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On the final day to submit written comments on a draft court order to reform the Chicago Police Department, activist groups have called for changes forcing officers to be more accommodating with the families of the people. that they have killed, while the US Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, has said he is opposed to the idea of a consent decree, period.
Sessions and its assistants submitted Friday an 11-page statement describing the proposal as too restrictive a measure that could lead to an increase in crime. The comment repeated Session's allegation that the 2015 agreement between the city and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, which required officers to document street stops more thoroughly, had led to a rise in about 60% of homicides in 2016.
The Attorney General hailed the steps taken by local authorities, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel, to reform the department and argued that city and state governments – not a federal judge – should control the future of the force. .
"The US is asking the Court not to include the draft consent decree but rather to allow state and local officials – as well as the brave front-line police officers in Chicago." – deploy flexible and localized efforts to advance the goal of safety, efficiency and security. and maintaining constitutional order in Chicago, "the statement said.
The sessions also indicated that the Justice Department would send five additional prosecutors to Chicago to set up a "prosecution team for gun crimes," among other measures to fight crime.
Emanuel spokesperson Matt McGrath praised additional resources provided by the federal government, but criticized Sessions for attempting to prevent "our public safety reforms or efforts to restore trust." between agents and residents ".
ACLU officials in Illinois have accused Sessions of playing a "last minute political game" to undermine the consent decree.
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"The Trump administration and the Justice Department of Sessions have never tried to get to know Chicago's problems or ask what reform is needed," ACLU's Illinois lawyer Karen Sheley said in a statement. communicated.
The views of the Consent Decree sessions are consistent with those of the union representing the Basic Officers, the Chicago Fraternal Police Order. The union has sought – unsuccessfully so far – to ensure that the dispute that gave rise to the consent decree was dismissed. On Friday afternoon, union lawyers filed a 54-page comment that large sections of the consent decree violated the union's contract or collective bargaining rights and should not be included in the final order.
In the meantime, activist group lawyers, including Black Lives Matter Chicago, have filed an 80-page commentary on, among other things, protections and services for victims of police misconduct and family members. people killed by the police. Activist groups want the consent decree to order the police to allow families to reunite with their loved ones who died after a shootout and to ensure that the bodies are quickly removed from the scene of the shooting. incident. The groups also want the city to provide "trauma-informed psychosocial support services to victims of police violence and the families of victims and survivors of police violence."
Militant groups reinforced their views with statements by members of the family of people killed by the police, some of whom claimed that the police were unhelpful or rude as a result – many of them saying that cops laughed at them.
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Martinez Sutton wrote that the police had given him little information beyond a hospital address after Agent Dante Servin had killed Sutton's sister, Rekia Boyd, in 2012. Servin, who resigned, was acquitted for manslaughter.
Sutton briefly recounted being intercepted by the police after the trial and told that another policeman had laughed saying, "This is the guy whose sister was shot in the head." Sutton, who stated that he had become depressed and that he had withdrawn after shooting the city services for people struggling with the murder of a loved one by the police .
"I started to lose track of time, days, hours and had to drop out of school because I could not concentrate. I could not hold a job, I had to survive alone, "he wrote.
A possible consent decree would probably be one of the most significant and lasting effects of the police reform that took place three years ago after the broadcast of a video in which white agent Jason Van Dyke shot 16 times on black teen Laquan McDonald. Van Dyke was convicted this month of second degree murder and 16 aggravated battery chiefs.
The video release of November 2015 sparked furious protests among African Americans. Longstanding complaints about their treatment by the police have been filed, as well as calls for a federal investigation by the department.
The investigation culminated in a report in January 2017 describing the Chicago police as ill-trained, largely irresponsible and subject to unnecessary violence. During the last few days of an Obama administration often intervened in local police forces, Emanuel pledged to work for a decree on consent.
But President Donald Trump has been appointed Attorney General of Sessions, who has repeatedly criticized federal intervention in the enforcement of local law. Emanuel responded to the lack of pressure from the federal government for court-ordered reform by proposing an amicable agreement, but the lawyers opposed it.
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Last year, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan sued the city and Emanuel agreed to work to create a decree on consent. The city has also been sued by activist groups and politicians have reached an agreement to allow groups to play a role in the dispute.
The proposed decree would require comprehensive changes to departmental practices and would aim at strengthening supervision, improving training and improving the disciplinary system of the city police.
At the end of the month, US District Judge Robert Dow Jr. is scheduled to hold hearings to gather public comments on the draft Order. Dow has the power to promulgate and enforce the decree.
A crucial unanswered question is who will be appointed to monitor the changes. The Madigan office plans to announce in the coming days the finalists of the nine teams selected to follow the reforms in the years to come.
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