As the consent decree prepares to enter its fourth year, progress has been anything but rapid, with the city in full compliance with 3% of its requirements, according to data released by the Chicago Police Department. Meanwhile, the future of Chicago policing has taken center stage in the mayoral race.
Police Misconduct
Nichols’ family members and their lawyers said the footage shows officers savagely beating the 29-year-old FedEx worker for three minutes in an assault that the legal team likened to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.
Mayoral challenger U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García took direct aim at Mayor Lori Lightfoot Friday, blasting her for failing to prevent a tide of crime and violence in the city.
The surge of crime and violence that peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic but has yet to recede has imperiled Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s bid for a second term, even as the eight major candidates running to unseat her offer wildly different solutions to the seemingly intractable problem.
A grand jury returned indictments on Wednesday against former Waukegan police Officer Dante Salinas in the Oct. 20, 2020, shooting that killed a 19-year-old local man, Marcellis Stinnette, and wounded his girlfriend.
The City Council’s Finance Committee voted unanimously Thursday to recommend the settlement, which is set for a final vote by the full City Council on Wednesday.
According to a new annual report from the University of Michigan-based National Registry of Exonerations, Illinois recorded 38 exonerations in 2021 — 20 more than any other state — marking the fourth consecutive year it has led the nation.
A trio of City Council members blasted Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to fight crime by going after the profits earned by Chicago’s gangs in an interview Monday on “Chicago Tonight.”
“Today is a step towards righting the wrongs of the past and giving these individuals their names back,” Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx said.
Of the 22 exonerations recorded in Illinois last year, the vast majority were drug possession or sale convictions tied to ex-Chicago police Sgt. Ronald Watts, according to a new report.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability announced the conclusion of its investigation into misconduct allegations made against members of a tactical team led by a disgraced former police sergeant, and has delivered its first report of findings and recommendations to Police Superintendent David Brown.
Gov. J. B. Pritzker signed a criminal justice bill Monday that is massive both in its size – 764 pages – and scope. We discuss the the coming changes and what concerns the bill raises for opponents.
The massive, 764-page criminal justice reform bill will eliminate cash bail, require law enforcement officers to wear body cameras and create a certification program for police. “This legislation marks a substantial step towards dismantling the systemic racism that plagues our communities,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said.
Illinois is poised to become one of the first states to eliminate cash bail after the state legislature passed a sweeping criminal justice reform bill earlier this month. Now proponents who pushed for that change hope the measure can be used to reform pretrial services elsewhere.
Both the Illinois Senate and House of Representatives approved the sweeping measure Wednesday, which could end the practice of cash bail in Illinois and make it easier to decertify officers who commit misconduct.
One of 12 officers placed on desk duty in the botched 2019 police raid on the home of a Black woman was accused in an earlier mistaken raid, while another of the officers was involved months later in a fatal shooting, according to a newspaper report.
