Chicago taxpayers paid three times more to resolve police misconduct lawsuits in 2025, as compared with 2024, according to the annual report detailing the cost of lawsuits filed against the Chicago Police Department.

Wrongful convictions have long been the most expensive kind of police misconduct in Chicago, costing taxpayers $131.5 million in the first six months of 2026, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.

The memorial aims to honor the more than 125 Black men, women and children who were tortured by disgraced former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge, and the officers under his command, on Chicago’s South Side from the 1970s to 1990s.

The Chicago Police Department has overspent its budget five years in a row, according to Chicago’s annual financial reports.

According to Chicago Police Department data, there were 210 homicides recorded through the end of June, an increase of nearly 6% compared to the first six months of 2025 — a year that ended with Chicago’s lowest homicide total in 60 years.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling announced Wednesday he plans to retire this month after three decades with the department and three years as its leader.

Community violence interventionists walk high-risk neighborhoods hoping to interrupt cycles of violence through direct outreach and trust-building. WTTW News spent the day with one team to see what it’s all about.

The executive order that first establishes an Office of Gun Violence Reduction comes in the aftermath of weekend violence that led advocates to renew calls for the city to establish a Department of Gun Violence Reduction.

Faith leaders and elected officials called for the creation of a new gun violence prevention department, claiming the existing Office of Violence Prevention is a “ghost office” that doesn’t do enough to keep Chicagoans safe.

From the beginning of his appointment in April, Chicago Deputy Mayor for Community Safety Emmanuel Andre has faced a number of challenges — from how to handle teen takeovers and rising domestic violence cases to aggressive federal immigration enforcement and rising political tensions.

The city’s 2026 budget set aside just $82.5 million for police misconduct settlements, and authorized officials to borrow an additional $283.3 million to cover the soaring cost of lawsuits alleging wrongdoing by police officers, records show.

Marcel Brown's lawsuit was resolved with the largest payment Chicago taxpayers have ever made to compensate someone wrongfully convicted based on evidence developed by Chicago police, according to a WTTW News analysis.

It is not clear how — or why — Benchmark Analytics was selected by officials in the Johnson administration in the fall of 2024 to create the system required by the federal court order known as the consent decree.

David Jones’ federal lawsuit accuses four Chicago police officers, including convicted former Officer David Salgado, of conspiring to frame him in March 2015 for selling drugs in Lawndale.

Since January 2025, Chicago taxpayers spent at least $103.1 million to resolve 14 lawsuits brought by people who were injured or on behalf of those killed during police pursuits, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.

The prevalence of mass youth gatherings, known as teen takeovers, often increases with the temperature as the trend becomes more popular in summer months. So far this year, at least four major events have taken place in Chicago.