Misconduct costs millions in Chicago settlements

Misconduct costs millions in Chicago settlements

By Safiyyah P. Muhammad

In June of this year, the Chicago Reporter launched a "Settling

for Misconduct," database that includes more than 655 lawsuits

brought against Chicago police oŠcers and the City of Chicago over

a three-year period; with payouts totaling more than $210 million

dollars. Police misconduct includes false arrest, use of excessive

force, forced confession, sexual harassment, illegal search, and

seizure, among others, according to the "Settling for Misconduct"

database.

Susan Smith Richardson, editor, and publisher of the Chicago Reporter said, "We looked at civil settlement cases in which people sued police oŠcers and the City, cases that they said stemmed from police brutality. We looked at the years between 2012 and 2015 and it totaled 655 lawsuits that the city settled, alleging police misconduct."

According to Bill McCa•rey, director of Public Information for the

Chicago Law Department, the Law Department inherited a buildup

of police misconduct cases requiring settlement. He said, “When the current administration took oŠce in May 2011, it inherited a large backlog of cases that were awaiting trial and which the attorneys handling the cases advised that the City was likely to lose and recommended settling. Most of these cases had been pending for years and, due to the City’s liabilities for plainti•’s attorney’s fees in such cases, the cost of settling often tripled. To avoid these increased costs going forward it was critical that we develop a new approach.”

McCa•rey said under the direction of the Corporation

Counsel; the Law Department instituted a new policy called the

Early Assessment program whereby cases are investigated and

evaluated promptly after being filed. According to McCa•rey,

the City makes a determination to whether the case is one that

should be tried or settled. McCa•rey explained that if the City loses

the misconduct case, the City has to pay out the settlement plus the plainti•s’ attorney’s fees.

Richardson said that the average settlements in police misconduct cases were around $36,000. "It surprised us because as a journalist, you look at the media and you see the big $4 and $5 million dollar cases that make the news. The media don't cover the smaller cases, but when you get down and look at these type of cases you get to see how frequent and ongoing these cases are in black and brown communities."

According to Richardson, the 655 misconduct cases have caused a drain on the City budget, which means the City doesn't have adequate funding to handle the ongoing misconduct lawsuits.

"A significant finding for us in this study is that the City is routinely spending millions to settle police misconduct lawsuits, yet it hasn't properly allocated the money needed to resolve these types of cases every year. It's like someone who keeps overdrawing a checking account.

Bottom line, what this study reveals is how much it is costing the City to deal with police misconduct rather than reining in the behavior that's leading to the lawsuit," Richardson said. Richardson stated the purpose of the database was to find patterns of police behavior that were leading to million dollar payouts. She added that the study also discovered what the City knows and how the City is city responding.

"The critical issue here is that there are patterns

that we found in three significant categories, including excessive force, false arrest and illegal search and seizure. Most of the cases fit into one of these big areas. We got the data from the City Law Department and if we can look at it and analyze these critical issues, why can't the City look at these patterns of police behavior that are causing these problems?"

McCa•rey addressed the Law Department’s roles and responsibilities in police misconduct cases. “The Chicago Law Department is not responsible for investigating police misconduct or recommending discipline of an oŠcer but does provide information to IPRA, and COPA, which investigates every lawsuit. Among its responsibilities, the Chicago Department of Law protects taxpayers (i.e. police oŠcers) by defending civil lawsuits filed against CPD and Chicago Police OŠcers.

The City has a legal obligation to defend employees (police oŠcers) in connection with performing their jobs. When City employees (police oŠcers) face lawsuits, we have an ethical obligation to defend them to

the best of our ability.”

Richard o•ered possible solutions that other cities around the country have implemented to curb police misconduct. "One solution for police misconduct that the City could use is to study the patterns of behavior that result in these lawsuits. Then, ask: ‘what can we do to address this behavior?' Is it a matter of changing police policies and standards? Should we change some of these policies so that police behavior may change? Also, is there a small number of oŠcers causing these problems and should we track them and discipline them; or is there a racial pattern involved?"

McCa•rey stated that when an oŠcer has several misconduct

cases against him; the Chicago Police Department is made aware

of the oŠcer’s behavior. “Any time an oŠcer has been sued in

multiple lawsuits, that fact can be a cause for potential concern and further inquiry. It depends on the circumstances of the lawsuits, including whether they indicate wrongdoing. Where the number and circumstances of the lawsuits raise concerns about an individual oŠcer, the Department of Law (DOL) raises those concerns with CPD and IPRA.

Richardson stated that its Cook County residents' hard earned tax dollars are being used to settle lawsuits. "We wanted to create this database so that all citizens; all taxpayers can see where they are when it comes to paying the bill because this is public money. All this money to settle the lawsuits comes through taxes or fees. Most people have no idea that their tax dollar is going towards these lawsuits especially from the reactions that we are receiving. It is not unusual to have settlements, but the City has exceeded set-asides to pay settlements. When money is not available in one budget, it is being sought in another budget to reach the agreement."

Richard advised that community advocates should handle police accountability. She stated that the research was conducted to make the public aware of the problem of police misconduct and the issue of settlements. "Our job is to provide information to the public, and we know that advocates and di•erent groups can use the information anddetermine what can happen to improve police accountability. We wanted people to look at the data, and we wanted them to know what's the analysis are and the cause of the issues on the part of the City and the behavior on the part of the police oŠcer."

Mia Sissac, director of News A•airs for IPRA addressed IPRA’s role as it relates to police accountability and IPRA’s transparency. She said, “There are a lot of misconceptions about IPRA. Under IPRA’s Acting Chief Administrator, Sharon Fairley, we have a sense of transparency. We post all videos of police misconduct on our website. Our investigations are more thorough and timely. On our website, we post summary reports and o•er legal analyses regarding these cases. We help people understand the conclusions and findings in these cases. At IPRA, we have the mandate to investigate certain types of misconduct to find out whether the oŠcer acted within his policy or if there is evidence of misconduct. We are neutral, meaning that we are not community advocates and we are not advocates for the police department.”

According to Sissac, the Use of Force Policy is a public document that is on the department’s website for public comment. The Use of Force Policy defines whether an oŠcer has acted within the policy orwhether he has acted outside of the policy. “The Use of Force Policy is an extremely important document because it is the lay of the land on how oŠcers are allowed to act with citizens.”

Sissac explained that in January of next year, IPRA would be phased out and COPA (Civilian OŠce of Police Accountability) would take charge of the department. Sissac also added that as part of COPA’s accountability plan, it would establish an oversight board that involves community input. “We have a community advisory council, and we want to touch di•erent members of the community. So we have an a•ected family member--a father who lost a son to police violence. We have an activist, a former police oŠcer, and faith-based members who will all serve on our council. We understand how important it is that we hear the community.”

According to Richardson, heavy policing due to the criminalization of African-Americans, Latinos, and Native-Americans is another finding that appeared in the research. "There is a history of conflict between communities of color and police; it didn't start yesterday or a few years

ago. It is a national issue that is too complicated for me to explain

here, but I would say that people of color have had a long history of criminalization in this country.

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