The Chicago Police Department made “significant strides” last year toward full compliance with the federal consent decree, even as the department was tasked with handling protests of the Democratic National Convention, according to the latest assessment by the consent decree monitoring team.
The new monitor’s report, made public Friday, heaped praise on the department’s consent decree adherence between July 1 – Dec. 31, 2024. The report found the police department had achieved some level of compliance with more than 90% of the consent decree’s mandates, though the extent varies by category.
“The CPD has made significant strides toward implementing various Consent Decree requirements, which has paid dividends in achieving Consent Decree compliance,” the monitoring team said. “It is our hope that the City and the CPD maintain this momentum and continue to build on these successes.”
The monitoring team, led by former federal prosecutor Maggie Hickey, found the Police Department was in full compliance with 16% of the consent decree, while secondary compliance was reached in 42% of monitorable paragraphs. CPD reached preliminary compliance in 34% of consent decree paragraphs, and the other 7% of the consent decree paragraphs had not reached any level of compliance.
Much of the latest report was devoted to officers’ response to the four days of protests and marches near Union Park and the United Center during the DNC last August.
“At various events throughout the DNC week, the IMT observed CPD officers remain professional and disciplined, exemplifying the training each officer received leading up to the DNC,” the monitoring team wrote. “While working long shifts and often being subject to verbal taunts, we observed officers remain professional, de-escalate tensions, support each other, and work together to identify, solve, and prevent problems.”
In the months since the DNC concluded, Superintendent Larry Snelling has frequently said how proud he was of the officers under his command during the four-day event.
“This increase in compliance represents the extensive work being done at CPD to implement transformative reforms across every level of the department,” Snelling said in a statement issued Friday. “We are a department in transformation, and we will continue to build upon the foundation that has been set to achieve cultural change.”
The latest IMT report comes just days after CPD announced a three-year strategic plan aimed at building community trust, supporting officers, increasing neighborhood safety and improving organizational infrastructure.
Hickey and U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer credited the Police Department’s latest efforts during a consent decree status hearing last week, though attorneys for a coalition of activist groups and the Office of the Illinois Attorney General noted that many elements of CPD’s new strategic plan are already required by the consent decree.
While largely positive in its latest assessment, the monitoring team noted its “concern” about a recent uptick in reported use-of-force incidents by Chicago officers. Those tactical response reports — “TRRs” — received relatively little scrutiny from CPD supervisors, as many remain over-burdened by other responsibilities, the monitoring team said.
