Chicago taxpayers have now spent $178 million since January 2019 to resolve lawsuits brought by more than three dozen people wrongfully convicted based on evidence gathered by Chicago Police Department officers, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.
Chicago Police Department
A new study from researchers at the University of Chicago Crime Lab has found a training program rooted in behavioral science can dramatically cut the number of use-of-force incidents committed by police while also increasing officer safety.
That toll is set to grow in the coming weeks, as the Chicago City Council considers paying $25 million to resolve separate lawsuits filed in 2016 by two men who spent a combined 34 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of killing a basketball star in 1993.
According to Chicago Police Department data, 26 people were shot in 21 separate shootings between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.
Snelling vowed to rebuild trust between Chicagoans and the Police Department, which is struggling to reduce crime and implement court-ordered reforms designed to ensure officers no longer routinely violate the constitutional rights of Black and Latino Chicagoans.
The unanimous vote by the interim Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability caps an effort that began in 2017 to stop the Chicago Police Department from using databases to track Chicagoans they believe to be in a gang.
It is unclear what prompted the decision to reconsider the proposed settlement after the Chicago City Council rejected it in July on a vote of 22-26.
Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said city officials and police brass are “ill-equipped to evaluate and improve response times, simply because, more often than not, we have no information on when the police arrive to respond to an emergency.”
Monthly CPD data published Tuesday shows that the city has recorded 418 homicides, 1,677 shootings and 1,988 shooting victims in 2023 through the end of August. Each of those totals is the fewest through the first eight months of a year since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to preliminary Chicago Police Department data, 39 people were shot in 33 separate shooting incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Monday. In addition to the six people who were fatally shot, a seventh person died of blunt force trauma.
Chicago is the center of attention when it comes to talking about crime data in a national context. Experts caution that interpreting numbers without examining the underlying influences can lead to misunderstandings.
Details about the incident remain scarce, days after a 42-year-old woman was shot in the leg and a 26-year-old woman suffered a graze wound to the abdomen, which occurred in the fourth inning of the Sox’s Friday game against the Oakland Athletics.
Larry Snelling will become Chicago’s next police superintendent — if he’s confirmed by the Chicago City Council. The 30-year police veteran says he vows to improve community relations under his tenure.
The court-mandated oversight was prompted by the 2014 murder of teenager Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer. Almost five years later, the department is in full compliance with just over 5% of the requirements.
Interim Police Superintendent Fred Waller said Monday his department has “almost completely dispelled” the idea that the shots that injured two women were fired from outside the ballpark, according to reporting from the Chicago Tribune.
According to Chicago Police Department data, 24 people were shot in 18 separate shooting incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.
