Lawyer overseeing CPD reform plans report on protests
The lawyer overseeing the Chicago Police Department’s court-ordered reform effort said Friday she’s planning a report on the city’s handling of the recent protests after George Floyd’s death.
The announcement comes after peaceful protests in the city against police brutality last weekend escalated into chaos, riots and looting in parts of Chicago.
In promising “transparency,” special monitor Maggie Hickey said she’d draw on a variety of sources in compiling the report, including community members, Chicago police officers and other law enforcement.
“I agree with that action she is taking today,” U.S. District Court Judge Robert Dow said during a teleconference that included lawyers from the city and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office. The hearing was scheduled to discuss the status of a federal consent decree that went into effect last year and lays out a roadmap for major reform of the police department.
One of the lawyers with Raoul’s office took the unusual step Friday of publicly slamming Mayor Lori Lightfoot during the hearing.
Shareese Nycole Pryor said Lightfoot’s comments during a televised address earlier this week suggesting current reform of the police department had been too slow and too narrowly focused rang “hollow.”
“For the past year, we have seen far too much foot-dragging from the city and the Chicago Police Department,” Pryor said.
And while Raoul’s office agrees that reform has moved too slowly, Pryor said, “The mayor has the power to move this process forward with the urgency it deserves.”
On Tuesday, in her televised address, Lightfoot announced a new set of police accountability reform measures that include training procedures for officers in which community members would share their perspectives on the history of police relations in individual neighborhoods and police districts.
On Friday, shortly after the federal hearing, Lightfoot’s office issued a statement about plans for the independent monitor to review the city’s handling of protests, but didn’t directly address Pryor’s comments.
“The independent monitor has been a critical partner on our road toward building a more transparent, accountable and professional police force, and we join in the request for her thorough review of the city’s response to the protests, violence, and looting in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police,” the mayor’s statement said.