Public hearings slated on police brutality

Chicago aldermen disagree on whether the names of police officers accused of using excessive force should be released.  On Oct. 31 Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th), chair of Chicago City Council’s Police and Fire Committee, promised a public hearing on the matter.

Although Carothers said he hasn’t decided when the hearing will take place, he has asked the Chicago Police Department to produce a pared down list of officers only identifying those with the most serious allegations of excessive force and the most numerous complaints of excessive force against them.

Carothers said he would favor the release of a pared down list over the full list currently sought by a group of 28 aldermen. Carothers said he hasn’t seen the list, and doesn’t know how many officers are on it.

“What’s important to me is that there is a process,” Carothers said, when asked why he didn’t join the 28 aldermen seeking legal action in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to make the list public.

“We don’t want to cast a shadow on good police officers. They are only allegations.”

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) wants the entire list made public, citing a study completed by Craig Futterman, a law professor at the University of Chicago, which found more than 10,000 police complaints were filed in the city between 2002 and 2004.  The former Department of Professional Services and the police department’s internal affairs group decided just 19 complaints could be substantiated.

With a history of not following up on complaints or punishing officers who use excessive force, Preckwinkle said, it is imperative that names of officers with numerous allegations of excessive force against them be released.

“Mara Georges promised she would give us the information,” Preckwinkle said. “That was in July.”

Georges, chief attorney in the city’s Corporation Counsel, distributed a version of the list to council members, with names of police officers under investigation blacked out. The city is trying to stop the release of the names in court, fighting the 28 alderman who want the names released.

Ald. Billy Ocasio (26th) said aldermen who haven’t joined the push for the release of officers’ names might be acting in “self interest,” pointing out that some of the officers on the list could live in their wards.

“For the public, we should have the right to know what’s going on,” Ocasio said.

Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) said he was confident the appellate court would “take a hard look” at the aldermen’s request.

Before the Oct. 31 council meeting, a group of religious leaders held a press conference to urge the city to release the officers’ names.

“For too long in this city police misconduct has gone unpunished,” said Rev. Ira Acree, head pastor of the Greater St. John Bible Church and co-chair of Leader’s Network. Acree wants to see officers held accountable for numerous claims of excessive force.

Rev. Marshall Elijah Hatch Sr., senior pastor of the New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, called the corporation counsel’s withholding of the names “embarrassing.”

“I don’t want to spend any more tax dollars covering up abuse,” Hatch said. “The mayor has really isolated himself and it’s time for him to get on board.”

According to Human Rights Watch, a national non-profit that investigates human rights violations, Chicago paid more than $29 million to settle 1,657 lawsuits involving excessive force, false arrest and improper search allegations between 1992 and 1997.

Amnesty International reported that in 1998 alone, Chicago paid out $3.7 million to settle 134 lawsuits involving police misconduct. One victim alone, Abner Louima, received an $8.7 million settlement in 2001.

Developing Government Accountability to the People, a Chicago-based watchdog group, said in its 2007 Report Card that the city paid nearly $100 million between 2001 and 2005 to settle 864 civil lawsuits that alleged excessive force, false arrest and improper searches. The group gave the city of Chicago on “F” in criminal justice in the report.

Mayor Richard Daley could not be reached for comment following the council meeting.