Release list of cops with multiple complaints, aldermen urge
Twenty-eight aldermen asked a federal judge Monday to release to them confidential information concerning hundreds of Chicago police officers who have been repeatedly accused of abusing civilians.
Their action escalated a controversy over police misconduct, including charges that seven members of the elite special operations division beat and shook down civilians and one member plotted to kill a fellow officer.
"Amid reports that rogue officers with a history of multiple abuse complaints are using their position for criminal purposes, it is imperative that the City Council have access to documents that may disclose patterns of criminal activity," the aldermen said in a 13-page petition.
The petition sought a list of all officers who had been accused of abusing civilians in more than 10 complaints between 2001 and 2006.
It also sought documents showing the specific allegations contained in the complaints and what if anything the city had done to investigate.
The petition was filed with U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow in the case of Diane Bond, a woman who claimed that police had abused her in 2003 when she was a resident of a South Side public housing project.
Bond has settled her dispute with the city for $150,000. But a journalist, Jamie Kalven, has been asking Lefkow to give him access to the list of frequently complained about officers obtained by Bond's attorneys.
Lefkow granted his request in July. But her order giving him access was stayed by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at the city's request.
City Council members led by Alderman Toni Preckwinkle told a news conference Friday they would ask Lefkow to release the documents to them.
They said they had no success in getting them from the corporation counsel's office.
A spokeswoman for the corporation counsel's office, Jennifer Hoyle, said after the petition was filed that officials were reviewing it "to determine if there's any way to satisfy what they are seeking while still preserving our legal arguments before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals."
Lefkow has scheduled a hearing for 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
Most of the latest controversy surrounding the police department has centered on the elite special operations division that was created to crack down on drug-dealing street gangs. Seven members of the unit are charged with abusing civilians and one, Jerome Finnigan, is facing federal charges that he plotted to kill another officer to assure his silence.
City officials now plan to disband the special operations unit.
But the police have been hit with a series of other abuse allegations as well, and the aldermen have been clamoring for information about just how extensive the problem is.
"We have a right as the duly elected representatives of the City of Chicago to examine these documents," Alderman Joe Moore said Monday.
Moore said that if the documents were released, "I will determine if any of these officers are patrolling the streets of my ward."
"Secondly, we want to make sure that these officers are being supervised properly and that the allegations against them are being investigated thoroughly," he said.