Hidden From Public View

By: Jennifer Chen, Kimbriell Kelly and Jeff Kelly LowensteinA disproportionate number of Chicago police officers most often accused of misconduct patrol predominantly black police districts, according to an analysis by The Chicago Reporter. And 18 of the city’s 19 black aldermen—in addition to 10 other aldermen—want to see those officers’ names.

In July, the city provided aldermen with information about 662 Chicago police officers who had amassed more than 10 complaints between May 2001 and May 2006. The names of those officers were blacked out and the list did not include any detailed information about the complaints. But the list did reveal any disciplinary action taken against the officers and the units to which the officers were assigned.

Among the 415 officers on the list who were assigned to one of the city’s 25 police districts, more than half were assigned to predominantly black police districts, according to the Reporter’s analysis.

With 40 officers on the list, the district with the most officers was the predominantly black 4th District on the city’s Southeast Side. The 4th District includes the South Chicago, Avalon Park, Calumet Heights, Burnside, South Deering, East Side and Hegewisch community areas.

The predominantly black 7th District, which includes the Englewood and West Englewood community areas, was the next highest with 39 officers on the list.

Citing privacy concerns, city officials want to keep the officers’ names under wraps while a federal appeals court decides whether the names should be made public. But on Monday, 28 aldermen will petition a federal court to make the city share the officers’ names with them, according to 4th Ward Alderman Toni Preckwinkle, whose formal request for the officers’ names was denied by the city in August.

Among the 28 aldermen requesting the officers’ names, 18 of them are black, six are white and four are Latino. The only black alderman missing from that group is 29th Ward Alderman Isaac S. Carothers, chairman of the City Council’s Police and Fire Committee.

“There are several police districts in my ward,” said 3rd Ward Alderman Pat Dowell, who is black. “I need that information to meet my constituents’ needs.”

Alderman Howard Brookins, of the 21st Ward, said he understands the city’s privacy concerns. However, he said it could be useful to search for the officers’ names in lawsuits brought against the police to identify any patterns of misbehavior that need to be addressed. “Without the list of names, we can’t do a sophisticated analysis,” said Brookins, who is black. “We don’t have confidence in the [police department’s ability] to do a thorough investigation.”

The list of officers includes 247 officers who were not assigned to one of the city’s 25 police districts. These officers were spread among 30 different units, including some based in one of the police department’s five area headquarters and others that operate citywide.

With 63 officers, the recently disbanded Special Operations Section, had the most officers of any unit. Seven former members of that unit have been arrested as part of a federal corruption probe. The most notorious of that group, Jerome Finnigan, is charged with plotting to kill a former police officer. Finnigan ranks third on the list of 662 officers. He was the subject of 52 complaints between May 2001 and May 2006, according to media reports.

In an e-mail, Chicago Police spokeswoman Monique Bond pointed out that it would be an unfair assessment to categorize all complaints as extreme. The complaints can range from parking infractions to excessive force. It would also be unfair to assume that all 662 officers in question received the most severe complaints, she wrote.

“The bigger question is how many of those complaints were registered … and later proven unfounded,” she wrote. “At least 38 percent of the complaints from May 2001 to May 2006 were unfounded.”

Like Bond, some aldermen who are among those seeking the officers’ names say the number of complaints alone should not be viewed as evidence of wanton police misconduct.

“You have to read each case to make a legitimate judgment,” said 23rd Ward Alderman Michael Zalewski, who is white. “It’s not hard to put out complaints. So is it warranted, is it valid? Or is it because people don’t like police action?”

Alderman Brian Doherty of the 41st Ward said he has a mixed response to the list. He recognized the need to discuss the complaints but said he also knows that many people use the complaint system as leverage against the police. “It can be a double-edged sword,” said Doherty, who is white. “A lot of these street gangs are very smart when it comes to using the system… you’ll have professional gangbangers who will load up [complaints] on certain individuals, and you have to be very careful about that.”

Doherty said that the names of the officers on the list should also be kept confidential, as their privacy was “paramount.”

Independent journalist Jamie Kalven was the first person to seek the identity of the 662 officers. This past summer, Kalven intervened in Bond v. Uteras, a federal civil rights lawsuit. “Police officers are public officials in whom [we give] extraordinary power,” Kalven said. “With those powers comes scrutiny. These documents relate fundamentally to democratic principles of decision-making.”

On July 2, federal Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow ruled in favor of Kalven, arguing that the public had a right to know how allegations of misconduct by its police officers were being investigated and handled. “The fact that the allegations of police misconduct contained in the requested materials would bring unwanted, negative attention on defendants is not a basis for shielding the materials from public disclosure,” she wrote.

At a later court date on July 9, Lefkow told George Yamin Jr., an attorney in the city’s department of law: “If the aldermen ask you for the information, you have it; you should give it to them. That’s my view.”

A week later, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit granted an emergency motion for a stay pending appeal of the previous protected order that applied to Kalven and case plaintiff Diane Bond. This meant Bond’s attorney, Craig Futterman, and Kalven were prohibited from sharing the information they received about the individual officers.

But when Preckwinkle asked for a copy of the complete list a month later, the city denied her request.

City Corporation Counsel Mara Georges wrote back to Preckwinkle, writing that the “documents are the subject of a pending appeal that seeks to maintain their confidentiality, and we wish to avoid any possibility that allowing them to be reviewed would affect that appeal.”

According to Futterman, the city’s refusal violates Lefkow’s order. The aldermen’s right to the information is no part of the appeal and remains intact, Futterman said.

Lefkow declined to comment on the case, but Adam Schwartz, senior staff counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said the city’s own appeal from Lefkow cannot be used as an excuse to avoid providing the names to the aldermen, who are a co-equal branch of government.

Also in the agreement camp is Alexander Tsesis, assistant professor of law at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Tsesis, who used to work at the City Department of Law, said he has not read the case documents but agrees with Futterman’s point that the city’s actions could be held in contempt of the court.

While Futterman said he and his client are planning their next steps, he added that aldermen can take additional action. “Members of City Council who want this information have the right to go before the federal judge to seek enforcement of that federal order,” he said.

On Monday, 28 aldermen will take that step.

In addition to Preckwinkle, Brookins, and Dowell, the aldermen include Carrie Austin, Anthony Beale, Sharon Denise Dixon, Walter Burnett Jr., Willie Cochran, Rey Colon, Bob Fioretti, Manuel Flores, Toni Foulkes, Leslie Hairston, Michelle Harris, Sandi Jackson, Lona Lane, Freddrenna Lyle, Emma Mitts, Joseph A. Moore, Ricardo Munoz, Billy Ocasio, Brendan Reilly, Helen Shiller, Ed Smith, Latasha Thomas, Joann Thompson, Thomas M. Tunney, and Scott Waguespack.

Waguespack of the 32nd Ward said the issue should be a concern for all Chicagoans, not just African Americans.

“It shouldn’t languish like the [former Chicago police commander Jon] Burge torture case, and we’ve all seen the new allegations against Finnigan,” said Waguespack, who is white. “I think the entire city community wants to see movement and resolve on this issue.”

Aliza Appelbaum, Erin Dostal and Marine Olivesi helped research this article.