CHICAGO – The Independent Monitoring Team overseeing implementation of the federal consent decree aimed a bringing much-needed reform to the Chicago Police Department today issued a report assessing the response of the CPD and City to protests that occurred during the summer and fall of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota. The following can be attributed to Nusrat Choudhury, legal director for the ACLU of Illinois:

Over more than 450 pages, the Independent Monitor’s report and testimony by community members confirm what Chicagoans saw and experienced during the summer and fall of 2020. Chicago police repeatedly engaged in excessive force, disrespectful behavior, and retaliation against people who were exercising their rights under the First Amendment to protest police violence against Black and brown people. The report also shows that there has been little to no discipline of officers who engaged in misconduct and that numerous officers covered up their nameplates and badges in an effort to evade accountability.

These patterns of police violence and misconduct underscore the ongoing harm to Chicagoans from the City and CPD’s failure to implement requirements of the federal consent decree. This includes desperately needed changes to ensure police accountability, respect for community members, unbiased policing, and a dramatic reduction in police use of force against people. The City and CPD must make real the words and promises of the consent decree to transform policing in Chicago, including when people gather in public to protest violent and racist policing.