Investigations
Police Misconduct Agency Identified Troubling Pattern of Stops in 11th District Months Before Fatal Dexter Reed Shooting, Letter Shows
The agency tasked with investigating misconduct by Chicago police officers identified a troubling pattern of undocumented and aggressive stops on the city’s West Side at least one year before four Chicago police officers pulled over Dexter Reed and killed him in a barrage of gunfire, according to a document obtained by WTTW News.
Four officers fired 96 shots in 41 seconds at Reed on March 21, hitting him 13 times, shortly after he shot and wounded an officer, according to a preliminary investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, known as COPA. Reed was stopped by a tactical team of officers in plainclothes driving an unmarked SUV.
A letter sent to police officials from COPA on March 27, six days after Reed’s death, shows that the agency had evidence that officers were routinely engaging in misconduct that violated Chicago Police Department rules and put Chicagoans at risk of a violent encounter with officers for at least a year.
COPA Chief Andrea Kersten told WTTW News her agency took no action to inform Superintendent Larry Snelling or his command staff about the alleged misconduct until that March 27 letter was sent.
“COPA is writing to inform you of a pattern of problems we have discovered with the documentation of CPD/citizen encounters in the 11th District,” according to the letter to Harrison (11th) Police District Commander Davina Ward signed by Steffany Hreno, COPA’s director of investigations. “Over the past several months, COPA has received numerous complaints related to CPD members detaining, searching, and/or subjecting citizens to force. COPA’s investigation of these complaints has been impeded by a consistent lack of documentation, Body Worn Camera (BWC) footage, and accurate recordkeeping.”
The traffic stop that led to Reed’s death took place on the border between West Garfield Park and Humboldt Park in the Harrison (11th) Police District.
COPA officials declined to make Hreno available for an interview.
The troubling pattern of stops began a year before Reed’s death, Kersten said. The first indication of an issue was a number of similar complaints filed by Chicagoans, triggering COPA officials to dig deeper, Kersten said.
But the agency did not act until Reed’s death, which would touch off a political firestorm when the video of his killing was released on April 9, Kersten said.
“But obviously wanting to make sure the department was on notice about this in light of everything that had occurred in the wake of his shooting, and leading up to his shooting, it just became critical that we got this information in the hands of the 11th District directly,” Kersten said.
COPA could not have acted any sooner to inform Ward as the agency worked to investigate the pattern of stops on the West Side, Kersten said.
“This is us doing the work as required,” Kersten said. “What happens when there is a high-profile incident, all of a sudden everyone is paying attention to the work going on behind the scenes day in and day out.”
A Chicago Police Department spokesperson declined to answer detailed questions about the letter and the conduct of officers in the Harrison (11th) Police District.
“The Chicago Police Department is committed to constitutional policing in every aspect of our public safety efforts, including traffic stops,” according to the statement. “Following the shooting, 11th District leadership spoke with officers in the district at roll calls and meetings to reiterate department policy and procedures for enforcement activity that includes traffic stops. Additionally, this year all Chicago Police officers have received training in relation to procedural justice and the Fourth Amendment.”
That training is required by a federal court order requiring the Chicago Police Department to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers.
Johnson said the day that the footage of Reed’s killing was released was among the worst days he has spent as mayor of Chicago. Johnson taught civics at Westinghouse College Prep, where Reed went to high school and was a basketball standout.
Johnson said he has confidence in COPA’s investigation into Reed’s death, and said he was grateful that the shooting didn’t tear the city apart.
Traffic Stop Concerns
Hreno’s letter detailed a number of complaints to COPA about police stops that were not documented in any way by the 11th District officers involved.
COPA was only able to confirm some of the stops occurred because they were captured by CPD-operated cameras mounted on nearby light poles or privately owned recording devices, like doorbell cameras, according to the letter.
In several cases, there is no evidence officers turned on their body-worn cameras to document the stops as required by departmental rules, according to the letter.
“This inaccurate recordkeeping and lack of proper documentation has impeded COPA’s ability to identify the involved members and determine the facts and circumstances of each incident,” Hreno wrote in the letter. “It has also undermined COPA’s ability to fully investigate the alleged misconduct and determine whether members are adhering to CPD policies and procedures. Going forward, COPA is requesting your assistance to ensure that members of the 11th District consistently adhere to CPD policies regarding the documentation of their encounters with members of the public.”
That lack of documentation around the stops made by officers in the Harrison (11th) District has prevented COPA investigators from determining whether officers had probable cause to stop Chicagoans, both on foot and while driving, Kersten said. In some cases, COPA cannot even identify which officers were involved, Kersten said.
“This pattern of a lack of documentation in the 11th District has seemed to really stymie our progress on multiple investigations,” Kersten said. “When we feel like there is something we need to message to the department we don’t hesitate to do so.”
That lack of documentation complicates efforts to gather accurate data to assess whether CPD policy should prohibit officers from pulling over drivers because of improper registration issues or broken equipment, like a single broken taillight, Kersten said.
More than six months after the letter was sent, Ward has yet to respond to COPA’s letter, Kersten said.
Reed’s family has sued the city, alleging his civil rights were violated by the officers who stopped and fatally shot him. Hreno’s letter could help Reed’s family prove that the city and police department should be held liable for his death, because officials knew officers were improperly stopping drivers and pedestrians on the West Side and did nothing to stop it.
Andrew M. Stroth, the lawyer representing Reed’s family, said the 26-year-old should be alive today.
"This newly discovered letter from COPA highlights the unconstitutional actions and lack of transparent reporting by the Chicago Police Department's tactical units in the 11th District,” Stroth said in a statement. “Every day, these rogue units continue to violate the rights of Black citizens on the West and South Sides of Chicago.”
Anthony Driver Jr., the president of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, said the police oversight board known as the CCPSA “takes concerns about how COPA handles police misconduct very seriously, especially when someone loses their life.”
“We have a responsibility to ensure that COPA operates at the highest possible standards,” Driver said in a statement. “We’re going to meet that responsibility by looking closely at all the facts here and deciding what steps we need to take to help Chicago achieve the accountability system we all deserve.”
The CCPSA has the power to terminate the head of COPA.
Kersten said COPA had been unable to probe evidence of ongoing police misconduct until recently because its investigators had too many cases of alleged police misconduct. That burden has been lifted after the agency closed 675 police misconduct probes that were more than 18 months old through what the agency called its Timeliness Initiative.
Inspector General Deborah Witzburg is looking into that initiative.
A 2017 probe by the U.S. Department of Justice found that Chicago police officers were rarely held accountable for misconduct because of badly broken systems as well as a “code of silence” among officers that allowed them to act with impunity.
CPD has fully complied with just 7% of the court order known as the consent decree designed to require the department to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers, according to the latest report to the federal judge overseeing the reform effort.
Officers told COPA investigators at the scene of the fatal shooting they stopped Reed because they believed he was not wearing his seat belt, a violation, according to reports signed by the officers involved and released by COPA because they are public records.
The Harrison (11th) Police District on the West Side, one of the most violent in the city, had the highest number and percentage of traffic stops of any of the city’s 22 police districts, accounting for nearly 10.5% of all traffic stops made by CPD officers in 2023, according to according to a report from Impact for Equity, a nonprofit advocacy and research organization that has helped lead the push to reform the Chicago Police Department.
Most residents who live in the district are Black.
WTTW News reported in April that the five officers who stopped Reed had racked up three dozen complaints in the months before the March 21 shooting. Those complaints were provided to WTTW News by COPA after a Freedom of Information Act request.
COPA and CPD Relations
Reed’s killing deepened the breach between Snelling and Kersten that emerged in February, when the city’s top cop said that COPA treated Chicago police officers so unfairly that they are at risk of suicide. He also said the agency’s probes compromise public safety.
During an April news conference, Snelling called COPA’s handling of the probe into Reed’s death “irresponsible,” and suggested that “communication” was also necessary to identify officers who have demonstrated a pattern of misconduct when asked about the three-dozen complaints racked by the officers who shot Reed.
“Communication would be appreciated,” Snelling said. “I don’t believe that if we see something of that nature that we shouldn’t reach out to the heads of departments and talk to them about the problems that you’re seeing. We’re all in professional roles, and we should be professional with each other.”
While none of the officers who shot at Reed, who was hit 13 times, have returned to active duty, Snelling has refused Kersten’s call to relieve them of their police powers.
Kersten told Snelling that recommendation was based on “grave concerns about the officers’ ability to assess what is a necessary, reasonable, and proportional use of deadly force,” according to a letter released by COPA in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by WTTW News.
One of the officers fired at least 50 times at Reed, including three times while he was motionless on the ground, according to Kersten’s letter to Snelling. That officer reloaded his weapon twice, while three other officers reloaded their weapon once, according to the letter.
That letter also questioned the basis for the traffic stop that led to Reed’s death.
“Specifically, COPA is uncertain how the officers could have seen this seat belt violation given their location relative to (Reed’s) vehicle and the dark tints on (his) vehicle windows,” Kersten wrote. “This evidence raises serious concerns about the validity of the traffic stop that led to the officers’ encounter with (Reed).”
The consent decree requires CPD to create its own system to alert commanders about which officers have been the subject of repeated police misconduct allegations. More than five years after that order took effect, CPD has yet to do so.
WTTW News reported in September 2023 that a system designed to flag officers with multiple complaints, like the officers who shot and killed Reed, could have been rolled out citywide in May 2021 but remains in use in only one police district.
Police reform advocates unanimously believe there is a clear need for a system that flags officers with multiple complaints and lawsuits to prevent incidents that make it impossible to restore the public’s trust in the beleaguered police department, which has faced decades of scandals, misconduct and brutality.
Witzburg has repeatedly warned that true police reform will be impossible until the city starts collecting and analyzing data to “effectively manage the risk of expense to the city and harm to its residents arising out of CPD’s operations.”
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
