Investigations

Who Are Chicago’s Police Monitors? Team Members Have History With Misconduct Cases, Other Controversies

For almost six years, the Chicago Police Department has been operating under a consent decree aimed at enacting reforms in the wake of documented civil rights abuses and high-profile instances of brutality.

While the consent decree process is headed by a federal judge, a monitoring team is charged with oversight of the implementation of court-ordered reforms for the department. This team works to ensure compliance with legal standards, supervises training standards and officer safety, and tracks the successful implementation of changes.

When the independent monitor for the consent decree was announced in 2019, it was an introduction for much of the city. But many long-time followers of national police reform efforts had heard these names before.

Led by Maggie Hickey, who headed previous oversight and reform efforts at Chicago Public Schools and the state inspector general, many members of the team previously ran large police departments that also underwent major shifts in policy.

Some were involved in consent decrees across the country from New Mexico to Maryland. One was appointed chief deputy monitor in Puerto Rico.

There are connections to New Orleans, Baltimore and Portland. Many left legacies of decreased crime and better practices following their work.

But not all of this previous experience looks like a blueprint for reform.

WTTW News reviewed misconduct cases, settlements and controversial shooting cases that were part of the career history of members of the monitoring team. Some faced other serious allegations.

A former Boston police commissioner reinstated an officer after allegations of sexual abuse of a child were sustained. That officer was later charged with sexually abusing six children and convicted, receiving a prison sentence, records show.

The commissioner, who was also connected to a controversial fatal no-knock raid, is an associate monitor for use of force for the Chicago consent decree.

A former detective, listed in documents as a subject matter expert, drew criticism when he charged a person with a visual impairment with obstruction after she reported him for misconduct during a rape investigation.

Despite his focus on the victim, a conviction in the case came when investigators later tested DNA evidence after focusing investigative resources on the woman, based on reports at the time. The victim was later exonerated.

Slow Pace of Compliance

Picking an experienced team is intended to help achieve better outcomes by police, even if some of those selected to monitor the effort in Chicago raised potential warning flags.

“Our team includes local experts who understand the complexity, current challenges, and unique aspects of policing in Chicago. And we also have national experts who have successfully tackled problems with constitutional policing and organizational change in policing,” Hickey said in a public forum before she was selected as monitor.

The consent decree process has not been a smooth one.

Chicago activists demanded changes during consent decree negotiations with the police department. Community members say reforms have been slower than desired, including coalition representatives reviewing the process.

“There is palpable frustration in the process in the reform community,” Alexandra Block, senior supervising attorney at the ACLU of Illinois, said. “CPD needs to pay more than lip service to the consent decree.”

This legal process intended to achieve police reform has stakeholders including the community, Chicago Police, the Illinois Office of Attorney General and the federal court in addition to the monitoring team, which tracks and analyzes the process.

Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer renewed the monitor’s appointment Dec. 23.

Pallmeyer ruled there was no evidence that the monitoring team had overstepped its bounds, acted unethically, shown incompetence or failed to fulfill its duties, but wrote that the rate of progress must increase.

“The court recognizes increasing concern on the part of the public about the perceived slow pace of compliance with the Consent Decree and shares that concern,” Pallmeyer wrote.

There are immense challenges to implementing reform through a consent decree, including the cost, available resources, opposition from unions, civil service rules, department buy-in and more, according to Christy Lopez, a former deputy chief of the special litigation section of the civil rights division at the U.S. Department of Justice.

“I always tell people it’s not rocket science. It’s much harder because you’re dealing with people,” Lopez said. “It’s very difficult, essentially, to force people to change.”

Doubters view monitoring teams as slow to implement reform while they continue to get paid and sometimes criticize monitors as being friendly with police in hopes of landing their next gig, Lopez said.

The mixed success of reform in Chicago and across the country in recent years highlights a concern: Does the city invite problems by choosing a monitoring team built from members of other consent decrees across the country, some with their own histories of alleged misconduct?

And are these footsteps that they want to follow?

‘Parties to Litigation’

Following the consent decree’s approval in 2019, the independent monitoring team, which assesses the progress of the mandates of the decree, was chosen. A U.S. district court judge selected Hickey to head the effort.

A partner at law firm ArentFox Schiff with past stints atop the Illinois Office of the Executive Inspector General, as an assistant U.S. attorney and investigating sexual abuse in Chicago Public Schools on her resume, Hickey specializes in internal investigations, compliance programs and sexual harassment issues.

The application process identified a team with responsibilities including policing, mental health and community relations.

The judge enforces the decree. The Attorney General’s Office ensures CPD policies, training and plans align with the consent decree, monitors compliance and provides reform updates to the court and public. The department is responsible for adopting and enacting change. The monitor reports on progress as it does or does not occur.

Below Hickey, the consent decree team includes deputy and associate monitors with a roster of subject matter experts and analysts. The team includes attorneys, academics and former police leaders. Many are retired from government positions.

The application identified six members who had been sued in a police lawsuit that was settled or adjudicated. Most disclosures ended, “We would be happy to discuss in further detail.”

The section read, “Some of the members of the team who have served in law enforcement have been named as parties to litigation, though none believes their involvement in past or current litigation would be an issue in performing as part of the team.”

Those selected for the monitoring team and as subject-matter experts were long tenured. Most of the lawsuits connected to team members related to misconduct involved them being named in their official, rather than personal, role at the top of a department.

The resumes noted a number of reform credentials. Deputy Monitor Rodney Monroe was the monitor for a federal consent decree in Meridian, Mississippi, and highlighted his experience commanding at large events including the Million Man March, a presidential inauguration and the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

Associate Monitor Theron Bowman, a former chief of police and deputy city manager from Texas, was the federal court-appointed consent decree deputy monitor in Baltimore, and an expert for the monitoring teams in New Orleans and Memphis. Bowman has worked on audits and investigations across the country, records show.

Michael S. Harrison was the police superintendent in New Orleans and commissioner in Baltimore when both cities were under a consent decree. Stephen Rickman, on the community relations team, was identified as an associate monitor on the independent monitoring team in Albuquerque. Both are classified as associate monitors in Chicago.

The monitoring team was selected from nine applications. An engaged stakeholder committee composed of individuals and organizations involved in Chicago’s consent decree, police reform litigation or policing issues was created in 2018 by the city and the Attorney General’s office to interview and provide input on the four independent monitor finalists.

One member of that nine-person committee was James Calvino, president of the Chicago Police Sergeants’ Association and a member of the department, records show.

Sources from the Attorney General’s office said the city and a police union were responsible for Calvino’s selection. The city did not respond to questions about Calvino’s selection.

Calvino is frequently quoted in stories about the department. He had two misconduct cases sustained following investigations in 1995 and 1996, records show. In one case, multiple witnesses reported Calvino used a racial epithet during a search of a Black man.

When interviewed by investigators, Calvino denied using the language. No drugs or weapons were found in the search that started because the man was allegedly unloading groceries in a no-parking zone, though a Bible was found in his back pocket, records show. Calvino was originally given a five-day suspension that was reduced to three days, records show.

In the second case, Calvino’s .357 Magnum was shot into the air by another man in his car as another vehicle was being followed by Calvino at 80 or 90 mph after leaving a bar in Chicago Ridge while off duty, according to the investigation.

Findings against Calvino were sustained for failing to secure his weapon and report the shooting. He and his companions all reported drinking at the bar before the incident. Calvino claimed he could not testify about the events that night when questioned, an assertion characterized as an outright lie by an investigator, records show.

The unjustified pursuit led to a 30-day suspension for Calvino. His record shows other discipline sustained for failure to appear in court and a preventable traffic accident.

Calvino did not respond to a request for an interview. The stakeholder committee has not been active since 2019.

While their tie to reform is obvious, the team that was finally selected by the committee was also not without warning signs. Two chiefs defended the use of tear gas during protests in 2020, according to media reports.

Others helmed some important police reforms, but not before drawing negative attention for their roles in controversial cases.

‘Everything Was Done Right, Except It Was the Wrong Apartment’

Paul Evans has a resume that reflects change in his hometown of Boston. The former Boston commissioner implemented the impactful Ceasefire program for reducing gun violence. His relationships with key community stakeholders were credited with helping to drop Boston to lower levels of violence during his tenure in the 1990s and early 2000s.

He spent time in leadership and investigative roles. He is a consultant for police forces nationally and internationally with an expertise in use of force.

But his time leading the department in Boston was not without controversy. Records show Evans was notified in writing that an investigation of sexual assault of a child involving then Boston police officer Patrick Rose was sustained.

The initial criminal case against Rose was dropped when the victim, who reportedly was abused for years when he was younger than 14, refused to testify, records show.

During the investigation, Rose was barred from carrying a gun and assigned to desk duty. Rose was later reinstated to duty by Evans. Rose was never disciplined or retrained following the investigation, according to a lawsuit.

When documents related to Rose were released by Boston in 2022, Mayor Michelle Wu wrote, “Rose should have been terminated immediately after the IAD (internal affairs division) investigation concluded, regardless of the status of the criminal case against him.”

The criminal conviction and lawsuit show Rose sexually abused multiple children after the department was first alerted to sexual abuse by Rose. In 2022, Rose pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child rape and sexual assault. He was sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison.

The lawsuit, which dismissed federal claims with prejudice leaving state claims in Massachusetts, described the pain, emotional distress and ongoing medical and psychological treatment that followed the abuse. The ruling in the case was appealed, records show.

Evans defended his reinstatement of the officer in interviews following Rose’s conviction. His reaction to a fatal wrong-raid was more muted at the time.

Invasive searches at the wrong address in Chicago were a critical topic for the consent decree following the botched raid involving Anjanette Young.

Boston and its commissioner were under the spotlight when a search for drugs and guns at the address of the Rev. Accelyne Williams, 75, led to his death from a heart attack in 1994, records show. The lawsuit, which cost the city $1 million, was triggered by a heavily armed SWAT raid initiated by the testimony of a confidential informant.

The front door of the apartment was opened with a sledgehammer, and officers chased Williams into his bedroom, according to the report by the district attorney’s office. Multiple officers tackled Williams and secured him with flex cuffs after pursuing him through his home, the report said. Williams had no weapons or drugs.

One police source told the Boston Herald about the raid, “Everything was done right, except it was the wrong apartment.”

Evans apologized directly to the family for the raid, and pledged reform, reports show.

Following the botched raid, which was covered across the country, Boston required all warrants to be reviewed by the district attorney’s office and not be based on the testimony of only one confidential informant, records show.

The review by the DA said, “As this case tragically demonstrates, the decision to set this kind of force in motion can have extreme consequences. That decision should require a high level of review and approval.”

Several officers were disciplined in the case, though some criticized the lack of transparency by the department.

In a written response, the independent monitoring team said, “Diverse perspectives and experiences are essential to assessing compliance and understanding policing issues from every angle. This includes the firsthand knowledge of law enforcement leaders, which is crucial for assessing complex police operations, understanding the day-to-day challenges officers face, and guiding police departments to implement policies, training, and constitutional and effective law enforcement practices that restore public trust.”

The monitoring team, including Evans, did not answer questions about his backgrounding process, or any of the events from his past.

“Every law enforcement leader in the United States must navigate high-profile, controversial, critical incidents and discipline cases. This experience provides them with invaluable insight and credibility to assess officer accountability and whether reforms are changing the way a police department operates,” the statement read.

‘Nothing But Red Flags’

Where Evans attempted to change the behavior of his department following a controversial incident, another former officer connected to the Chicago team still has not acknowledged his role in a problematic rape investigation.

Tom Woodmansee, identified as a subject matter expert in records, spent more than 25 years with the Madison Police Department in Wisconsin and rose to training director of the police academy before retiring, according to the consent decree application.

According to the monitoring team, while Woodmansee and other subject matter experts were available, as of December, none of them worked on the consent decree. Woodmansee was listed as an expert in the first four years of planning documents created by the monitoring team.

In 1997, Woodmansee investigated a sexual assault involving a woman with a visual impairment but focused on discrediting her instead of the assailant, according to the book “Cry Rape” by Wisconsin journalist Bill Lueders.

Woodmansee doubted the victim, Patty, based on her demeanor, using false claims about evidence to pressure her to recant. The book describes Woodmansee threatening to re-enact the assault, an allegation Woodmansee denied. Patty later wrote in a letter to the police department that his actions harmed her more than the assault itself.

After Patty reported him for misconduct, Woodmansee charged her with obstruction, according to the book. A DNA match by the state crime lab in 2001 led to a conviction in the case.

“Let’s look at the physical evidence,” a deputy district attorney said during closing arguments in the case that sent Joseph Bong to prison. “Let’s do what Tom Woodmansee should have done but didn’t.”

The Madison City Council issued a formal apology to Patty, calling the case one of the city’s most colossal failures.

While there were issues from top to the bottom in this case, Lueders said these events would not have happened had the detective not worked the case.

“He’s nothing but red flags,” Lueders said about Woodmansee.

While consent decrees can open an avenue to reform, there are real obstacles to success, including how a team is built.

Policing expertise is valuable on monitoring teams, but excessive reliance on former police or prosecutors can limit perspectives, according to Christy Lopez.

Lopez, a professor from Georgetown law school, said monitoring teams rightly rely on police for insight into the process, but a mix of expertise, both from reformed departments and well-functioning ones, is ideal for monitoring teams.

“Consent decrees aim to ensure lawful policing, but they don’t define what policing should look like,” Lopez said.

They cannot make more expansive recommendations that would be required to fundamentally change policing, she added.

In the end, public safety departments are supposed to answer to those they serve.

During a status report in November, a coalition member criticized the city for rejecting all feedback received from community members in 2023 about CPD’s policies related to stops.

It’s important for the monitor team, Lopez said, to consider all perspectives when attempting to enact reform, not just those of prosecutors and police.

“In every encounter between a police officer and a member of the public, there’s a member of the public,” Lopez said.

Contact Jared Rutecki: @JaredRutecki | [email protected]

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