Vol. 2, Issue 65: Chicago's Criminal Justice Playbook
At Issue: On Police Oversight Commission, Two More Proposals
On March 29, an alderman aligned with the mayor introduced two ordinances that would “neuter a proposal by the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability crafted after 18 months of public hearings,” thereby setting the stage for “a bruising battle about civilian police oversight” (Chicago Sun-Times).
Stating that he did not believe the ordinance proposed by GAPA and sponsored by Aldermen Rod Sawyer (6th) and Harry Osterman (48th) could pass in City Council, Alderman Ariel Reboyras (30th), whom Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed to chair the council’s public safety committee, introduced two ordinances for a civilian police commission that would make it purely advisory.
A civilian oversight board was the third element of a strengthened accountability system—along with a revamped civilian investigatory agency and a new inspector general for public safety—proposed by the mayor’s Police Accountability Task Force in 2016.
“It’s a slap in the face,” said GAPA coordinator Mecole Johnson. “Instead of having a conversation about how we can move forward with the ordinance as drafted, we get two brand-new ordinances. I’m not sure where the community engagement piece happened here. Where is the legitimacy? Where is the buy-in from the community? This is business as usual, and it cannot continue this way” (Chicago Tribune).
“Without any consultation or warning, the mayor has caused two proposals to be entered into City Council intended to completely undercut the groundswell of community support for the GAPA proposal,” said Police Board President Lori Lightfoot, who chaired the mayor’s task force.
Emanuel has “created a very stark contrast between the status quo and real change and reform,” Lightfoot stated.
In a statement, the Police Accountability Collaborative, a coalition of civil rights and government accountability groups, expressed “outrage” at “the watered-down proposals” submitted by Reboyras.
“These counterproposals are an absolute insult to the principles of transparency and community engagement,” said Bonnie Allen, executive director of the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. “Police abuses, racial profiling, and discrimination against communities of color in Chicago have gone on under the City Council’s nose for decades.”
“It’s only because a movement has been sparked by the enormous burden carried by those who’ve endured countless miscarriages of justice that we now have the momentum to introduce real measures of accountability and transparency to our police department,” Allen added. “And instead of joining hands with community partners to fix this crisis, elected officials are attempting to sabotage reform with this watered-down nonstarter.”
Previously, Reboyras and Superintendent Eddie Johnson objected to provisions in the GAPA ordinance that would allow the civilian police commission to set department policy and fire the superintendent.
In fact, the power to set policy currently rests with the Police Board, though that body has not generally exercised that power. GAPA proponents argue that the power to implement policy by the Los Angeles Police Commission allowed that city to establish a much stronger de-escalation policy, whereas a new CPD policy was weakened in response to political pressure.
Reboyras stated that his ordinances were modeled on police commissions in Los Angeles and Seattle. However, according to GAPA, Reboyras based his proposal on the purely advisory Civilian Oversight Commission of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, whereas GAPA’s proposal incorporated many provisions from the much stronger Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners, which serves as the governing body—sometimes described as a “board of directors”—for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
The LAPD Board of Commissioners has had the power to fire the police superintendent since 1925. After the Rodney King riots in 1992, civil service protections for the superintendent were removed, strengthening this power. The central role of the Board of Commissioners has contributed to a “dramatic transformation” in the LAPD in the intervening years, according to a GAPA report (GAPA).
The GAPA proposal mirrors provisions in Los Angeles, allowing the commission to fire the superintendent only for cause and permitting the City Council to overrule a firing with a two-thirds vote.
Reboyras’s proposals would give the power to name members of the police commission to the City Council’s public safety committee or to the committee and the mayor. Under GAPA’s proposal, commissioners would be selected by a committee drawn from 22 elected district councils.
Citing the need for independence and legitimacy, the mayor’s task force recommended that the chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) be selected by the community oversight board (Police Accountability Task Force). Under GAPA’s proposal, the Community Police Commission would have that power, subject to confirmation by the City Council. Reboyras’s proposal would allow the commission to nominate candidates but leave the selection power in the hands of the City Council’s public safety committee.
Reboyras stated that he will hold neighborhood hearings on GAPA’s ordinance and the two ordinances he has submitted and will consider ways to combine them. He added that he does not believe the City Council should consider a fourth proposal, which would replace COPA and the Police Board with an elected Community Police Accountability Council.
The Chicago Tribune noted, “The Emanuel administration could find a way to combine proposals... that allows [Emanuel] to keep as much control as possible, while also incorporating parts of [GAPA’s] community-driven plan so the mayor can say he listened to their ideas” (Chicago Tribune).
Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) stated that he would use a parliamentary move to force a vote on the CPAC ordinance whenever Reboyras’s proposal comes to the floor (Chicago Sun-Times).
SUPT. JOHNSON BACKS RIALMO IN LEGRIER, JONES SHOOTING
Superintendent Eddie Johnson stirred controversy when he rejected a recommendation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) that Officer Robert Rialmo be fired for unjustified use of force in the December 2015 fatal shootings of Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie Jones (Chicago Tribune).
In a March 22 letter, Johnson stated that the shooting was “justified and within department policy.”
Johnson rejected COPA’s findings that LeGrier never swung the baseball bat he was holding and that Rialmo fired his shots from the walkway between the steps to the building and the curb.
“The only issue is whether Quintonio’s sudden attack was so immediate and proximate that Officer Rialmo’s only option to prevent great bodily harm was to discharge his firearm,” Johnson wrote. “The department submits that it was, and that Officer Rialmo was justified in shooting his firearm.”
At the request of city attorneys, Cook County Judge James O’Hara issued a protective order blocking the release of Johnson’s letter. However, after the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times obtained and reported on the letter, O’Hara lifted the order.
In an editorial, the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that the city’s efforts to keep the letter secret undermined previously stated goals of restoring transparency and trust (Chicago Sun-Times).
COPA has 15 days to meet with Johnson and reach an agreement on resolving the case. If that is not possible, the case will go to a member of the Police Board and possibly to the full board.
African American aldermen reacted with criticism. Black Caucus Chair Rod Sawyer (6th) called it a “bad shooting” and said, “the reaction is going to be outrage.”
“I don’t see any situation where that shooting would be justified,” said Alderman Emma Mitts (37th). “There will be a backlash because two people got killed—an innocent bystander and a mentally ill person” (Chicago Sun-Times).
Columnist Mary Mitchell wrote that Johnson’s ruling “suggests that despite all the protests and all the promises of reform, police officers can still shoot Black people with immunity.... In negating COPA’s finding, the top cop has made a good case for why Chicago needs an empowered [civilian] police oversight agency” (Chicago Sun-Times).
Noting that further review is underway, Mayor Rahm Emanuel stated, “The process is working exactly as it was intended when we made wholesale reform” (Chicago Sun-Times).
Basileios Foutris, attorney for LeGrier’s family, called Johnson’s letter “a joke,” arguing that the superintendent’s “flawed analysis” ignored evidence and got “some basic facts wrong” (Chicago Sun-Times).
Foutris told View From the Ground that Johnson ignored bloodstain evidence, improperly dismissed witness testimony and the location of shell casings, and failed to mention a digital crime-scene scan conducted by the Illinois State Police, which showed the trajectory of a bullet from Rialmo’s gun. That scan placed Rialmo by the sidewalk when he fired—just where the shell casings, which Johnson discounted, were found, Foutris said.
Johnson’s ruling illustrates that “the issue with CPD isn’t how good or bad their policies are as much as a lack of political will to hold police accountable,” said Sheila Bedi of Northwestern’s MacArthur Justice Center. “You have an officer who’s shown that he is willing and able to violate the sanctity of life, and that officer’s right to his job is more important than the community’s right to be free from his bullets.”
Meanwhile, Emanuel testified for three hours in a deposition for the wrongful death lawsuits filed by the LeGrier and Jones families. The mayor’s questioning covered COPA, his conversations with the two families, and his statement on CPD’s code of silence (Chicago Sun-Times).
NEW COPA CHIEF
The City Council’s public safety committee approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s appointment of Sydney Roberts, director of the Illinois State Secretary Police and a former state inspector general, as chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA). The full council will vote on the appointment next month (Chicago Sun-Times). Some critics expressed concern over the selection of a law enforcement official to lead the civilian investigatory agency (Chicago Tribune).
MORE GUEVARA LAWSUITS
Three men who allege that disgraced former Detective Reynaldo Guevara framed them for murders for which they were convicted and later cleared have filed civil rights lawsuits. Gabriel Solache, who was originally sentenced to death, filed on March 30 (Chicago Sun-Times). Roberto Almodovar Jr., released last April, and Jose Maysonet Jr., released in November, filed on April 2 (Chicago Sun-Times).
Maysonet alleged that Guevara targeted him after he failed to hand over a weekly $1,000 payment that was part of a protection racket Guevara ran with fellow officer Joseph Miedzianowski. Miedzianowski was convicted on corruption charges in 2003 and sentenced to life in prison.
TWO OFFICERS RESIGN
Two Chicago police officers involved in an altercation with a suburban police officer in 2014 resigned rather than face disciplinary proceedings after Superintendent Eddie Johnson recommended their terminations. Officer John Gorman was acquitted of criminal charges in the incident, in which he fired his gun when a suburban officer pulled over his car “after an afternoon of drinking.” His partner, Timothy Neylon, who was with Gorman at the time, was recommended for termination because he failed to provide “proper notifications” (Chicago Sun-Times).
LAWSUITS SETTLED
The city paid $1.5 million to the family of Justin Cook, a West Side gang member who died following an asthma attack in police custody in 2014, allegedly after officers refused to give him his inhaler (Chicago Sun-Times).
City attorneys also agreed to pay $16,000 to settle a lawsuit by Matthew Mallett, who alleged that he was targeted for being gay, dragged out of his car, and pepper-sprayed during Gay Pride Fest in 2015 (Chicago Sun-Times).
CITY LAWYERS ARGUE AGAINST SANCTIONS
City attorneys argued that their failure to produce crucial disciplinary records in a lawsuit alleging that a code of silence protected former Detective Joseph Frugoli “was not the result of willful or deliberate behavior” but rather a consequence of bureaucratic oversights. U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall is considering sanctioning the city for failing to produce documents during discovery. If imposed, it would mark the tenth time the city has been sanctioned for discovery violations since 2012 (Chicago Tribune).
SEXUAL ASSAULTS CHARGED
Prosecutors charged that Chicago Officer Carlyle Calhoun sexually assaulted a suspect in his custody at a South Side hospital last month. Calhoun was ordered held on a $200,000 bond on March 20 (Chicago Sun-Times).
Michael Clifton, a now-retired Chicago officer, was ordered held on a $100,000 bail on March 29 after being charged with sexually assaulting a woman inside the Calumet District station in 2016 (Chicago Sun-Times).
VAN DYKE SEEKS CHANGE OF VENUE
Attorneys for Officer Jason Van Dyke, who is charged with murder in the shooting of Laquan McDonald, filed a motion for a change of venue. This could involve moving proceedings to another county or selecting out-of-county jurors to hear the case in Chicago. Judge Vincent Gaughan indicated that he expects the case to go to trial this summer (Chicago Tribune).