Mayor Brandon Johnson Johnson declined Monday to say whether Chicago police officers should continue making traffic stops for minor violations to find evidence of an unrelated crime.

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.

Chicago police officers would not be banned from making traffic stops based on minor registration or equipment violations that are designed to fund evidence of “unrelated” crimes, under a new policy unveiled Thursday by Chicago Police Department leaders.

The task force, formed in February, has met twice, and the next meeting is set for Wednesday, Deputy Mayor Garien Gatewood said.

President Donald Trump in January pardoned more than 1,500 people who were convicted of attacking the Capitol as part of an effort to overturn the 2020 election, including a former Chicago police officer.

“Look, we have inherited quite the mess,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said, emphasizing that many of the lawsuits allege misconduct that occurred decades ago.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas plans to invoke a rarely used rule at Wednesday’s Chicago City Council meeting to force representatives of Mayor Brandon Johnson to answer questions publicly about their plan to handle police misconduct lawsuits.

The 7-percentage point increase in the level of full compliance with consent decree CPD reached between July and December is the largest increase in the nearly six years that the federal court order has been in effect.

The rejection of the proposed settlement means the federal lawsuit filed by Reed’s family alleging that the city violated Reed’s civil rights will now head to trial.

With the endorsement of the City Council’s Workforce Development Committee, the measure now heads to the full City Council for a final vote on April 16.

The City Council’s Finance Committee on Friday is set to consider the proposed settlement, which calls for taxpayers to pay $20 million and the city’s insurance company to pay $12 million. A final vote of the City Council could come April 16.

The settlement recommended by city attorneys failed to advance two months ago amid a firestorm of controversy.

Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward) said the program is “absolutely” racially motivated. “Unless you’re Stevie Wonder or Helen Keller, you can see it,” she said.

A Chicago man who authorities say was “hunting for victims” now faces more than a dozen felony charges after he was arrested in connection to the sexual assaults of five women over nearly three years on the city’s North Side.

"History has shown that when oversight is diminished, the risk of injustice increases — especially for those in communities that have long experienced the burdens of aggressive policing," Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell said.

So-called “teen takeovers” have been a popular trend among some young people for years, and the large gatherings are already making headlines again as summer approaches. This chaotic scene reignited a debate on the citywide curfew for unaccompanied minors with calls to change the current curfew from 10 p.m. to 8 p.m.