Politics
After Objections, CPD Agrees to Rule Revision That Would Ban Stops and Searches Based on Race: Reform Groups
Chicago Police Department headquarters. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
Chicago Police Department officials agreed to revise proposed new rules and prohibit officers from stopping and frisking Chicagoans based on their race or ethnicity, a coalition of reform groups told the federal judge overseeing efforts to reform the Chicago Police Department.
The coalition of police reform groups behind the consent decree — the federal court order requiring the CPD to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers — told U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer that CPD had revised proposed new rules designed to limit when Chicago police officers can stop and search Chicagoans after they objected in February.
Had CPD failed to agree to revise the policy by Saturday, the coalition indicated it would ask Pallmeyer to intervene and force changes to the policy, which they said violated the U.S. Constitution and the consent decree as originally proposed.
It is not clear what specific changes have been made to the policy, which is still the subject of confidential negotiations as part of the consent decree litigation.
A representative of the coalition declined to comment to WTTW News, while a spokesperson for CPD did not respond to WTTW News’ inquiry.
City officials agreed in June 2023 to expand the consent decree to include when officers can stop and search Chicagoans, which are officially known as investigatory stops.
The original policy prohibited officers from conducting investigatory stops or protective pat-downs “based solely on a person’s race, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, immigration status, homeless status, marital status, parental status, military discharge status, financial status, or lawful source of income, without any other specific and articulable facts that the person is, has, or is about to be engaged in criminal activity.”
It was a specific phrase that the coalition objected to.
“The phrase ‘based solely on’ permits CPD to make unconstitutional stops and frisks that are motivated – even in part – by a person’s race or ethnicity,” according to a letter from the coalition to the city. “The ‘solely’ modifier must be deleted.”
The policy also “paradoxically suggests that race and other protected characteristics are grounds to investigate someone, as long as the officer can also articulate other additional suspicious facts,” according to the coalition’s letter. “Race, ethnicity, disability and other protected characteristics are never grounds for suspicion unless they are part of a specific description of a specific individual. Following this direction will cause officers to violate the law and the consent decree.”
While that wording issue appears resolved, the coalition also asked Pallmeyer to order CPD to amend the policy to prohibit officers from searching cars “based on the odor of raw cannabis/marijuana,” even though that is prohibited by the consent decree, which took effect six years ago.
“The language is unambiguous,” the coalition wrote in its court filing. “The odor of cannabis alone, whether burnt or raw, cannot be the sole basis for an investigatory stop or search by CPD officers.”
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in December that the scent of raw cannabis is enough for a police officer to search a vehicle, even though marijuana is legal in the state.
The draft policy references that ruling and says it created an “exception” that allows officers to stop or search a vehicle based on the odor of raw cannabis. A law that would ban those searches passed the Illinois Senate earlier this month and will head to the Illinois House of Representatives for consideration.
The independent monitoring team agreed with the coalition that the draft policy violates the consent decree, and told CPD to remove that provision, according to the coalition’s court filing.
Objections from the coalition prompted CPD to revise a policy designed to allow mass arrests in advance of the Democratic National Convention in 2024, officials said.
CPD’s original mass arrest policy violated the First Amendment, according to the coalition.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
