Chicago Police Deployment Scheme Results in Inequitable, Unfair Service For Minority Neighborhoods, Suit Says

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The ACLU of Illinois today noted that the districts with the highest levels of RAPs (situations where there are no resources to respond to 9-1-1 calls known as Radio Assignments Pending) also were the districts with the higher rates of serious violent crime.
The ACLU of Illinois today noted that the districts with the highest levels of RAPs (situations where there are no resources to respond to 9-1-1 calls known as Radio Assignments Pending) also were the districts with the higher rates of serious violent crime.

CHICAGO Chicago officials have failed to deploy police equitably across the Citys many diverse neighborhoods, resulting in disproportionate numbers of delayed police responses to those neighborhoods with higher minority populations, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and a community group from the West side Austin neighborhood.

The ACLU of Illinois and the Central Austin Neighborhood Association (CANA) filed a lawsuit last month in Cook County court asking the City to deploy police officers more equitably to serve all communities across Chicago. The ACLU of Illinois membership includes persons in the Austin neighborhood as well as all of the other underrepresented districts. The lawsuit follows a host of recent coverage about police deployment in the City of Chicago.

The lawsuit is brought under the Illinois Civil Rights Act of 2003 which makes it unlawful for government to provide services in a manner that has a disparate negative effect on any racial group.

The Chicago News Cooperative provided data last week on the assignments of officers across Chicago following the recent redeployment of approximately 1,000 officers by the new Administration. The data showed that the Citys areas with the highest rate of serious violent crime still have fewer officers patrolling these areas than those neighborhoods that have less serious violent crime.

The ACLU of Illinois noted that the districts with the highest levels of RAPs (situations where there are no resources to respond to 9-1-1 calls known as Radio Assignments Pending) also were the districts with the higher rates of serious violent crime. This means, according to the ACLU, that decisions about deployment are not being made based on the number of emergency calls or the rate of violent crimes in a particular district.

There is nothing that is more frightening and more discouraging than calling 9-1-1 when there is an emergency and getting no response from the police, said Ron Reid of CANA. We know that people leave the community people who are critical to rebuilding our neighborhood because they feel like the police simply do not respond when they are needed.

Communities of color deserve the same level of responsive policing as traditionally white neighborhoods, added Seretha Reid of CANA. No one should be treated as a second class citizen in our own City.

The lawsuit filed last month asks the court to order the City to end its present method of deploying police officers and to submit a plan that will guarantee that all neighborhoods receive equal emergency services.

Richard OBrien and Eric Mattson of Sidley Austin are assisting the ACLU of Illinois in the lawsuit.

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