewed as an attempt to kill it in committee (Chicago Sun-Times).
Better Government Association policy manager Rachel Leven compared the proposals and noted, “In the absence of trust in the City Council, it’s hard to see an option succeeding that does not include an election component.” She added, “Aldermen should not try to choose between the ordinances. Rather, they should pull from all the possible options to improve on the compromise the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability has already begun” (Chicago Sun-Times).
INVESTIGATIONS INCOMPLETE IN RACIALLY-CHARGED INCIDENT
According to police reports obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, an unidentified white motorist shouting the N-word at African Americans in a funeral procession may have set off a melee that ended in the fatal shooting of Joshua Beal by two off-duty police officers in November 2016. However, many details of the incident remain unclear (Chicago Sun-Times).
In an editorial, the Chicago Sun-Times questioned why three investigations, including one by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), have not been concluded after 18 months. “Eighteen months is surely enough time to review notes, interview witnesses and clarify confusing details so there’s no room for misjudgment and bias on either side.... Surely the city wants to make every effort to avoid even the appearance of foot-dragging in a widely publicized, fatal police shooting like this one, one that aggravated racial tensions and sparked yet another in a long line of lawsuits.... Everyone involved in this unfortunate incident deserves a transparent, fair and complete accounting” (Chicago Sun-Times).
GRIFFIN GIVES $10 MILLION FOR HIGH-TECH POLICING
Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin is pledging $10 million to the Chicago Police Department (CPD), with most of the funding supporting the department’s high-tech Strategic Decision Support Centers. These centers, a collaboration between CPD and the University of Chicago Crime Lab, utilize predictive analysis to combat crime. Some of the funding will also provide additional mental health resources for officers (Chicago Tribune).
Superintendent Eddie Johnson credited the centers for a dramatic drop in shootings in several neighborhoods (Chicago Tribune).
Noting that police in New Orleans recently ended their predictive policing program, the Chicago Reader reported, “The real substantive evidence that predictive crime software reduces crime is inconclusive at best, and at worst, critics argue, it perpetuates racial discrimination in policing by shrouding it in the legitimacy accorded by science” (Chicago Reader). A review of research found that the degree to which predictive policing actually prevents crime “is up for debate” (Science).
GUEVARA VICTIM RELEASED, SEIZED BY ICE
Ricardo Rodriguez was released on March 29 after spending more than 22 years in prison when the Cook County State’s Attorney dropped murder charges stemming from an investigation by former Detective Reynaldo Guevara. A key eyewitness testified that Guevara pressured him to identify Rodriguez, and when called to testify, Guevara invoked his right to remain silent. Rodriguez is the eighth Guevara defendant exonerated by State’s Attorney Kim Foxx (BuzzFeed).
However, Rodriguez was immediately taken into custody by federal immigration authorities. A legal permanent resident at the time of his arrest, Rodriguez lost his legal status upon conviction (Chicago Tribune).
Rodriguez’s attorney, Tara Thompson of the Exoneration Project, stated that he will fight deportation. “He’s suffered so much that for deportation to be an additional consequence of this wrongful conviction would be a travesty of justice,” Thompson told BuzzFeed.
RIALMO CASE GOES TO POLICE BOARD
A recommendation from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) that Officer Robert Rialmo be fired for using unjustified force in the 2015 fatal shooting of Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie Jones will undergo a full hearing before the Chicago Police Board. Board member Eva-Dina Delgado reviewed Superintendent Eddie Johnson’s response to COPA’s ruling, in which he recommended that Rialmo be exonerated, and ruled that his objections were insufficient to meet the burden of overturning COPA’s recommendation (Chicago Tribune; Chicago Police Board).
Had Delgado sided with Johnson, the case would have been dropped. That provision in the ordinance establishing COPA—allowing the superintendent and a single board member to “prevent a full and fair police board hearing on the merits of the case”—“risks inconsistent outcomes” and relies on a “vague and overly broad” standard, according to former COPA administrator Sharon Fairley (Chicago Tribune).
Fairley also argued that there is “a serious conflict of interest” in this case for the city’s law department, which will handle the Rialmo matter before the police board. That department “has already shown a bias in favor of the officer and should recuse itself” from these police board proceedings, Fairley wrote.
Johnson has disagreed with COPA’s findings in five other cases, including the 2012 fatal shooting of 15-year-old Dakota Bright—though he later changed his position in that case (Chicago Sun-Times).
ADAM GRAY SUES FOR WRONGFUL CONVICTION
Adam Gray, who was wrongfully convicted of arson and murder at age 14 and sentenced to life in prison, has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Chicago police officers coerced his confession and fabricated evidence. Advances in fire science later discredited investigators’ conclusion that an accelerant was used to set the fire. Gray served 24 years before being released last year (Chicago Tribune).
At a press conference, Gray stated that officers who frame innocent people “need to be prosecuted” (Chicago Sun-Times).
WATTS VICTIMS CHARGED
Ben Baker and Jamar Lewis, whose drug convictions were overturned last year after they alleged they were framed by corrupt former Sergeant Ronald Watts, have been arrested on federal charges of distributing heroin (Chicago Tribune).
Meanwhile, the Cook County State’s Attorney has informed the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) legal counsel that ten officers formerly associated with Watts will not be called to testify in criminal prosecutions “due to concerns about their credibility and alleged involvement in misconduct.” Fifteen Watts-linked officers were placed on desk duty five months ago, and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) is investigating 22 cases involving Watts (Chicago Tribune).
LEGAL SETTLEMENTS
The City Council approved a $2.3 million settlement in another lawsuit where city attorneys face discipline for failing to produce records during discovery. Jaquise Evans was 16 when he was shot and wounded by Officer Richard Salvador in August 2015 (Chicago Tribune).
Also approved were settlements of $1.5 million for Officer Anthony Hernandez, who was demoted after complaining that his supervisor had falsified time records (NBC 5), and $840,000 for the estate of Melvin Woods Jr., who hanged himself while in police lockup in 2011 (NBC 5).
Chicago paid out over $20 million in the first two months of the year for police misconduct cases—about half of it for lawsuits alleging excessive force, false arrest, and illegal search and seizure. This marks a significant increase over the previous two years, and approximately 460 civil rights cases against the city are currently pending (WBBM-TV).
UPDATES
The City Council confirmed Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s appointment of Sydney Roberts, director of the Illinois Secretary of State Police, as chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) (Chicago Sun-Times).
The Chicago Police Department (CPD) issued its second annual report on progress in police reform (Chicago Tribune; CPD).