Police reform task force: CPD must deal with its own past racism

Before it can make any meaningful reforms, the Chicago Police Department will have to come to terms with past institutional racism and revamp the way it handles allegations of officer misconduct.

Those are the findings outlined in a harsh draft report compiled by the Police Accountability Task Force, created by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in response to protests following release of the Laquan McDonald video, the Chicago Tribune is reporting.

The draft of the executive summary also reportedly calls for the elimination of the Independent Police Review Authority, which handles allegations of cop misconduct, in favor of a civilian agency.

In an emailed statement Tuesday evening, Lori E. Lightfoot, chair of the Police Accountability Task Force, said: “The Police Accountability Task Force has not yet presented its report to Mayor Emanuel or the Chicago City Council, or officially released it to anyone and we are disappointed that incomplete accounts of a draft summary of the report are now online and in social media. The Task Force will provide full and accurate information on their findings and recommendations at a press conference on Wednesday, April 13.

A spokesman for the mayor said in a statement Tuesday that it is too early to jump to any conclusions.

“The Task Force spent more than four months developing recommendations on an issue that is critical to the people of Chicago, and those recommendations deserve more than a cursory review of a draft summary,” mayoral spokeswoman Kelley Quinn said in a statement.

The mayor will take a few days to give it “the thorough review it deserves so we can fully understand the thinking behind each recommendation, how they could or would be implemented, and how they fit into the other reforms we are working on, as well as the ongoing DOJ process,” Quinn said.

Quinn said that when the full report is released and reviewed, it should help to heal some of the wounds reopened by the video of a police officer shooting the black teenager.

“Trust, or the lack thereof, between certain communities and our police department has been an issue for generations,” Quinn said. “And that trust was further eroded by recent events and incidents.

“Our focus is and has been on making the reforms necessary to rebuild and re-earn that trust, and the Task Force we created is an important part of those efforts, as is our work with the Department of Justice. Together, we have made significant reforms in the past few months, and together we will continue to make significant reforms in the months and years ahead.”