What’s this about a consent decree??
So you keep hearing about this consent decree…(or you haven’t because you have mouths to feed and dogs to walk)
This has been ongoing since January of 2017, and if you’re like us, you may have gotten a little lost on this wild ride of a process. Well, we’ve laid it all out for you.
How did we get here?
The Department of Justice (the DOJ, or “those federal folks”) issued a report in 2017 that found the Chicago Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of using force in violation of the Constitution’s protections for individual rights. Yikes. Following the report, public officials and community members started discussing and organizing solutions to the issues raised by the DOJ report. An independent Police Accountability Task Force followed up with these specific recommendations.
The DOJ (those federal folks) didn’t want to move forward with the process, but the Illinois Attorney General (Lisa Madigan) — along with the ACLU and Black Lives Matter — followed up by suing the City of Chicago over the issues raised in the DOJ report. Through negotiations and lots of community meetings with experts and community members, a consent decree draft was created to potentially resolve the law suit.
What exactly is a consent decree?
A consent decree is similar to a settlement and looks a lot like a court order. They’re usually used to resolve a lawsuit or some judicial process without any admission of guilt. A judge will supervise the negotiation and creation of the plan — and in this case if the police force doesn’t follow what the consent decree says they have to do, then the police force can be sued.
What does the consent decree say?
This consent decree addresses a variety of policing tactics (including community policing), organizational training, and the hiring/firing of the police force.The Attorney General posted a good overview and guide to the issues on a website devoted to the consent decree, with a list of commonly asked questions here. The draft of the consent decree is here.
What can you do?
There is a draft consent decree which has been published and made available to the public. And there is a public comment period where anyone can submit comments on the draft agreement. Give your two cents! The public comment period ends August 17th.
Public comments can be submitted here.
What’s next?
Comments will be reviewed, and negotiations will continue between the attorney general and the City of Chicago. Individuals and organizations with specialized expertise or first hand experiences will be invited to discuss the draft agreement. Once it’s all finished and agreed upon, then a judge will sign off on the consent decree. The agreement will become legally binding and will be independently monitored. It will stay in place until the judge says the city has lived up to its promises.
But there’s a twist…
This past June, The Fraternal Order of Police moved to have the State’s lawsuit (which makes the consent decree possible) dismissed. They say the lawsuit has no merit and also argue that its implementation could cost the city hundreds of millions, pointing to the consent decree that took effect in the LA police department. If the lawsuit is actually dismissed, the whole thing could be dropped.
Still need more info? These articles cover some more ground-
