Chicago Forms Working Group to Review Police Use of Force Policy

(Bloomberg) -- Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a community working group to review and revise its police department’s use of force policy, marking the latest public safety reform effort since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The Use of Force Working Group will be made up of 20 residents, advocates, experts and community members who will work with police and elected officials to give feedback, suggest changes and provide formal recommendations to revise the Chicago Police Department’s policies, Lightfoot said during a Monday press conference. The move comes amid global protests against racism and police brutality.

“Ultimately our goal is simple, create better polices and better training for our officers,” Lightfoot said at the press conference. “The best way to do that is by making sure that the community has a seat at the table at the beginning of this process.”

The city’s announcement comes just days after Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man, was shot twice in the back as he tried to flee during an arrest in Atlanta. That city’s police chief resigned hours after the June 12 killing and the officer who shot Brooks was fired. Thousands of protesters took to the streets across the U.S. and the world over the weekend.

Chicago’s working group will meet virtually over the next eight weeks and then present its findings and recommendations to the police department’s senior leadership. Lightfoot said the group will build on reforms made at the direction of the U.S. Department of Justice after the 2014 murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer.

“The use of force policy was revised following the recommendations of the DOJ investigation,” Lightfoot said. “We will see if those revisions hold the test of time.”

Some departments have already started to make changes.

The Minneapolis city council passed a resolution to replace its police department with a community-led public safety system. A federal judge in Seattle ordered its police to temporarily stop using chemical agents, flash-bang grenades and other devices to break up peaceful protests.

In Chicago, Lightfoot said she expects some changes, including crisis intervention training and officer wellness programs, can be implemented within 90 days.

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