Roundup: Craig Futterman on the Importance of Preserving Decades of Police Misconduct Complaints
Craig Futterman, Clinical Professor of Law and director of the Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project, heads to court today to fight to preserve police misconduct complaints dating back to 1967. He told The Atlantic's Citylab why:
Futterman and Jamie Kalven, the journalist who filed the FOIA request that brought the Laquan McDonald video out to the public, head to court on December 3 to make their case for preserving the misconduct complaints dating back to 1967. Kalven’s FOIA work is the primary reason why the public has access to any police misconduct data at all. But they’ve had to fight for years to get it from people in city hall, and from a police union that is perhaps afraid of what these records could reveal.
“I think that’s part of the reason why the city hasn’t wanted to expose them,” says Futterman. He sets up a hypothetical example of four police officers who made 200 arrests in the past year that led to felony convictions, who are then revealed to have numerous abuse complaints against them. “That could undermine maybe 200 felony convictions. That means 200 potential lawsuits. It raises political questions about who’s been minding the store. And if we say it's easy to identify bad officers like those four, then we’ve been letting them go on for five or six years doing this kind of stuff.”
UPDATE:
AP, "Chicago Police Unions Push for Destruction of Old Complaints":
"We have serious, systemic problems in the city of Chicago," said Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor and reform advocate who is pressing for the police files to be released. "You don't destroy evidence. ... They have to be produced; it's that simple."
Chicago Sun-Times, "City Told to Destroy Police Disciplinary Records Dating Back to '60s":
Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago Law School professor who has joined litigation seeking to make the decades of disciplinary records public, said Friday he was concerned that the ruling leaves just a few months before a court-ordered “bonfire” of data that could be used as the Chicago Police Department makes reforms in the aftermath of the Laquan McDonald shooting and a looming federal investigation of the department.
“I thought the order couldn’t be more clear: the end game is within the next couple months the city is to see that all those records are destroyed,” Futterman said.
CNN, "Chicago's Next Fight: Trying to Purge Police Misconduct Records":
Futterman and journalist Jamie Kalven are asking for the release of all the police misconduct records, which date back to 1967, when the department first started keeping track of citizen complaints.
[...]
"I don't understand why a 77-year-old retirees' complaint in 1967 needs to be on a database," Dean Angelo, FOP president, told the station.
But Futterman disagrees, saying, "It's not just about history. It's about who is currently working. And it shows also the cost of the failure to address patterns of abuse."
Chicago Sun-Times, "Editorial: Erasing History No Way to Reform Police Department":
“When you destroy evidence, you destroy the possibility of accountability,” says Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor who has led a legal fight to win release of the records.
Washington Post, "Judge: Chicago police must notify media before destroying decades of misconduct files":
Kalven and his attorney, Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor, played a critical role in the release of the dash-cam footage by reporting on the video’s existence and demanding that officials release it. Kalven expressed relief at the judge’s order, saying it would give him time to go back to court before authorities could set a “bonfire” to decades’ worth of key information about police misconduct in Chicago. “Ministers, civic groups … are all calling for a full examination of the systems of accountability in the city.”
Futterman called the order a “band-aid” and said it’s unclear what would happen if police officials notify journalists they plan to destroy the records. “We would do everything in our power to stop it, but we proactively need to work toward a permanent solution,” he said.
ABC 7 Chicago, "Activists Battle FOP to Preserve Police Misconduct Records":
Before he was charged with first-degree murder, Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke had already racked up multiple complaints. Those records - and all police misconduct files dating back to the late 60s - are at risk of being destroyed if the Fraternal Order of Police wins an on-going legal fight.
"The very records that can show patterns of abuse, records related to torture committed by Jon Burge, all those records can go up in flames," said Craig Futterman, a professor at University of Chicago Law School.