The monitors praised CPD for making “significant progress” between July 1 and Dec. 31 in effort to comply with the consent decree, which has been in effect for seven years.

Chicago taxpayers paid the monitors $4.7 million in 2025, records show.

The jump of six percentage points in the level of full compliance with the consent decree reached between Jan. 1 and June 30 is the second largest increase in the six and a half years that the federal court order has been in effect.

Of 439 positions in the Chicago Police Department charged with implementing the consent decree, 207 positions, or 47%, were empty seven months into 2025, according to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by WTTW News. CPD officials failed to account for another 226 positions.

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.

Mayor Brandon Johnson acknowledged that the reform effort, which began in earnest when the consent decree took effect six years ago, remains a work in progress.

The latest survey from the monitoring team charged with enforcing the consent decree found that Chicagoans’ confidence in CPD and the reform effort is exceedingly low, despite a reform push that began six years ago.

The independent monitoring teams for Chicago's police consent decree include former police brass who have previously been involved in consent decrees and reform efforts across the country. Despite their professional credentials, some members have documented histories of misconduct that might complicate the long-running effort.

“The level of compliance is unsatisfying to the public,” U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer said. “I am determined that we will be seeing good progress ... in 2025. Let’s accelerate the progress.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson said he will ask the Chicago City Council to restore 162 now-vacant positions to the Chicago Police Department charged with implementing the court order known as the consent decree. Johnson reversed course after Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the team monitoring the city’s compliance with the consent decree warned the cuts would make it impossible for the city to comply with the requirements. 

If the mayor’s spending plan is approved by the City Council, 79 vacant positions charged with implementing the court order known as the consent decree would be eliminated, records show. Those cuts will make it impossible for the city to comply with the requirements of the court order, reform advocates said.

The Chicago Police Department has reached full compliance on just 6% of its consent decree requirements. Independent monitor Maggie Hickey expressed a belief that additional transparency will help bring police in line with necessary reforms.

The independent monitoring team that oversees the CPD’s consent decree implementation published its eighth semi-annual report this week, which found that although the department has reached some level of compliance with 85% of paragraphs, it has only fully complied with 33 out of 552 paragraphs.

“Over the past decade, Northwestern has made major and high-profile investments in athletics. But disturbing evidence of harassment and abuse — and high-level efforts to minimize those problems — suggest that we need to get the existing house in order before expanding it,” six university professors wrote.

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.

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.