An in-depth look at the City of
Chicago and Cook County suburbs finds thousands of lawsuits and hundreds of
millions of dollars in payments to police-misconduct victims and attorneys.
By Andrew Schroedter
Better Government Association
The City of Chicago has spent
more than a half-billion dollars on police-related legal claims over the past
decade.
But the gut-wrenching payouts
can’t all be blamed on notorious ex-Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge, whose detectives
elicited false confessions through torture.
Payments relating to the
now-imprisoned Burge account for a fraction of the $521.3 million the city has
spent on police-related settlements, judgments, legal fees and other costs
since 2004, the Better Government Association has found.
The BGA also looked at what 132
Cook County suburbs paid for police misconduct-related claims and found a total
of more than $42 million was spent over the last five years.
The true cost for both the city
and suburbs, though, is even higher, as the BGA counted settlements and
judgments, legal bills and other fees – but not less tangible expenses.
It’s important to note this
isn’t just a financial issue.
Police misconduct has inflicted
pain and suffering on numerous residents, and by the same token false
allegations against officers also can exact a toll.
The numbers, however, speak for
themselves.
In 2013 alone, the city shelled
out $84.6 million – the largest annual payout in the decade analyzed by the
BGA, and more than triple the $27.3 million the city had initially projected to
spend last year.
A comparison to other major
cities is difficult.
But the BGA found that New York
City paid $151.9 million in the most recent fiscal year with figures available
– more than Chicago has paid in any year since 2004. But New York’s population
and police force is three times as large.
Los Angeles, which has a similar-sized
police force as Chicago, paid nearly $20 million last year – the last time
Chicago paid so little was $18.5 million in 2005.
Other BGA findings include:
+ More than 1,600
misconduct-related lawsuits had been filed against Chicago police from 2009 to
2013, a majority alleging excessive force. (An exact number for years 2004 to
2008 was not available.)
+ The city paid $391.5 million
in settlements and judgments over the last decade. Nearly 15 percent, or $57
million, went to Burge victims.
+ Additionally, the city paid
$49.8 million in plaintiff attorney fees and other costs related to all
misconduct claims and an estimated $80 million for defense attorneys.
+ In the suburbs, more than a
quarter of the misconduct lawsuits were concentrated in six towns: Berwyn,
Calumet City, Cicero, Dolton, Harvey and Markham. Collectively, those suburbs
have paid more than $23 million since 2008.
Political leaders in the city
and suburbs say they’re working to address the problem.
But criminal justice experts
tell the BGA that won’t happen, at least in Chicago, until police address a
so-called “code of silence” – where officers refuse to tell on each other for
misbehavior – and a flawed disciplinary system that together allow misconduct
to prosper.
“Until that changes we’re going
to continue to pay out money,” says University of Chicago law professor Craig
Futterman, who has co-authored a report on Chicago police misconduct.
