Jul 18, 2007 7:15 pm US/Central
Chicago Releases List Of Complaints Against Police
Key Information Blacked Out
by Derrick Blakley
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Hundreds of Chicago police officers are the subject of at least ten complaints.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley got a look at the laundry list of allegations and reports important information is blacked out.
It's the list that doesn't name names. On Wednesday, the city finally gave aldermen its secret list of cops with more than ten abuse complaints in the last five years, but blocked out the names, claiming union contracts prevent their release. Critics call that nonsense.
"The officers are public employees, performing a highly sensitive public task at taxpayer expense. They don't have any privacy interest when they're repeatedly accused of abuse," civil rights attorney Locke Bowman said.
Still, the 200-page, one-and-half-inch thick document shows the scandal-plagued Special Operations Section drew an inordinate number of complaints.
Ten of those officers drew 408 complaints. Of those, only three were sustained, or found valid, by the Police Office of Professional Standards (OPS).
The punishment: one suspension, for 15 days and two reprimands.
Ald. Howard Brookins (21st Ward) says the public's long suspected OPS wasn't taking abuse claims seriously.
"It would seem as though they did not, based on the sheer volume of claims filed and the few number of claims sustained," Brookins said.
One officer was accused of misconduct 55 times, with none of the complaints sustained.
Civil rights attorney Jon Loevy said, "What that shows is if you're a police officer inclined to violence in this city, you are virtually assured of impunity."
Mayor Daley only said Wednesday, abuse complaints had to be individually evaluated. "We don't want them to commit any abuse whatsoever to anyone in the city of Chicago."
At least seven special operations officers have been indicted for robbing and kidnapping drug dealers. Many suspect those same officers are prominently featured on the complaint lists.
Aldermen will have that complaint data in mind Thursday as they vote on OPS reforms, including making the head of OPS directly responsible to the mayor, not the police superintendent.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
