Chicago Police Accountability Task Force

The Chicago Police Accountability Task Force (CPATF) was a task force created to "review the system of accountability, oversight and training that is currently in place for Chicago's police officers" in 2015.[1][2] It was announced via press release on December 1, 2015,[1] in the wake of the murder of Laquan McDonald and the protests and political fallout afterward.[3] On April 13, 2016, the task force released its final report, which found "racism and systemic failures in the city's police force, validating complaints made for years by African-American residents."[4]

The Chicago Police Accountability Task Force final report

Members

The members of the task force included:[5][6]

  • Lori Lightfoot – president of the Chicago Police Board and Task Force chair[7]
  • Deval Patrick - senior advisor
  • Sergio Acosta – partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson and a former federal prosecutor
  • Joseph M. Ferguson – inspector general of the City of Chicago
  • Hiram Grau – former director of the Illinois State Police and former deputy superintendent of the Chicago Police Department
  • Randolph N. Stone – University of Chicago Law School professor, director of the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Project Clinic and former Cook County public defender

Public community forums
Forum at South Shore Cultural Center

The task force held four public community forums in February 2016 and one press event in April 2016 and published the meetings on YouTube.[8][9]

Final report
Task Force chair Lori Lightfoot unveils the report

The final report used Chicago police data to show that African-Americans were regularly and disproportionately abused and denied rights, which had been reported by many African-American residents of Chicago over many years.[10][11][12] Chicago's population is approximately one-third black, Hispanic and white and according to the report, 404 people were shot by the Chicago police between 2008 and 2015 and 74 percent of those were African-American.[10] According to the New York Times, the final report "was blistering, blunt and backed up by devastating statistics."[10]

Reactions

As a result of the report, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that he would be implementing roughly one-third of the 76 recommendations in the report.[13][14]

Dean Angelo, the president of Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7,[15] declared the accusation of racism in the Chicago Police Department "biased".[16] Lori Lightfoot, who was on the task force, responded to Angelo:[17] "It is hard to fathom that Mr. Angelo maintains his reflexive, uninformed position when it is obviously belied by the facts. Does he really believe that a better trained, better prepared and more professional police force will not inure to the benefit of his members?"[18]

References
  1. "City of Chicago :: Mayor Emanuel Announces Task Force on Police Accountability". CityOfChicago.org. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  2. Davey, Monica; Smith, Mitch (2016-04-13). "Chicago Police Dept. Plagued by Systemic Racism, Task Force Finds". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  3. "Unpacking the Police Accountability Task Force Report". Wbez.org. 16 April 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  4. "Chicago Police Accountability Task Force Report". The New York Times. April 13, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  5. "Meet the members of Emanuel's new police accountability task force". WGN-TV. December 2015. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
  6. "Chicago City Police Task Force Members". Chicagopatf.org. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  7. "Police Accountability Task Force Members". chicagopatf.org. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  8. Chicago Police Accountability Task Force. YouTube. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
  9. "Events: Task Force Community Forums". Chicagopatf.org. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  10. "Chicago Police Dept. Plagued by Systemic Racism, Task Force Finds". The New York Times. April 14, 2016.
  11. "Inside the Chicago Police Department's race problem". PBS NewsHour. 14 April 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  12. "Chicago police reforms". The Economist. April 23, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  13. "Chicago Police Department will implement task force reforms". ABC7 Chicago. 21 April 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  14. Josh Sanburn. "Chicago Police Reforms: Mayor Makes Some Changes but Not All". Time. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  15. "FOP President Dean Angelo Responds to Task Force Recommendations". Chicago Tonight - WTTW. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  16. "Police union: Low morale will crater following 'biased' report". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  17. "Lori Lightfoot: Dean Angelo 'Misses the Mark' on Task Force Recommendations". Chicago Tonight - WTTW. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  18. "Fraternal Order Letter" (PDF). ChicagoTonight.WTTW.com. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
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