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Title:
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Call for Mayor Lori Lightfoot to publicly endorse reforms to police union collective bargaining agreements
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Topic:
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CITY COUNCIL - Miscellaneous
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WHEREAS, The Chicago Police Department has acted in a manner that has damaged the trust given to it by millions of Chicago residents; and
WHEREAS, The Police Accountability Task Force appointed by Mayor Emanuel found that African-Americans were disproportionately stopped, injured, and killed by Chicago Police Officers; and
WHEREAS, The Police Accountability Task Force made over 100 recommendations, specifically citing lack of accountability as a critical area that needed to be addressed; and
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Justice found that the Chicago Police Department "engaged in a pattern or practice of unreasonable force - including deadly force -in violation of the Fourth Amendment ofthe Constitution"; and
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Justice found that excessive force was used disproportionally on communities of color; and
WHEREAS, Both the United States Department of Justice and the Police Accountability Task Force recommended reforming the collective bargaining agreements between the police unions and the City of Chicago since they contributed to the lack of accountability; and
WHEREAS, The police union collective bargaining agreement for Sergeants, Captains, and Lieutenants is currently being negotiated; and
WHEREAS, The agreement, as currently written, makes it easy for officers to lie, and difficult for misconduct to be identified or investigated; and
WHEREAS, The Coalition for Accountability in Police Contracts has made specific recommendations to reform the agreements, which include recommendations made by the Police Accountability Task Force; and
WHEREAS, Many communities, particularly African-American communities, demand that police officers that cross the line are held accountable; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Members of the City Council of the City of Chicago, assembled this eighteenth day of March, 2020, do hereby:
(1) Call upon Mayor Lori Lightfoot to publicly endorse the following reforms to the police union collective bargaining agreements:
(a) Remove the requirement that an affidavit be signed before a complaint may be investigated;
Remove the restriction on the investigation of anonymous complaints;
Remove the requirement that the name and address of a complainant be disclosed to the officer in question;
Remove the ban on rewards for police officers who provide information about misconduct;
Do not allow officers a 24-hour delay to give a statement after a shooting, and require that the officer in question be separated and not allowed to communicate with other officers;
Do not allow officers to change their official statements if they do not see a video recording or hear an audio recording ofthe incident before giving their statement;
Remove any restrictions on the use of past disciplinary records in the investigation and resolution of current complaints;
Do not require or allow the destruction of disciplinary records;
(i) Remove the restriction on investigating complaints that are over
five years old without permission ofthe Superintendent;
(j) Remove the constraints on interrogators' questioning of officers;
(k) Remove the requirement that officers be given unnecessarily detailed information
before their interrogation;
(1) Require the public disclosure of the identities of officers who are subject to a civilian
complaint;
(m) Require that officers disclose any other jobs or sources of income;
(n) Reduce years of seniority for officers who have been repeatedly recommended for
suspension because of findings of complaints filed against them; and
(2) Call upon the State of Illinois to convene one or more hearings that include testimony from
victims of police misconduct, organizations advocating for police accountability reform, and
police officers, with the goal of implementing personal liability insurance of police officers as
well as the licensure of police officers statewide;