Chicago Police Accountability Task Force
The Chicago Police Accountability Task Force is "a task force to review the system of accountability, oversight and training that is currently in place for Chicago’s police officers."[1] it was announced via press release on December 1, 2015[1] and was created in the wake of the shooting of Laquan McDonald, and the protests and political fallout afterward.[2] On April 13, 2016 the task force released their final report which found "racism and systemic failures in the city's police force, validating complaints made for years by African-American residents."[3]
Members
The members of the task force include:[4][5]
- Deval Patrick - senior advisor
- Sergio Acosta – Partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson and a former federal prosecutor
- Joseph M. Ferguson – Inspector General of the City of Chicago
- Hiram Grau – Former director of the Illinois State Police and former Deputy Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department
- Lori Lightfoot – President of the Chicago Police Board
- Randolph N. Stone – University of Chicago Law School professor, director of the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Project Clinic and former Cook County Public Defender
Public community forums
The task force held 4 public community forums in February 2016 and one press event in April 2016 and published the meetings on YouTube.[6][7]
Final report
The final report used Chicago police data to show that African-Americans were regularly and disproportionately abused and denied rights, which had been reported by many African-American residents of Chicago over many years.[9][10][11] Chicago's population is approximately one-third black, hispanic and white and according to the report, 404 people were shot by the Chicago police between 2008 and 2015 and 74 percent of those were African-American.[9] According to the New York Times, the final report "was blistering, blunt and backed up by devastating statistics." [9]
Reactions
As a result of the report, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel announced that he would be implementing roughly one-third of the 76 recommendations in the report.[12][13]
Dean Angelo, the president of Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7,[14] declared the accusation of racism in the Chicago Police Department “biased.”[15] Lori Lightfoot, who was on the task force responded to Angelo[16] "It is hard to fathom that Mr. Angelo maintains his reflexive, uninformed position when it is obviously belied by the facts. Does he really believe that a better trained, better prepared and more professional police force will not inure to the benefit of his members?"[17]
External links
References
- 1 2 "City of Chicago :: Mayor Emanuel Announces Task Force on Police Accountability".
- ↑ "Unpacking the Police Accountability Task Force Report".
- 1 2 "Chicago Police Accountability Task Force Report". The New York Times. 13 April 2016.
- ↑ "Meet the members of Emanuel’s new police accountability task force". WGN-TV.
- ↑ https://chicagopatf.org/about/task-force-members/
- ↑ Chicago Police Accountability Task Force – via YouTube.
- ↑ https://chicagopatf.org/events/
- ↑ https://chicagopatf.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PATF_Final_Report_4_13_16-1.pdf
- 1 2 3 "Chicago Police Dept. Plagued by Systemic Racism, Task Force Finds". The New York Times. 14 April 2016.
- ↑ "Inside the Chicago Police Department’s race problem". PBS NewsHour.
- ↑ "Chicago police reforms". The Economist. 23 April 2016.
- ↑ "Chicago Police Department will implement task force reforms". ABC7 Chicago.
- ↑ Josh Sanburn. "Chicago Police Reforms: Mayor Makes Some Changes but Not All". TIME.com.
- ↑ "FOP President Dean Angelo Responds to Task Force Recommendations". Chicago Tonight - WTTW.
- ↑ "Police union: Low morale will crater following 'biased' report". Chicago Sun-Times.
- ↑ "Lori Lightfoot: Dean Angelo 'Misses the Mark' on Task Force Recommendations". Chicago Tonight - WTTW.
- ↑ http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/sites/default/files/article/file-attachments/Chicago%20Tonight%20Letter.pdf
