By The City Of Chicago Office Of Inspector General
The Office of the Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety (Public Safety) is announcing its first list of initiated projects related to police and police accountability functions and operations in the City of Chicago.
Public Safety supports the mission of the Office of Inspector General by conducting independent, objective inspections, evaluations and reviews of police programs and operations, as well as by issuing public reports and making recommendations to strengthen and improve public safety.
Its goals include fostering trust and improving interactions between Chicago Police Department officers and the communities they serve through assurance of constitutional policies and practices, within a system of operational accountability that fully identifies and supports the needs of the community and the members of CPD. Public Safety is examining the following issues:
1. Evaluation of CPD’s Gang-Related Designations and Tracking.
Public Safety is assessing CPD’s standards and practices for determining gang affiliation and the consequences of being identified as gang-affiliated. The “gang database” in Chicago has prompted public concern regarding the potential for significantly adverse impacts on those designated as “gang-affiliated.”
2. Evaluation of Departments’ Compliance with the City of Chicago’s Video Release Policy.
Public Safety is evaluating whether CPD and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability have identified and released all materials associated with serious use of force incidents as required under City policy (60 days to publicly release these materials unless they receive a one-time 30-day extension), devised and implemented in response to the recommendation of the Police Accountability Task Force.
3. Review of CPD’s Grievance Process.
Public Safety is conducting a comprehensive review of the grievance process for sworn personnel, identifying and assessing patterns in how its various facets shape disciplinary outcomes.
4. Evaluation of CPD’s Compliance with Body-Worn Camera Internal Review Procedures.
Public Safety is evaluating whether CPD is complying with its October 2017 revised internal review procedures for districts equipped with body cameras.
5. Evaluation of the Recruitment, Selection, Placement, and Training of CPD School Resource Officers (SRO).
Public Safety is evaluating CPD’s recruitment, selection, placement, training and evaluation of more than 200 officers serving in SRO positions in over 70 Chicago Public Schools.
6. Evaluation of the Bureau of Internal Affairs’ (BIA) Professional Development Practices.
Public Safety is evaluating how BIA supports its investigators’ professional development by examining their retention and career trajectories, as well as the training and incentives available to them.
7. Evaluation of CPD’s Compliance with the Firearm Owners Identification Card (FOID) Act.
Public Safety is evaluating CPD’s compliance with Department policies and procedures implementing provisions of the State of Illinois FOID Act.
8. Evaluation of the Strategic Subject List (SSL).
Public Safety is evaluating the accuracy, integrity and use of CPD data in the compilation of its SSL and its Custom Notification Program, to determine whether the data is used in a manner that respects civil rights. Some sources estimate that more than 400,000 individuals are identified on the SSL which, according to CPD directives, prompts the Custom Notification Program to refer social services and community partners to individuals who are likely to be “party-to-violence.”
9. Review of CPD’s Secondary Employment Policy Practices.
Public Safety is conducting a review of CPD secondary employment policy and practices regulating extra-duty employment and off-duty employment for more than 13,000 active personnel.
10. Evaluation of CPD’s Record Management System (RMS) and Production of Records.
Public Safety is studying CPD’s RMS to identify where and how various records are stored and produced for stakeholders. Public Safety will compare CPD’s RMS to best practices and examine potential consequences of record management failures and incomplete production of records, including constitutional violations and operational inefficiencies.
“Independent oversight identifies opportunities to improve public safety by fostering public confidence and trust through constitutional policing and better police community relations, assuring that curative reforms are consonant with best practices and are implemented effectively and fully,” said Inspector General Joseph Ferguson. “Oversight is most effective when it incorporates the perspectives of the members of the communities CPD is sworn to protect and serve.”
The Office of Inspector General will be co-hosting “Community Conversations” with organizations throughout the city to provide the opportunity for residents to give first-hand accounts of their experiences with the subjects identified on the projects list.
Thursday, March 22nd
The “Gang Database”
Co-hosted with Brighton Park Neighborhood Council Back of the Yards College Prep
2111 W. 47th St.
6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Monday, April 9th
School Resource Officers and the “Gang Database” Co-hosted with the Chicago Westside Branch NAACP Legler Library
115 S. Pulaski Rd.
6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 11th
School Resource Officers and the “Gang Database” Co-hosted with the Chicago Westside Branch NAACP Austin Library
5615 W. Racine Ave.
6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Additional dates and locations on the North and West Sides are forthcoming. If you are interested in hosting or attending future “Community Conversations,” please contact MEstrada@igchicago.org. If you are unable to attend one of the listed events and you have suggestions, complaints, firsthand accounts, documents, videos, photographs or questions related to these and other topics around policing and police accountability, please contact us at (866) 448-4754 or reportcorruption@igchicago.org.
Follow @ChicagoOIG on Twitter for the latest information on how OIG continues to fight waste, fraud, abuse and inefficiency in Chicago government.
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Comments welcome.
Posted on March 22, 2018