Chicago wants court oversight of police reform
CHICAGO — The city of Chicago changed course Tuesday and said it now wants to carry out far-reaching reforms of its police department under federal court supervision, with Mayor Rahm Emanuel accusing the Trump administration of being “disinterested in reform.”
Emanuel and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan held a news conference to announce the change, saying they are seeking court oversight through a new lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by the state of Illinois. It names the city of Chicago as the defendant.
The legal action effectively kills a draft deal on police reforms negotiated over several months between Chicago and the Trump administration. The draft included no role for the courts and drew sharp criticism from activists, who said reforms of the city’s 12,000-officer force couldn’t possibly work without court scrutiny.
Community activists in Chicago also blasted Emanuel at the time for his willingness to cut a deal with the Department of Justice and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. They accused the mayor of reneging on a pledge early this year to take any police-reform plan to a judge and make it legally binding in the form of a consent decree.
Emanuel on Tuesday blamed officials under President Trump for abandoning the standard practice of the Obama administration of taking police reform plans to a judge.
“The Trump administration has rejected the path of a consent decree ... and it became clear they are disinterested in reform,” he told reporters.
Standing next to Emanuel, Madigan said the state of Illinois was “stepping into the shoes of the Department of Justice ... shoes that the DOJ has abandoned.”
The Justice Department investigation was prompted by a video released in late 2015 that showed a white police officer shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times, as the teenager appeared to walk away from police carrying a small, folded knife. The video’s release prompted weeks of protests and calls for reforms.