Mayor Orders New Review Of Chicago Police Use of Force Policy

CHICAGO —City leaders announced that a team of community leaders are set review police department use of force polices as protestors across the country continue to call for law enforcement reform.

"Chicago, we hear you," Chicago top cop David Brown said at a Monday new conference. "CPD has heard the loud cries demanding police reform. We have heard from people who are hurt, angry and afraid." Brown said the existing consent decree overseen by a federal judge is a road map to reform already in place, calling it a "baseline not a ceiling" for bring true change to the department.

The new Use of Force Community Working Group, which met for the first time last week, is a collection of residents, activists, lawyers, students and police department employees tasked with reviewing and revising all nine police use of force policies.

"While we may come from different backgrounds and professions, we are all united in our goal: create better policies and better training for our officers so that we can empower them to addresses situations appropriately and prevent any excessive use of force incidents from ever happening," Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

The group will led by Deputy Chief Ernest Cato III and Justice For Families founder Arewa Karen Winters, who vowed her participation will not be influenced by City Hall or the police department.

"I'm not a representative of the city. I'm not a representative of the police department. I am a representative of the community, of the people, and those impacted because I lost someone I loved to police violence. So, my tone may be always different but one thing I will do is stand on my truth."

Winters said she got "bumped" from speaking about the working group last week when City Hall held a news conference decrying video that showed police officers "lounging" and making popcorn at the vandalized campaign office of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush. She told reporters she was infuriated by the uproar over the video.

"That video of them lounging in his office and drinking coffee and making popcorn did not incense me. But videos that I have through my phone that incensed me was seeing one of my liberator sisters in a peaceful protest, her and her daughter, getting cured and beaten by police," Winters said. She referenced other videos showing alleged police misconduct and offered to help craft a list of officers who she believes should be fired.

Winters flexed both of her biceps at the podium and said, "In this trilogy between myself and the mayor and the superintendent, I have more power because I can go straight to a federal judge to get enforcement."

In about eight weeks, the working group is expected to deliver recommendations to the police department's Executive Steering Committee, led by Brown, First Deputy Supt. Anthony Riccio and Deputy Supt. Barbara West.

The police department had revised its use of force policy based on U.S. Justice Department recommendations following its probe of police department patterns and practices after then-officer Jason Van Dyke murdered black teenager Laquan McDonald.

Lightfoot said the working group's review will determine if those changes have held up overtime.

The working group will return its recommendations in about eight weeks. Their findings will be reviewed by the police department Executive Steering Committee, which includes Supt. Brown, First Deputy Supt. Anthony Riccio and Deputy Supt. Barbara West.