DOJ's civil rights chief details Chicago policing practices in scathing report
WASHINGTON -- The Department of Justice released a scathing report this past week on the Chicago Police Department and reached an agreement to reform the Baltimore Police Department.
Both investigations were overseen by civil rights chief Vanita Gupta, who sat down for an exclusive interview.
“The Chicago Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of using excessive force,” Gupta said on Friday when she issued the long-awaited report detailing unconstitutional policing practices in Chicago.
“We found the Chicago Police Department shooting at moving vehicles, shooting at people who didn’t present an immediate threat, some of whom were fleeing,” Gupta told CBS News.
Gupta believes the problems are a result of poor training and lack of accountability.
“I think, though, what was surprising was just how broken the accountability systems have been and I think how disserved Chicago police officers and community residents alike ... have been because of these systemic deficiencies,” she said.
The training video that these officers watched to learn how to appropriately to use force is 35 years old.
“These are the kinds of things that don’t take rocket science to fix or that many resources,” Gupta said.
Gupta dismisses criticism that federal scrutiny of police discourages aggressive policing.
“The notion that the scrutiny is shutting down police activity, I think there just hasn’t been data to establish that,” she said. “And, look, the reality is that today we are in a world where there is a changed sense of technology and public access to the kinds of things that police officers do on the street.”
Gupta said the police department was cooperative and she believes the city’s leadership is committed to serious reform.
When the Trump administration takes over next week, Gupta hopes they’ll be able to work on a court-enforceable agreement. But the presumptive attorney general, Jeff Sessions, testified earlier this week he is not a fan of formal agreements. He may try to pursue other ways to fix all of the problems laid out in Friday’s report.