In the five and a half years since the Chicago Police Department agreed to extensive oversight from a federal judge, there have been bursts of activity to address the brutality and civil rights violations that led to the agreement.
Court hearings: more than a hundred. Meetings: hundreds. Money: hundreds of millions in Chicago taxpayer dollars allocated to making the court-ordered reforms, known as a consent decree, a reality.
Chicago police haven’t crafted a system for officers to work with residents to address threats to public safety.
They haven’t completed a mandatory study of where officers are assigned throughout the city and whether changes would help thwart crime.
And they have failed to move forward with a plan to alert police brass about which officers have been accused of misconduct more than once and might need counseling, retraining or discipline.
The police have failed to act.
It’s not an innocent minority minding their own business.