Critics tell us that payouts now in the hundreds of millions are a sign that the city and police department are not serious enough about reform. If they were, Chicagoans would see real accountability, better policies and better outcomes.
In what is now a familiar refrain in Chicago, residents told alarming stories Tuesday to a federal judge about what they described as racist and traumatic encounters with Chicago police officers.
“Racist and violent policing, unfortunately despite the consent decree, is still the norm being experienced by people on the ground in the city,” Alexandra Block, an attorney with the ACLU of Illinois, said during a hearing Tuesday.
A federal judge granted the Chicago Police Department a three-year extension to comply with the consent decree it now operates under, giving the department until 2027 to implement a series