Chicago to Release Evidence From 100 Investigations Into Alleged Police Misconduct

By Mark Berman, The Washington Post

28 May 16

he agency tasked with investigating allegations of police misconduct in Chicago is planning to release evidence from about 100 cases in coming days, according to an official familiar with the plans.

This release is set to come months after city officials said they would move to more quickly make public videos and evidence in cases involving police shootings, an announcement that followed heated criticism over the city’s decision to wait more than a year to release video of a Chicago police officer fatally shooting a black teenager.

The Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) will release an array of reports and other pieces of evidence from cases, including videos in some of these cases, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plans.

IPRA investigates any cases where a Chicago police officer fires a gun or stun gun that could hit someone or any time a person dies or is seriously injured in custody. The agency also investigates complaints and allegations of misconduct including excessive force or verbal abuse.

This upcoming release was first reported Friday by the Chicago Sun-Times, which quoted a memo sent by a city official who said that the evidence would include audio and video from dashboard cameras and body cameras along with dispatch calls and 911 calls.

These recordings and other documents are expected to come out next week, arriving while the embattled police department is being investigated by the Justice Department and confronting a staggering rise in gun violence.

A task force assembled by Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) recommended earlier this year that the city should speed up the release of recordings and reports from “police-involved incidents” such as shootings and deaths in custody.

This guidance came as the city continued to grapple with the aftermath of video footage showing Jason Van Dyke, a Chicago police officer, firing 16 shots at Laquan McDonald in October 2014. Van Dyke was charged with murder the same day the video was released in November 2015.

The McDonald video sparked demonstrations in the city, with Emanuel and others coming under fire for the footage as well as the long delay before it was released. Following the McDonald video’s release, Emanuel dismissed the city’s police superintendent and said he was forming the task force to recommend police reforms. Not long after, the Justice Department launched a civil rights investigation into the Chicago police force, the country’s second-biggest local law enforcement agency.

The prosecutor in the case was denied a third term earlier this year, and this month she withdrew from the case against Van Dyke and asked the court to appoint a special prosecutor to replace her.

Last month, Emanuel’s task force released a blistering report that assailed the Chicago police and said the department’s own data backed up a feeling among residents that “the police have no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color.” Emanuel and Eddie Johnson, the police superintendent, have adopted a number of the task force’s recommendations, announcing a series of changes meant to increase investigations into misconduct and speed up internal inquiries.

A recent poll found that residents are worried about crime and uneasy with their police department. Dean Angelo, head of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, criticized the task force’s report as biased and said he believed the poll was skewed because it came out as the report was dominating the headlines.

In February, before the full task force report was released, the group recommended that recordings and reports from fatal police shootings and deaths in custody be released within two to three months. Emanuel said he would adopt this proposal and that IPRA would release videos at that speed. His office also said the authority would follow the policy for open investigations that preceded the new policy. (Earlier this month, Emanuel said the city planned to replace IPRA with a new civilian agency, one of the recommendations made in the report issued by his task force.)

A spokesman for Emanuel did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

The release of this evidence is coming as Chicago police are preparing to fight violence through the summer, a period that typically sees a spike in bloodshed. The department plans to deploy scores of additional officers as the summer gets underway.