Police Accountability Archives - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

Community and Advocacy Groups Call for Justice for Dexter Reed and An End to Pretextual Traffic Stops

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts is a member of the Free2Move Coalition, an alliance of community and advocacy organizations working to create a safer, more racially equitable system of traffic safety in Chicago and advocating for the end of pretextual vehicle stops. Pretextual stops occur w...

Help Stop the “Draconian Clampdown” on Mail, Books, and Paper Products in Cook County Jail

Last year, when he was unable to "keep the people in his custody safe," Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart implemented punitive measures like prohibiting visitors to Cook County Jail from bringing in paper, attributing overdose deaths to paper soaked with narcotics and poisons. There were 17 deaths in 202...

Pretextual Vehicle Stops—A Pipeline to Police Testilying

Our January 2023 police perjury report convincingly demonstrates that the Chicago Police Department (CPD) has a culture that condones dishonesty, prevalent lying in court (“testilying”) and, false report-writing by police officers. Along with recommendations to improve transparency (some of which ha...

Looking Forward to the End of Chicago’s Contract with ShotSpotter

The City of Chicago’s contract with ShotSpotter, which was set to expire in August, was recently quietly extended by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to February of next year—while Chicago’s new Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson was campaigning in the fall. This maneuver is disappointing in terms of exhibiting the ci...

Here’s what you should know before voting for Chicago’s Police District Councils.

During the upcoming February 28 municipal elections, Chicagoans will have a chance to directly elect civilian leaders to the newly created Police District Councils (PDCs). The councils, like the citywide Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA), are the product of the Empo...

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