Anjanette Young Case Reporting
The case of the botched search of the home of Anjanette Young has blown up in to a full scale political storm for Mayor Lightfoot. The case is a perfect example of just how little command and control there is within the Chicago Police Department and how the chase for guns and drugs still […]
Too Little, Too Late?
Too little effort from the Chicago Police Department (CPD) is going in to responding to sex crimes in Chicago according to a new report from the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE). Today we sit down with Madeline Behr, Policy Manager, at CAASE to discuss a report she authored titled “Too Little, Too Late? The […]
GAPA – What is This Ordinance All About?
The Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA) is an association of multiple community based organizations working together on issues of police accountability in Chicago. The group came together after the release video showing the murder of Laquan McDonald by Jason Van Dyke. GAPA’s main focus has been the creation of a community commission that would […]
COPA Compliance with Video Release Policy
An audit of the Citizen’s Office of Police Accountability’s (COPA) compliance with the City of Chicago’s video release policy shows systemic failures in the police accountability system in Chicago that lead to COPA failing to live up to the office’s obligations under this policy. The policy was put in to place in the wake […]
Data Brief: Rape Kit Backlog – What We Do and Don’t Know
The first step to solving the rape kit backlog crisis is to understand the actual extent of the problem. Unfortunately, decades of badly-kept records, unclear legislation, and a lack of transparency has made discerning the exact amount of “backlogged” kits in the state of Illinois difficult. In 2015, the Accountability Project, an initiative by the […]
MMB: Main, Sposato, & Tokenism
This story is just another case of the local media exploiting violence and a salacious headline to get clicks and then not delivering a meaningful story. I would bet very near 99% of guns used on the streets of Chicago start out being purchased legally through a gun store. This is not news. The fact […]
MMB: Defunding the Police Without Accountability
So, isn’t Lightfoot not filling vacant police positions actually a move towards defunding the Chicago Police Department (CPD)? There is little doubt that defunding the CPD would require staff reductions. I believe Lightfoot is being disingenuous at best when she says stuff like “if we defunded the police, we would have to cut the youngest […]
FOIA: Opening the Finances of the CPD
It is time the finances of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) be open for the public to better learn about how the agency spends money and what that money is spent on. Traditionally the public is only able to access the CPD’s budget in a very basic level through the larger city budget document. […]
CJP Wins Summary Judgment Motion
CJP was victorious in our summary judgment motion in our efforts to get the CPD to admit publicly that that a staffing analysis they say they did supporting Rahm’s decision to hire a thousand officers never existed. Yes, we are fighting a FOIA battle over a document CJP knows never existed. This is just […]
MMB: Spielman & Kass #Fail
Why does the Fran Spielman just refuse to cite Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara’s nearly 50 complaints (10 sustained) and multiple suspensions when she quotes him? He has zero credibility on the issue of accountability. The way to communicate that to the public when you quote him is to cite the fact that […]