A Chicago store owner is suing his city after having to undergo surgeries and long-term therapy for what started as a robbery and ended as a police shooting. Just over one year ago, Bassil Abdelal was robbed by armed gunmen at his store (B&B Beauty Supply) on the West Side of the city. He called the police, like any normal citizen would, but their response was not one he expected. [Read more…]
Another Day, Another Chicago Police Misconduct Settlement
Christina Eilman was 21-years old when she was arrested in the midst of a mental breakdown at Chicago Midway Airport. It wasn’t what happened to cause her arrest or even while in police custody that the Chicago Police Department is paying for—it’s what happened after they released her. [Read more…]
Criticism for Chicago Police & Mayor Emanuel for “Arresting Everybody”
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is taking heat for comments directed at Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. Not one to mince words, Preckwinkle said last week that the two were “too focused on arrests as a solution to rising violence and not enough on improving a ‘miserable’ public school system and beefing up youth programs,” according to the Chicago Tribune. [Read more…]
Police Code of Silence Costs Chicago $850,000
Chicago police officials would have you think there’s just no such thing as a “code of silence”, that “blue wall” that keeps cops’ transgressions quiet through an unspoken system of secrets. But, this week a jury awarded a woman $850,000 to the contrary, saying that Chicago police Officer Anthony Abbate savagely beat her, in part, because he didn’t think he would get in trouble—because the code of silence, the police brotherhood, would protect him. [Read more…]
Illinois Eavesdropping Law Unconstitutional Says Judge
A controversial law, making it a felony offense to record police officers without their knowledge, has been ruled unconstitutional by a Cook County judge this week. Judge Stanley Sacks, assigned to the Criminal Courts Building determined the law criminalizes “wholly innocent conduct.” [Read more…]
Woman Found Not Guilty of Felony for Recording Cops
Tiwanda Moore filed a report with the Chicago police department that she had been sexually harassed by an officer. When to police internal affairs officers came to investigate her claims, she felt they were trying to scare her into changing her report and dropping the allegations—so she recorded them. She was then charged with a felony for the recording and faced up to 15 years in prison. [Read more…]
ACLU Suing Over Illinois Eavesdropping Act
In Illinois it’s illegal to record a police officer acting in the line of duty even though they can record you. According to Adam Schwartz with the American Civil Liberties Union, “It’s an unfair and destructive double standard.” In an effort to prove that the ACLU filed suit in federal court to challenge that law.
The Illinois Eavesdropping Act makes it a crime to record any conversation without consent from everyone present. The ACLU states the act violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and that people should be able to record (especially police) while acting in the line of duty. [Read more…]
Some Chicago Officers Not Turning on Their Patrol Cameras
340 Chicago patrol cars have been outfitted with surveillance cameras. Not all of the officers are turning theirs on, however, raising questions on what they may be hiding. According to the Chicago Sun Times the new cameras will be getting adjusted so they are no longer an option. [Read more…]