Several hundred people gathered in the sweltering gymnasium of Truman College Tuesday to share personal stories of shootings, beatings, and robberies by Chicago police officers, and call for the U.S. Department of Justice to “do something” about police abuse. It was the third of four community forums organized by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division designed to solicit public participation in the agency’s investigation into CPD.
DOJ attorneys Nicole Porter and Emily Gunston listened patiently and empathetically for two and a half hours as a fleet of department staffers recorded every testimony.
The Oakland Police Department, for example, has been under a consent decree for 13 years, and thus far the city has spent more than $13 million to pay for auditors, officer-monitoring equipment such as body cameras, and court fees. Observers say that policing in the city has improved, with a large drop in use-of-force incidents and class action lawsuits alleging police misconduct. However, an 18-year-old woman recently alleged that she had had sex with multiple officers during a time when she was forced into prostitution as a minor. The revelations have rocked the department and deflated perceptions of meaningful reform, with three police chiefs resigning in nine days in June.
Currently the majority of DOJ’s budget is spent on the ongoing “war on drugs,” through the FBI and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Mills says. Only a tiny fraction of the agency’s budget is spent fighting police misconduct. Changing those budgetary priorities would take action from Congress, which earmarks appropriations to various DOJ activities.
CPD received at least $5 million in DOJ grants between 2007 and 2013. And according to the DOJ, CPD received more than $3.1 million to hire 25 officers last year. (CPD spokesman Jose Estrada could not say how much money the department received in total DOJ grants last year.)
And, Mills adds, because the public demand for policing services is high— especially from white middle-class citizens with political clout—pressure on departments to comply with new grant conditions could build quickly.
Thursday, July 14, KROC Center chapel,1250 W. 119th, 6:30 to 8:30 PM.
