The five officers who conducted the traffic stop that led to the death of Dexter Reed and the wounding of one officer had been the subject of 36 complaints that they were improperly stopping Chicagoans driving through the city’s West Side, according to records provided to WTTW News by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
Police Misconduct
Superintendent Larry Snelling’s remarks come nearly two months after the first sign of deep tension between CPD and COPA emerged, and reflect a widening breach between the two agencies, sources told WTTW News.
A federal judge is set to decide whether to force changes to CPD’s proposed mass arrest policy as the city prepares for the Democratic National Convention from Aug. 19-24.
Chicago Police Continued to Target Black, Latino Drivers With Flood of Traffic Stops in 2023: Report
The vast majority of the more than 537,000 traffic stops made by Chicago police in 2023 were based on dubious evidence of minor violations that took direct aim at Black and Latino Chicagoans but spared White Chicagoans, according to a new report from Impact for Equity, a nonprofit advocacy and research organization that has helped lead the push to reform the Chicago Police Department.
Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling blasted Civilian Office of Police Accountability Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten for treating Chicago Police officers so unfairly that he says they are at risk of suicide and compromise public safety.
The Chicago Police Department has fully met just 6% of the consent decree’s requirements, according to the most recent report by the team monitoring CPD’s progress.
Files released to WTTW News in public records requests identify 42 district security personnel disciplined between January and October of 2023. The records included individuals terminated in cases with a controversial video in Albany Park, and a sexual assault investigation in West Ridge.
The man’s brief tenure as an officer ended after he testified as a witness in a sexual assault case for the defense without informing the city. He worked for years at schools including Yates and Amundsen as both a coach and a security guard before his suspension.
The probe by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability concluded that two Chicago Police lieutenants “may have directed an improper campaign of harassment” against Pete Czosnyka “in retaliation for the exercise of his First Amendment rights.”
COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten announced in June that she would seek to clear the agency’s backlog of cases more than 18 months old, which she said were compromising the ability of the agency to investigate more recent complaints alleging significant misconduct by officers.
Two former Chicago Police Department employees were suspended from jobs at Lane Tech and Kenwood Academy. Chicago Public Schools says its revamped program is working, but omits key details.
The 39-page report from the independent monitoring team, led by attorney Maggie Hickey, compiled the results of the feedback gathered from more than 400 Chicagoans at 17 community engagement sessions in February, March and April.
There is no evidence that any Chicago police officer had sexual contact with any of the migrants forced to sleep on the floor of the stations after arriving in Chicago from the southern border, the head of the agency charged with investigating police misconduct announced Friday.
The Chicago Police Department must implement an early-warning system under the terms of the consent decree, the federal court order designed to compel the department to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers. CPD is in full compliance with just 5% of that 2019 court order, city data shows.
The city of Chicago and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office negotiated an agreement to shift oversight of CPD’s stop-and-frisk practices into a consent decree governing the department.
A city watchdog report has found Chicago Police Department rules that require the reporting of officer misconduct have been underenforced and are in some cases conflicting — issues which contribute to the existence of a so-called “code of silence.”
