Chicago Council of Lawyers’ Statement on the Chicago Police Department
Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice has been a part of the Chicago social justice community for over 40 years. We are proud of the relationships we have built with many reform-minded members of our courts and County government. Like the rest of the community, we are disturbed by the systemic failures exposed in the aftermath of the police shooting of Laquan McDonald.
Our partner organization, the Chicago Council of Lawyers (the CCL), has long been involved in the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA)—first as an advocate for its creation and then as a monitor of its work, including as a co-sponsor, with the American Constitution Society, of our annual Police Accountability Forum. The CCL has now released a public statement deeply critical of IPRA, specifically, and the Chicago Police Department, generally. The CCL—among others—is calling for an independent auditor’s office with the resources and power to act when IPRA or the police board fails to properly investigate or discipline police officers.
Chicago Appleseed agrees with the CCL’s statement. There are many voices in Chicago and nationwide expressing serious doubts about the transparency and accountability—and ultimately, the fairness and effectiveness—of our criminal justice system. One thing is clear: this tragic loss of life, and city officials’ inadequate responses to it, is the product of multiple systemic failures. To prevent such human catastrophes in the future, we must reform the criminal justice system as a whole, from the police to the states attorneys and public defenders to the courts and to the jails. The call for an independent auditor office is a small but necessary piece.