City watchdog says Chicago police have better plan to handle protests, but concerns remain
CHICAGO (CBS) – The Democratic National Convention comes to Chicago in just over 80 days, and the big question many are asking is whether police will be prepared for the expected protests.
The city's inspector general documented in a new report the improvements made in the Chicago Police Department's response to mass gatherings and large-scale events. She's documented how the department has conducted drills and tested its plans, as well as drafted extensive revisions to its use of force policy.
Deborah Witzburg, the inspector general for the City of Chicago, said since the unrest that enveloped the city in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in 2020, the city has put together a number of interagency plans that can lead to a more organized response when it comes to mass gatherings. Witzburg also said police officers have more equipment.
"One of the things that went wrong in 2020 is that many CPD members were deployed in that response without body-worn cameras," Witzburg said. "That's a problem for evidence collection. That's a problem for accountability. All kinds of things went wrong as a result of that. CPD now reports that they have more body-worn cameras. They are better equipped to deploy them across a response. That's a very important improvement."
The department has also made changes to officers' responsibilities during mass arrests.
"On mass arrest processing, the policies are clearer than they used to be on the circumstances under which a mass arrest event can be declared," Witzburg said. "They're clearer about who can make that declaration and what happens when that declaration is made."
Still, the watchdog found that the department's crowd control management training included outdated tactics and did not explain constitutional protections, possibly jeopardizing demonstrators' First Amendment rights.
Witzburg said another area of concern are department draft policies that still need to be finalized, even though the department has started training in those areas. She said if those drafts change, there could be confusion for the members who trained under the draft policies.
She said the department posted the draft directives for public comment as a part of the process to engage the community.
"And I think there's a real risk where those policies were posted for public comment while CPD had already begun training their members on them," Witzburg said. "That risks an appearance that the community engagement and public comment process is sort of box-checking, rather than a sincere effort to integrate community feedback into the policy."
In response to the report, the Chicago Police Department said, "community feedback included not only the posting of the draft policies online for public comment, but also discussions with the coalition of community groups represented in the consent decree."
The department added there was a comprehensive review of a number of policies related to the civil unrest in 2020 and discussion with a coalition of community groups. The criticism helped to inform and guide the policies and procedures in place.
So, will the Chicago Police Department be ready for the upcoming Democratic National Convention in August? CBS 2 asked Witzburg directly.
"I hope so," she said. "I think there's reason to be hopeful and heartened by the progress we've made since 2020. Chicago can ill afford to repeat the mistakes of 2020."