Nearly a year after Chicago residents testified in federal court to allege mistreatment by Chicago police officers during protests last summer, a court official in charge of monitoring court-mandated police reform has issued a lengthy special report detailing the scope of police conduct, as well as the city’s chaotic response to the demonstrations.
The report filed early Tuesday is the second time the department has faced criticism for its handling of unrest spurred by the murder of George Floyd, who died in May 2020 after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes.
The report, filed by Margaret Hickey, who is in charge of overseeing the court-ordered reform of the Chicago Police Department that launched in 2019, emphasized that the city and the department have not dedicated enough attention or resources toward responding to protests and unrest since the NATO Summit in 2012, when the city drew mostly favorable reviews for its organization and flexibility in responding to street demonstrations.
The findings concluded that even if the city had predicted the level of protests and unrest after Floyd’s death, it still would not have had the proper practices, training and equipment to respond effectively. The department and city improvised due to the lack of readiness, causing issues with mass deployment of officers, according to Hickey’s findings.
In February of this year, the city inspector general released a scathing analysis that had also concluded the department was ill-prepared and lacked a firm plan for the protests, resulting in a chaotic response that put both police and the public at risk.
The latest report echoed many of those concerns, noting that some officers were even dispatched without equipment, including radios or body-worn cameras. They did not have adequate transportation or rest periods with access to bathrooms at a time they were working 12-hour days to respond to the rapidly developing situation.
Officer deaths from suicides and accidents also increased over the uprisings, the report said. Officers also experienced more than 3,200 COVID-19 cases throughout the response period, as well as doxing and verbal abuse.
While the investigation noted “the vast majority of protests and people participating in protests have been peaceful,” as well as the professional conduct of many officers, Hickey also found “some officers engaged in various levels of misconduct and excessive force,” in cases that remain under investigation.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability had “an unprecedented number” of complaints and videos of officers disregarding policies, including not wearing masks, covering identifying information, using excessive force and using racial, gendered and homophobic slurs, the report said.
“We heard from many community members who expressed new fears, frustrations, confusion, pain, and anger regarding their experiences with officers during protests,” the report states. “We heard from community members who participated in protests — some for the first time — who said that officers were verbally abusive toward them; pushed and shoved them; tackled them to the ground; pushed them down stairs; pulled their hair; struck them with batons, fists, or other nearby objects; hit them after they were ‘kettled’ with nowhere to go or after being handcuffed; and sprayed them with pepper spray (OC spray) without reason.”
Residents also reported needing medical care for their injuries to “heads, wrists, arms, knees, legs, eyes, faces, ribs, and noses” and being detained for hours without being able to communicate with family or attorneys. They reported the “continued trauma” they have suffered.
Hickey, a former federal prosecutor, is in charge of implementing a consent decree that resulted from a Department of Justice investigation and finding in 2017 that the Chicago Police Department had engaged in decades of civil rights abuses.
And while Hickey’s report noted specific challenges the department faced during the historic demonstrations, it also made clear the city bears responsibility for the failures.
“To this end, the city and the CPD have much work ahead,” the document noted.
Among the unique challenges of what the report called the “possibly” unprecedented protests was their size and scope — and that it was happening during the pandemic. It noted the use of social media to increase attendance quickly and the fact that the peaceful demonstrations were infiltrated by people seeking to disrupt them. Others engaged in “crimes of opportunity” including looting and arson.
The report also noted that “various community members” said that their 911 calls went unanswered during the unrest. The document cited a response from Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications that said it does not have data that isolates calls related to protests and unrest. It also does not have data on if people called 911 and were unable to get through to an operator during the unrest.
The findings were based, in part, on the accounts of dozens of people who testified in August at two online videoconference hearings, which included U.S. District Judge Robert Dow Jr., who is empowered to enforce the reform. Many of the complaints stemmed from a July protest near a Christopher Columbus statue downtown.
The report by Hickey also included a detailed response from the city of Chicago, including an acknowledgment that the police response to the protests “was not without its flaws and the department can and must improve.”
The statement continued:
“However, what should also be noted is the selfless service of these members,” the response said of responding officers. “At a time when so many others had the opportunity to quarantine and isolate to protect themselves and their families, these officers stepped forward at risk to both themselves and their loved ones to answer the call from the city.”
The ACLU of Illinois also issued a statement Tuesday after the report’s filing. The monitor found what some Chicagoans said they experienced to be true, according to the statement.
“These patterns of police violence and misconduct underscore the ongoing harm to Chicagoans from the city and CPD’s failure to implement requirements of the federal consent decree,” Nusrat Choudhury, legal director for the organization, said in the statement. “This includes desperately needed changes to ensure police accountability, respect for community members, unbiased policing, and a dramatic reduction in police use of force against people. The city and CPD must make real the words and promises of the consent decree to transform policing in Chicago, including when people gather in public to protest violent and racist policing.”
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