The federal court overseeing the Chicago Police Department (CPD) Consent Decree held, via videoconference, a public status hearing on Dec. 14, 2023.
Screen capture of Dec. 14 Consent Decree hearing.
Source: U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ill.
Though the court did not make a video or audio recording of the hearing publicly available, Inside Chicago Government has provided the audio below.
The hearing was presided over by Rebecca Pallmeyer, chief judge of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois. Pallmeyer heard reports of CPD's ongoing Consent Decree compliance efforts from staff of the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois, and the court-appointed independent monitoring team.
In August of 2017, the state's attorney general and community organizations sued the city in federal court to compel CPD to address findings by the U.S. Dept. of Justice that CPD had engaged in a longstanding, pervasive "pattern or practice" of civil rights abuses. That suit resulted in the 2019 Consent Decree, which dictates hundreds of reforms that CPD must implement—under supervision of a federal judge.
Some of the acronyms and terms used during the hearing:
Coalition: group of community-based organizations whose lawsuits resulted in Consent Decree
DNC: Democratic National Convention
IMR: independent monitoring report
IMT: Independent Monitoring Team
ISR: investigatory stop report
OAG: Office of Attorney General of Illinois
Participating in the hearing were:
Alexandra Block, Director of Criminal Legal Systems, ACLU of Illinois
Karyn Bass Ehler, OAG Assistant Chief Deputy Attorney General
Ralph Cruz, Commander, CPD Training and Support Group
Craig Futterman, Clinical Professor, University of Chicago Law School
Mary Grieb, OAG Civil Rights Bureau Deputy Chief
Maggie Hickey, IMT Independent Monitor, ArentFox Schiff law firm
Angel Novalez, Chief, CPD Office of Constitutional Policing and Reform
Amy Meek, OAG Civil Rights Bureau Chief
Rodney Monroe, IMT Deputy Monitor
Stella Oyalabu, ArentFox Schiff attorney
Katherine Pannella, OAG Assistant Attorney General
Anthony-Ray Sepúlveda, ArentFox Schiff attorney
Allan Slagel, attorney, Taft Stettinius & Hollister law firm (represents city of Chicago)
Scott Spears, CPD Assistant General Counsel
Christopher Wells, Chief, OAG Public Interest Division
Length 66.1 minutes.
Standard audio:
