After a 13-month investigation of the Chicago Police Department, the U.S. Department of Justice announced its findings Friday. In a 164-page report, the DOJ revealed that Chicago police officers have systematically engaged in unconstitutional and unreasonable use of force over the course of the last four years. These patterns include shooting at and using Tasers on suspects who don’t present a threat, shooting at vehicles, using force “to retaliate against and punish individuals,” and using excessive force on juveniles. The DOJ did not, however, uncover a “pattern or practice” of racially discriminatory policing in Chicago.
“To Chicago’s credit the city has not been standing still since we announced our investigation,” outgoing U.S. attorney general Loretta Lynch said at a press conference Friday morning, where she was joined by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, DOJ Civil Rights Division head Vanita Gupta, CPD superintendent Eddie Johnson, and U.S. attorney Zachary Fardon. “Chicago has taken a number of encouraging steps, but there’s still considerable work to be done.” The DOJ investigation began in December 2015, shortly after the city released graphic footage of officer Jason Van Dyke shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times.
Over the course of the Obama presidency, the DOJ has established consent decrees over police departments in nine different cities, including Cleveland and Ferguson, Missouri. Nationwide there are currently 40 agreements for police reform between the DOJ and local law enforcement agencies. The latest consent decree, issued in Baltimore, was announced Thursday, five months after the DOJ released the results of its investigation there.
Read the full DOJ report here:
