Brandon Johnson
The Chicago Police Department has fully met just 6% of the consent decree’s requirements, according to the most recent report by the team monitoring CPD’s progress.
By the contract's final day, Chicago taxpayers will have paid more than $53 million since 2018 for a system that Mayor Brandon Johnson said never provided a return on the city’s investment or the results that it promised.
A Cook County judge Monday allowed proceedings before the Chicago Police Board to resume as he prepares to rule on an effort backed by the city’s largest police union to upend the system used for 60 years to punish officers.
Wrongful convictions have long been the most expensive kind of police misconduct in Chicago, costing taxpayers $29.25 million in 2024, or nearly 40% of the total amount spent to resolve allegations of police misconduct, according to WTTW News’ analysis.
The proposal known as Bring Chicago Home will remain on the ballot, but the results will not be tallied and reported unless the judge’s decision is overturned by a state appeals court.
Closing the four shelters will allow the city to avoid paying $19 million to lease the facilities, staff them and provide food and laundry services, officials said.
The proposal, now in the hands of the Chicago City Council, would phase out the city’s decades-long reliance on tax-increment financing districts and reshape the way Chicago uses its financial resources to spur redevelopment and eradicate blight.
Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, against BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Phillips 66, Shell and their largest trade association, the American Petroleum Institute.
Chicago first entered into a contract with ShotSpotter in 2017. The controversial technology relies on microphones and sensors to identify the sound of gunfire and alert law enforcement.
Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office records indicate Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero’s death was ruled “natural” and attributed to sepsis and other viruses, including COVID-19, adenovirus and rhinovirus/enterovirus.
“I’m going to spend all that money, I can assure you of that,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.
After a spirited debate, Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward) — once the leading progressive voice on the Chicago City Council — was the only alderperson to change their position since the December vote.
That cost is on top of the $150 million already set aside in Chicago’s 2024 budget, the $100 million earmarked in Cook County’s budget to care for the migrants, and $160 million in state funds Pritzker agreed to spend to care for the migrants in mid-November, officials said.
Chicago will stop using the ShotSpotter technology by Sept. 22 — one month after the Democratic National Convention takes place in Chicago and after the summer months that are often the most violent period of the year, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced.
Chicago spent less than $160 million on a host of programs including affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans through Dec. 31, 2023, according to reports to the federal government.
The city’s current contract with SoundThinking — which was previously known as ShotSpotter — expires Feb. 16. Mayor Brandon Johnson made a campaign promise to end the contract, but has not yet indicated whether he’ll renew the deal.