Chicago police have again improved their compliance levels on court-mandated reforms under the consent decree, but the independent monitor tracking the department’s progress says it must “significantly improve” its partnerships with community residents.
Consent Decree
Chicago Police Must ‘Significantly Improve’ Community Partnership Efforts, Independent Monitor Finds
Robert Boik, who served as executive director of the CPD’s Office of Constitutional Policing and Reform, is no longer with the department, a police spokesperson confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
According to the new report, the Chicago Police Department has hit some level of compliance with 380 out of 523 consent decree paragraphs. That marks a 20% jump and the highest percentage of compliance since the consent decree was enacted in 2019.
Parties on Friday presented a stipulation to U.S. District Judge Robert Dow that will extend the current five-year window out to eight years and add in a new agreement that police search warrants will now fall under the purview of the consent decree.
Through the end of June, the CPD has hit some level of compliance with 266 out of 507 possible paragraphs under the consent decree, Independent Monitor Maggie Hickey said in a new status report published Friday.
The Chicago Police Department has been operating under a consent decree since 2019. The order, which was prompted by the 2014 police murder of Laquan McDonald, is the first consent decree the department has faced. But it’s not the first attempt at police reform in Chicago.
Community activists and lawyers engaged in efforts to reform the Chicago Police Department have blasted Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPD leadership for failing to move quickly on implementation of a court-mandated consent decree that is supposed to ensure change.
The Chicago Police Department continues to miss more reform deadlines than it makes under a federal consent decree, according to a new report, though the city says it has tripled its overall compliance rate.
In a new status report, the Chicago Police Department said it “doubled down on its efforts to accelerate compliance” during its latest reporting period after missing 70% of its deadlines in the previous period.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and two of her closest allies on the Chicago City Council remain at odds over long-stalled efforts to put an elected board of Chicago residents in charge of the Chicago Police Department.
The Chicago Police Department plans to adopt only five changes to its use-of-force policies out of 155 recommended by a community working group. Members of that group are now criticizing the entire process.
The Chicago Police Department is struggling to reform the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers. What’s being done to address the slow pace of reforms.
The CPD has named Deborah Pascua as its ADA compliance officer. In that role she’ll be tasked with ensuring “meaningful access to CPD programs, services and activities” for individuals with disabilities.
To better communicate with residents who have limited English proficiency, the Chicago Police Department has hired Roxana Cortes, a former Chicago Public Schools translation specialist.
“We will not tolerate that kind of abusive, offensive conduct on the part of police officers, period,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Friday.
A conversation with the Rev. Martin Hunter, the great uncle of Laquan McDonald, whose fatal shooting by a Chicago police officer in 2014 sparked widespread calls for police reform.
