A Cook County judge has ordered Chicago police to release police misconduct investigation files from 1967 to 2015, by the end of the year. A judge set a timeline for the release of all of the files by December 31, 2020, after the city failed to comply with a previous court-ordered deadline to turn over 4 years of the files.
At the center of the case is Charles Green, who was 16 years old when he was arrested in 1985 for a quadruple murder on the city’s west side. He was accused of accepting $25 to knock on the door of a drug dealer’s apartment so rivals could go in and kill the people inside. He says his confession was coerced. Green said he gave in eventually and just said what they wanted me to say.
Green walked out of prison in 2009 after a judge reduced his sentence and he’s been fighting to clear his name. In 2015, his attorney sent an open records request asking for police misconduct investigation files for the entire department dating back to 1967 to preserve evidence not only in Green’s case, but for others who may be wrongfully convicted. Green’s attorney, Jared Kosoglad said the order threatens to expose decades of police corruption and other skeletons out of CPD’s closet.
Activists have argued for the release of complaint files, but most have remained hidden. Legal experts say police could have argued Green’s request was overly burdensome. But the department didn’t respond, in violation of state law, and Green filed a lawsuit.
A spokesman for the city Department of Law says the Lightfoot Administration is asking the judge to reconsider the decision to order the release of the files. The department released a statement that said: “The City of Chicago is committed to the highest level of transparency and responds to tens of thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests every year, including requests regarding allegations against Chicago Police officers. This request is different, however, as it seeks every Complaint Register file created since 1967 – approximately 175,000 files, each of which contain dozens to hundreds of pages. The City is currently involved in litigation regarding this request, and the matter is still pending before the court. Complying with this request would present numerous challenges, including millions of dollars in costs and expended public resources.”
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The Justice Department have announced that Chicago police officers routinely violate civil rights, target communities of color with excessive force and maintain a “code of silence” to hinder investigations into abuses. After a 13 month investigation, the Department of Justice has concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that the Chicago Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.
The investigation began in December 2015 after the release of a video showing the death of 17-year-old African American Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times by white police officer Jason Van Dyke. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel agreed in principle to negotiate a consent decree for a federal monitor to oversee the Chicago Police Department.
The Chicago Police Department has a legacy of corruption and abuse. The over 161 page report came to light as the department grapples with skyrocketing violence in Chicago, where murders are at a 20-year high, and a deep lack of trust among the city’s residents.
The report cited unchecked aggressions such as an officer pointing a gun at teenagers on bicycles suspected of trespassing; officers using a Taser on an unarmed, naked 65-year-old woman with mental illness; officers purposely dropping off young gang members in rival territory. The report stated that after officers used excessive force, their actions were practically condoned by supervisors, who rarely questioned their behavior. One commander interviewed by the Justice Department said that he could not recall ever suggesting that officers’ use of force be investigated further.
Chicago is among nearly two dozen cities — including Cleveland; Ferguson, Mo.; and Seattle — where the Justice Department has pushed for wholesale changes to police practices.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Mayor Emanuel presented the report at the federal courthouse in downtown Chicago. They laid out the steps the city had committed to take to remedy the problems. Lynch said the Justice Department had reviewed thousands of documents, conducted extensive interviews, and discovered widespread evidence that the Police Department was sorely in need of reform. It does not train officers properly, fails to properly collect and analyze data, and has little support from the community, the report said.
The report described a broad lack of oversight within the department. “We found that officers engage in tactically unsound and unnecessary foot pursuits, and that these foot pursuits too often end with officers unreasonably shooting someone — including unarmed individuals,” the report said. “We found that officers shoot at vehicles without justification and in contradiction to C.P.D. policy. We found further that officers exhibit poor discipline when discharging their weapons and engage in tactics that endanger themselves and public safety, including failing to await backup when they safely could and should; using unsound tactics in approaching vehicles; and using their own vehicles in a manner that is dangerous.”
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