Illinois is inching toward being the third state to revoke qualified immunity, coming after New York passed the Qualified Immunity Reform and New Mexico passed the Civil Rights Act earlier this year. In doing so, Illinois would no longer allow a legal principle that grants police officers performing discretionary functions immunity from civil suits. This would mean dissolving a history of barriers to justice, accountability and healing in communities where police officers have caused unconstitutional harm. House Bill 1727, introduced by Rep. Curtis J. Tarver, D-Chicago, has recently made it past the committee and is waiting to be voted on.[1] The bill would create the Bad Apples in Law Enforcement Accountability Act, which aims to remove the Illinois court doctrine of qualified immunity for officers. It will open officers up to civil litigation if they participate in the deprivation of any individual’s rights guaranteed in the Illinois Constitution—which would also apply to officers who fail to intervene if they witness a deprivation occurring.
Perspectives
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s surveillance system will outlast the protest movement
|
For communities of color, surveillance is just another iteration of a policing system that inherently views them as suspicious, a digital stop-and-frisk.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
Latrell Allen police shooting exposes gaps in body camera and foot pursuit policies
|
Despite a consent decree and the Justice Department’s flagging of Chicago’s lacking foot pursuit and body camera policies back in 2017, reforms have been slow to come.
TCR Talks
Charles Green says his fight for decades of Chicago police misconduct records is about clearing his name
|
In an interview with The Chicago Reporter, Green tells us about life after prison and what the controversial settlement he was offered would mean for him.
Behind the Data
Chicago Police Department partially restores access to arrests data following outcry
|
The arrest API had been shut down after The Chicago Reporter used it to disprove official claims about arrests during George Floyd protests.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
Community oversight or control? Coalitions meet on competing police accountability proposals
|
Both the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability and the Civilian Police Accountability Council campaigns want to maximize the community’s role in selecting public safety leaders.
Coronavirus
Forgotten: Stateville inmates warn of rising COVID-19 outbreak behind bars
|
In letters and interviews, men inside the facility describe conditions they say are continuing to drive infections at the Illinois prison hardest hit by coronavirus.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
Denying arrestees access to lawyers a longstanding problem at the Chicago Police Department
|
A lawsuit became necessary after Mayor Lori Lightfoot failed to back an ordinance on the immediate right to legal counsel in police custody, a measure called for by her Police Accountability Task Force four years ago, advocates say.
Criminal Justice
Chicago police arrested more people for protesting than for looting in early days of unrest, contradicting original claims
|
Just 20% of arrests during the first few days of protests over the killing of George Floyd were for looting-related crimes, new data shows, refuting earlier statements by CPD that looting accounted for the majority of arrests that weekend.
Criminal Justice
Chicago has nearly tripled per capita police spending since 1964, data show
|
Chicago is spending more on policing per person than at any time in the last half-century despite a persistent drop in crime over the last two decades, while the vast majority of murders remain unsolved.
Criminal Justice
Chicago police investigating 78 complaints of officers removing or covering badges during protests
|
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Superintendent David Brown declined to specify what would happen to officers caught engaging in the condemned practice.