The Chicago agency that investigates allegations of misconduct and brutality against the city’s police officers has released documentation on 101 incidents that are now under review.
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A Chicago attorney who represents a man and a woman charged after a police-involved incident captured on cellphone video said their experience is typical of what happens daily on the streets with police officers.
Laquan McDonald, who was 17, was shot 16 times in 2012 by former police officer Jason Van Dyke, who is white.
The release comes amid a fevered call for greater transparency within the city’s police department.
The New York Times pointed out that numerous videos, which were recorded by police dashboard cameras, surveillance cameras and bystanders’ cellphones, “were blurry or grainy and showed little”. In November, officials finally released a video from the 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald at the hands of a police officer.
The panel’s investigations used to be largely secret but the change in operating style came after Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel promised to abolish and replace the agency, blasting its investigations of police misconduct as ineffective.
The Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) announced today that the agency is fully implementing the policy recommendation made by the Police Accountability Task Force which calls for the public release of recordings and reports related to certain types of police incidents. Video of the incident shows an officer slamming Simmons into a squad vehicle and striking Smith in the head with a baton. The police report noted that his forceful actions were warranted because Smith was “throwing a punch”, leaving the officer “in fear of receiving a battery”. Gordon said. On Friday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the city was “acting boldly and thoughtfully” by releasing information on 101 open cases. According to IPRA’s quarterly report, the agency had more than 764 pending investigations as of March 31, including 75 shootings by police officers.
Critics want to know why IPRA takes so long to investigate allegations of police misconduct, and why cases remain in limbo long after criminal charges and civil lawsuits have been resolved; especially in cases where there is video evidence.
“There’s this guy who is walking around, very agitated”, she said.
IPRA was formed in 2007 to investigate problems at Chicago’s police force, which has a history of complaints of abuse.
“These past few months, as the city has struggled with so many questions about policing and about police accountability, it has been clear that we all agree that there is a lack of trust, and that increased transparency is essential to rebuilding that trust”, Sharon Fairley said.
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IPRA spokeswoman Mia Sissac told ABC News that IPRA can not comment specifically on ongoing cases, but said “the release of materials today does not necessarily mean that there’s been a determination regarding the officer’s conduct”.
