Police Accountability Archives - Page 2 of 9 - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

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...

NEW REPORT: Fear and Silence – How Culture, Policy, and the ”Win At All Costs” Mentality Allows Police Testilying to Thrive

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and Chicago Council of Lawyers work together to seek evidence-based solutions to social injustices. In early 2022, we began researching the issue of false reporting and police perjury — sometimes known as ”testilying” — in Circuit Court of Cook County. Our f...

New CPD Consent Decree to Guarantee Rights to Communicate for Arrested People

Entered at the end of September 2022, a newly signed consent decree, #LetUseBreathe Collective v. City of Chicago, means people detained by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) must be given access to phones and lawyers in all detention facilities. This measure means to combat the coercive inte...

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