MAP: How Often Do CPD Officers Use Body Cams In Your Neighborhood?
By Christopher Hacker
CHICAGO (CBS) — The Chicago Police Department's (CPD) body camera program was sold to the public in the wake of the Laquan McDonald shooting as a way to increase transparency and bolster public trust in the police — which officials say is critical to fighting crime. But a CBS 2 investigation found those cameras weren't rolling in tens of thousands of routine stops.
Using CPD's own data, we found many of those so-called "investigatory stops" were concentrated in neighborhoods populated predominantly by people of color.
Although most officers have been equipped with cameras since late 2017, officers on specialized teams still don't have to wear them. CBS 2 separated stops by officers who weren't on one of those teams, revealing there are still many unrecorded stops by officers whose cameras should've been rolling.
While stops by officers not on those teams have been more frequently recorded over the years, the lack of video from those officers on specialized teams mean about 20 percent of stops have no video.
Meanwhile, CPD's arrest rate for violent crimes remains low.