Report Card on Reform: Incomplete

BY CURTIS BLACK

Early intervention, community policing, diversity, training, supervision, and changes to union contracts are areas where reform recommendations have not been implemented, Police Board president Lori Lightfoot told the Chicago Sun-Times last week. It’s one year since the Police Accountability Task Force appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and chaired by Lightfoot issued its report, with a long list of recommendations.

While an early warning system is in development — to replace two existing but non-functioning systems — it may take a year or more to get into the pilot phase; in the meantime, Lightfoot indicated she is unaware of any systematic interim measures being taken to identify and intervene with problem police officers.

The task force recommended that until a fully automated program is in place, CPD should set up a manual system to identify officers who have ten or more civilian complaints or a pattern of missing court dates or being named in lawsuits, assessing them for additional monitoring by supervisors. That hasn’t happened, according to Lightfoot.

In addition, “Lightfoot is not impressed” with a new Community Policing Advisory Panel aimed at “reinvigorating” community policing, according to the Sun-Times. Community policing must involve district-level engagement and must be “fully resourced,” she said.

Other issues needing attention, according to Lightfoot: revamping job descriptions and selection criteria for supervisors, improving the field training program to handle a hiring surge, appointing a chief diversity officer, and bringing transparency to CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs.

CPD “has not committed to many of the reforms and is only beginning to implement others,” Karen Sheley of the ACLU told the Sun-Times, saying she’s concerned about the pace, content, and transparency of reform.

Many gaps

Going through the task force recommendations from the beginning, the first five have not yet been addressed — significant recommendations on improving police-community relations, including a city-wide reconciliation process facilitated by experts, quarterly summits on criminal justice reform sponsored by the mayor, a plan for addressing socioeconomic inequality, revising CPD’s general order prohibiting racial profiling, and providing detailed information on arrests and traffic stops. The sixth recommendation is the first on the list that’s been enacted: “CPD should resume publishing annual reports.”

The general proportion of one out of six recommendations being enacted to date seems to hold up throughout.

Major recommendations have been undertaken, including establishing a civilian investigative agency and an inspector general for public safety with dedicated funding streams, expanding training in mental health response and de-escalation, and setting a new policy for public release of video and audio recording.

But even there significant gaps remain, including public participation in selection of the chief administrator of the new investigative agency and inspector general, as recommended by the task force.

Major reforms remain to be addressed, including establishing a community oversight board and removing provisions that support the code of silence from police union contracts. Contract negotiations have not yet begun with the union representing officers, but Lightfoot has called on Mayor Emanuel to articulate the principles he will pursue when they do.

Recommendations for City Council action have not been taken up, including an ordinance mandating prompt access to phone calls and information about free legal representation for arrestees and requiring police to wait for legal representation before questioning juveniles; and an ordinance requiring that CPS students receive instruction on their constitutional right in interactions with police.

Emanuel’s promises lag

Changes to CPD’s so-called mediation process have not gone far toward meeting task force recommendations, and a new discipline matrix was issued despite serious criticisms by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Chicago Magazine looks at a list of 25 task force recommendations that Mayor Emanuel promised a year ago to implement “immediately,” and finds that less than half have actually been put into play. The review is based on a “One Year Later” Tracker, an annotated version of the mayor’s 25 reforms, by City Bureau and the Invisible Institute.

Two task force members tell Chicago Magazine that many of the promises on oversight, transparency and rebuilding trust have lagged, in part due to withdrawal of federal pressure. One member points out that Emanuel hasn’t reconvened the task force since its report, despite the extensive research it did on national best practices.

COPA launch set

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is set to launch Sept. 15, replacing the discredited Independent Police Review Authority, according to a report from IPRA administrator Sharon Fairley, who will lead the new agency during its transition. Fairley reported she’s set up a community advisory panel and is developing an independent technology system. She issued COPA’s proposed rules and regulations for public comment.

Watts cases under review

Cook County State’ Attorney Kim Foxx has committed to reviewing hundreds of arrests by corrupt Sgt. Ronald Watts, but the process shouldn’t require years of review, said Josh Tepfer of the Exoneration Project. Tepfer filed a motion for a new trial for Anthony McDaniels, who said Watts’ crew planted a gun on him when he complained about being shaken down for guns and drugs. Prosecutors could skip drawn-out legal proceedings and simply drop the charges against McDaniels, Tepfer said. At the Intercept, Jamie Kalven looks into the many inconsistencies in police reports of McDaniels’ 2011 arrest.

Guevara-linked convictions overturned

After vigorously defending murder convictions based on an investigation by disgraced Det. Reynaldo Guevara — and offering one man a deal where he could go free if he admitted to a murder he has contested for 23 years — Cook County prosecutors announced Wednesday they were dropping charges against Roberto Almodovar and William Negron. Almodovar was released on Friday; Negron is appealing a sentence in another case.

Hearings in two more Guevara-related cases, that of Gabriel Solache and Arturo Reyes and that of Jose Maysonet, are scheduled this month.

FOP elects hard-liner

Officer Kevin Graham handily defeated Dean Angelo in an election for president of Lodge 7 of the Fraternal Order of Police. Angelo has consistently opposed police reform initiatives, but Graham criticized him for providing input during the U.S. Justice Department investigation of CPD and pledged to be more aggressive and outspoken than Angelo. In an interview on WGN-TV, Graham specifically promised to defend a contract provisionrequiring that civilians filing complaints of police misconduct sign an affidavit and other provisions that have been criticized for fostering collusion between officers following incidents of deadly force.

The day after election results were announced, Ald. Rod Sawyer said the City Council Black Caucus would vote against a new police contract if it doesn’t include changes that would make it easier to report police misconduct without fear of reprisal.

Questions in woman’s death

The efficacy of new training in de-escalation and Taser use was called into question by the release of video of the Feb. 10 shooting death of Michele Robey, a woman with bipolar schizoaffective disorder who was wielding a kitchen knife. 911 operators failed to recognize that Robey’s actions strongly suggested a person in a mental health crisis. Officers failed to use time and distance as tactics or call for backup, and shot Robey dead within one minute of arriving on the scene. Their Taser did not penetrate multiple layers of clothing Robey was wearing.

Legal settlements add up

Deon Patrick was awarded $13.4 million in a federal lawsuit charging Chicago police had coerced his confession in a 1992 double murder. The case hinged on the confession of Daniel Taylor, who turned out to be in a police lockup at the time of the murders. Charges against Taylor were dropped in 2013, and Patrick’s life sentence was vacated the next year. Inconsistencies in the case were first revealed in a Chicago Tribune investigation in 2001.

Meanwhile, City Council approval is pending for nearly $1 million in legal settlements in police misconduct cases. Legal settlements in such cases cost Chicago taxpayers $30 million last year.

Torture commission “overwhelmed”

The “cash-strapped” Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission is relying on pro-bono lawyers and law students to help sort through hundreds of torture claims since the state legislature expanded its jurisdiction beyond claims related to former Cmdr. Jon Burge, the Chicago Tribune reports. Last year the commission decided 16 cases.