BGA Senior Policy Analyst Alden Loury testified before the Chicago Policy Accountability Task Force on Thursday, February 11. The task force’s members were appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel after the fallout from the release of a video portraying a Chicago police officer shooting 17 year old Laquan McDonald sixteen times. This hearing, held at the South Shore Cultural Center, was the second of four scheduled public hearings throughout the month of February.
Loury cited BGA reports documenting the human and financial toll of police misconduct, including nearly $1 billion of public money spent litigating and settling lawsuits. Allegations of police misconduct have also proven to be the most common factor in wrongful convictions, according to BGA research.
Loury concluded with a brief list of BGA proposals that could begin to rebuild the public’s trust in law enforcement, including the permanent retention of police misconduct records and the automatic posting of certain documents frequently requested by the public under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
The BGA policy team is advocating for these and other related reforms in Springfield in an effort to strengthen transparency and accountability of local law enforcement.
