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 members of the task force included: [5] [6]
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]
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]
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]
The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and recommendations to the Chicago City Council, is active in the enforcement of the city's ordinances, submits the city's annual budget and appoints city officers, department commissioners or directors, and members of city boards and commissions.
The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) is a municipal corporation that oversees public housing within the city of Chicago. The agency's Board of Commissioners is appointed by the city's mayor, and has a budget independent from that of the city of Chicago. CHA is the largest rental landlord in Chicago, with more than 50,000 households. CHA owns over 21,000 apartments. It also oversees the administration of 37,000 Section 8 vouchers. The current acting CEO of the Chicago Housing Authority is Tracey Scott.
Crime in Chicago has been tracked by the Chicago Police Department's Bureau of Records since the beginning of the 20th century. The city's overall crime rate, especially the violent crime rate, is higher than the US average. Gangs in Chicago have a role in the city's crime rate. The number of homicides in Chicago hit a 25-year high in 2021.
David O'Neal Brown is an American police officer who served as the Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department from 2020 to 2023. He was the chief of the Dallas Police Department from 2010 to 2016. He has received praised by some for his reforms designed to reduce violent confrontations between police officers and the community and increase the department's accountability and transparency. He has also been criticized by the local police union for the methods of implementation of some of his policies.
Garry Francis McCarthy is the Chief of Police in Willow Springs, Illinois and previous Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. He was a candidate for mayor of Chicago in the 2019 Chicago mayoral election.
Nicholas Sposato serves on the Chicago City Council as alderman of the 38th Ward of the City of Chicago on the city's Far Northwest Side. Sposato was elected as alderman for the 36th ward in 2011 in an election against incumbent John Rice, who was endorsed by then Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel. After City Council wards were re-districted, Sposato was re-elected as alderman for the 38th ward in 2015 and 2019.
Michelle A. Harris is an American politician who is the alderman of Chicago's 8th ward and the chair of the Chicago City Council's rules committee.
The murder of Laquan McDonald took place on October 20, 2014, in Chicago, Illinois. McDonald was a 17-year-old who was fatally shot by a Chicago Police Officer, Jason Van Dyke. Police had initially reported that McDonald was behaving erratically while walking down the street, refusing to put down a knife, and that he had lunged at officers. Preliminary internal police reports described the incident similarly, leading to the shooting being judged as justifiable, and Van Dyke not being charged at the time. This was later disproved after a video of the encounter was released, showing that McDonald was walking away.
Susan Sadlowski Garza is a member of the Chicago City Council serving as Alderman for the 10th ward. The 10th ward is located on Chicago's southeast side and includes East Side, Hegewisch, Jeffrey Manor, South Chicago and South Deering. She initially assumed office after defeating Rahm Emanuel ally John Pope in the 2015 election. During the 2019–23 term, she was selected to be the chair of the Chicago City Council Progressive Reform Caucus.
Anthony V. Napolitano is the current Alderman for Chicago's 41st ward, located on the Northwest side and including Edison Park, Norwood Park, Oriole Park, O'Hare and Edgebrook.
Sophia D. King is an American politician and former member of Chicago City Council, who served as alderman from the 4th ward, which includes portions of the neighborhoods Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Kenwood, Oakland, and South Loop. King was appointed to the position in 2016 to replace retiring incumbent Will Burns. She won a special election to serve out the rest term of the term in 2017 and was re-elected to a full term in 2019. She was a member and chair of the City Council's Progressive Reform Caucus. King forwent reelection to the city council in 2023 in order to make an unsuccessful run for mayor of Chicago in the 2023 Chicago mayoral election.
Eddie T. Johnson is an American retired police officer for the Chicago Police Department. He served as the 62nd Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department from March 2016 until December 2019.
The 2019 Chicago mayoral election was held on February 26, 2019, to determine the next Mayor of the City of Chicago, Illinois. Since no candidate received a majority of votes, a runoff election was held on April 2, 2019, between the two candidates with the most votes, Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle. Lightfoot defeated Preckwinkle in the runoff election to become mayor, and was sworn in as mayor on May 20, 2019.
The 2019 Chicago elections took place in two rounds on February 26, 2019, and April 2, 2019. Elections were held for Mayor of Chicago, City Clerk of Chicago, City Treasurer of Chicago, and all 50 members of the Chicago City Council. The candidates who won in these elections were inaugurated on May 20, 2019. Four ballot referendums were also voted on in certain precincts. The elections were administered by the Chicago Board of Elections.
Lori Elaine Lightfoot is an American politician and attorney who was the 56th mayor of Chicago from 2019 until 2023. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot worked in private legal practice as a partner at Mayer Brown and held various government positions in Chicago. She served as president of the Chicago Police Board and chair of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force. In 2019, Lightfoot defeated Toni Preckwinkle in a runoff election for Chicago mayor. She ran again in 2023 but failed to qualify for the runoff, becoming the city's first incumbent mayor to not be reelected since Jane Byrne in 1983.
The Chicago Police Board voted on October 17, 2019, to dismiss Chicago Police (CPD) Officer Robert Rialmo who fatally shot Quintonio LeGrier and neighbor Bettie Jones on December 26, 2015, while answering a 911 domestic violence call at the LeGrier residence in Chicago. The dismissal capped a "chaotic finish to a high-profile trial" where a judge first announced that the jury found Rialmo unjustified in his shooting of LeGrier, but erased the verdict promptly, after declaring that the jury found Rialmo feared for his life when he shot LeGrier.
John Catanzara is an American police union leader, and former member of the Chicago Police Department. Since May 2020, Catanzara has been president of Lodge 7 of the Fraternal Order of Police. He joined the Chicago Police Department in 1995 and was placed on administrative leave after filing a report against former Police Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson. Catanzara resigned from the CPD in November 2021, as his firing from the CPD appeared imminent, and announced his intention to run for mayor of Chicago.
The 2023 Chicago elections took place in two rounds on February 28, 2023, and April 4, 2023. Elections were held for Mayor of Chicago, City Clerk of Chicago, City Treasurer of Chicago, all 50 members of the Chicago City Council, and 66 members of the newly-created police District Councils. The elections were administered by the Chicago Board of Elections.
Five government agencies in the city of Chicago are charged with oversight of the Chicago Police Department. These agencies have overlapping authority and their membership is determined through a mix of appointments by the Mayor of Chicago, confirmations by the Chicago City Council, and elections. The agencies were created and reformed over several years as a result of ongoing efforts for civilian oversight of law enforcement and in response to numerous controversies in the police department.