CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department has improved its training processes for officers and “devoted significant attention” to its foot pursuit policy, while also struggling with community engagement and building trust, according to a report on the department’s progress toward making court-ordered reforms.
The biannual report released Tuesday offered a snapshot of CPD’s ongoing reform effort — finding that the department had reached some level of compliance in more than 70% of the provisions reviewed but also noting significant challenges the department continues to encounter. The report evaluates CPD’s compliance with the consent decree during the second half of 2021.
In an unusual move, Maggie Hickey, the former federal prosecutor and court-appointed independent monitor, attached a letter to the report that nodded to “major changes” instituted by CPD under the guidance of the consent decree, but also outlined outgoing problems that plague the department as it works to comply with the consent decree.
“Constitutional and effective policing and the Consent Decree require more than a simple checklist: the CPD and other relevant City entities must become learning organizations, capable of identifying new and existing challenges and implementing corresponding solutions,” Hickey wrote.
The Chicago Police Department has been under the sweeping consent decree since 2019, after a U.S. Department of Justice investigation of the department that came in the wake of the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke.
In the letter, Hickey said CPD must “significantly improve and demonstrate its commitment” to community engagement as well as data collection, analysis and management.
Among challenges highlighted in the progress report were insufficient staffing in the department’s office of community policing, with the report noting: “The CPD’s community engagement efforts continue to frustrate members of Chicago’s communities.”
It also notes that the Bureau of Internal Affairs, which investigates misconduct in the department, has lagged behind progress of other departments.
Still, the department made progress in areas, such as training, where it “significantly improved in the resources allocated” to some trainings, though the report says the department still has challenges efficiently tracking attendance.
Also, in response to community input, the department began requiring officers to physically intervene — rather than just verbally — when they see excessive force, the report said.
The department’s 70% compliance rate marks an increase over the last monitoring period, which achieved a little more than 50%.
Reflecting on the reforms in a briefing before the report was released, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown noted that the department has challenges to overcome in community policing, but said the department continues to make progress in the long process of complying with the consent degree.
“This ... is real and significant progress,” Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said, though he added, “We certainly have a sense of urgency around building trust and engaging in the community,” Brown said.
During the first half of 2021, the department was found to be in at least some compliance with about 52% of the provisions evaluated in that monitoring period. CPD also met 26 of the 51 agreed-upon deadlines.
In that report, the independent monitor highlighted concerns with the department’s progress toward implementing a foot pursuit policy in the wake of the shooting death of Adam Toledo in March of 2021. The report said the police department, though it has an interim policy, missed the deadline to formulate the new policy.
The report also said the department’s foot pursuit data was likely inaccurate.
Offering an update on the foot pursuit concerns, Robert Boik, executive director of constitutional policing and reform at the Chicago Police Department, told reporters the department will have a foot pursuit policy in place “at some point this year.” He also said the department is working on the data inaccuracies, and will have a form for officers to fill out that will help in the data collection.
A federal judge in March granted CPD a three-year extension to comply with the consent decree, giving the department a total of eight years to meet all of the court-ordered reforms.
“To do it right and really make the change the community is expecting of the police department, and has demanded of the police department, it takes time to get there,” Boik said.
