Tell Chicago Police Their Policy Doesn’t Go Far Enough To Protect People From Dangerous And Unnecessary Foot Chases

There is an opportunity to comment on a critically important Chicago Police Department (CPD) policy that does not go far enough to protect people from dangerous and unnecessary foot chases by armed officers. CPD is accepting public comments on its new Foot Pursuit Policy (General Order G03-07). The Department wrote this policy without accepting important community input, and the draft would continue to allow risky, unnecessary chases that can end in officers killing people. For example, the current draft would let armed officers chase people based on low-level offenses that do not threaten public safety.

Make your voice heard! Go to the CPD policy comment portal and share your own thoughts or simply copy and paste the message below. The deadline to submit comments is Friday, February 25, 2022.

The new Chicago Police Department (CPD) General Order on Foot Pursuits (G03-07) does not go far enough to protect Chicago’s communities from dangerous and unnecessary foot chases by armed officers. I am writing to ask CPD to change the policy. Unless this policy is changed, Chicagoans—and particularly Black and Brown Chicagoans—remain at great risk of death or serious injuries as a result of unnecessary and far too often violent CPD foot chases.

The policy must:

• Set clear rules for when foot chases are banned and the limited times they are allowed. Officers should not chase someone down unless there is no safer option and they have a legal basis to arrest the person for a felony that threatens others’ safety.

• Ban foot chases of people suspected of misdemeanors and traffic offenses. This tactic is far too dangerous to justify its use against people accused of minor crimes.

• Explicitly state that catching a person is rarely more important than making sure that the person, the public, and the police are ALL safe.

• Ban foot chases when officers do not have a legal basis (i.e., “probable cause”) to arrest the person being chased. CPD’s policy allows a foot chase even when the officer only has “reasonable articulable suspicion” of criminal activity, which is less than the probable cause necessary for an arrest. Given the substantial risk of harm—and long history of foot chases leading to harm and death in Chicago—foot chases should never be used in situations where an arrest is not permitted.

• Remove the language in Section IV.D that encourages foot chases in neighborhoods police say are “known for certain criminal activity.” This language promotes racial profiling and other types of discriminatory policing.

• Stop officers from chasing someone, or continuing a chase, when there is another safer option (such as finding the person later if the police know who the person is).

• Teach officers about how to avoid foot chases by using other safer options.

• Unless there is an immediate threat of death or serious physical harm to another person, ban foot chases when:

1. the officer is alone;

2. it is hard for the officer to see the person being chased, or if the officer loses sight of the person (e.g., if the person runs into a building).

• Require officers to write detailed reports about every foot chase—no matter what happens.

• Require CPD supervisors to review all reports and body camera videos from every foot chase to make sure each chase complies with law and policy.

• Require CPD to make publicly available data about foot chases as soon as possible after each chase, including but not limited to the demographics of the individuals chased by CPD officers, the reason for the chase, the location of the chase, and uses of force if any.

• Punish officers and supervisors who do not follow the Foot Pursuit Policy, up to and including firing.

Submit Comment here (at the bottom of the page): https://home.chicagopolice.org/reform/policy-review/foot-pursuit-policy-for-public-review-and-comment/