Audio of Chicago Police Consent Decree hearing on Nov. 16 2023

The federal court overseeing the Chicago Police Department (CPD) Consent Decree held, via videoconference, a public status hearing on Nov 16, 2023.

CD hearing
Screen capture of Nov. 16 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 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.

Here are some of the acronyms used during the hearing:

Participating in the hearing were:

  • Jennifer Bagby, Deputy Corporation Counsel, Chicago Dept. of Law
  • Karyn Bass Ehler, OAG Assistant Chief Deputy Attorney General
  • Meredith DeCarlo, ArentFox Schiff attorney
  • Maggie Hickey, IMT Independent Monitor, ArentFox Schiff law firm
  • Sean Joyce, Commander, CPD Office of Constitutional Policing and Reform
  • Rodney Monroe, IMT Deputy Monitor
  • Rebekah Newman, 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 61.6 minutes.

Standard audio:

National Issues Public Safety