Futterman: Chicago Police's Proposed Use of Force Guidelines "Fall Far Short"

December 6, 2016

The Chicago Police Department’s new proposed use of force guidelines “fall far short of remedying the systemic deficiencies that have long plagued the CPD,” according to Sheila A. Bedi, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and attorney with the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center; and Craig Futterman, Clinical Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School, and founder of the Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project at the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic.

The two law professors list the deficiencies in written comments (PDF) submitted to the CPD. The comments state that the set of guidelines:

Fails to set forth the legal limitations on physical interactions between police and civilians.
Sanctions the use of deadly force in questionable circumstances.
Lacks transparency, fails to prioritize accountability and defeats the public’s right to know about police shootings.
Fails to adequately protect the right to protest.
Empowers officers to use tasers and OC spray without sufficient justification and in dangerous circumstances.
Fails to accommodate the special circumstances of pregnant women, people with disabilities (including mental illness) and the very old and the very young.
The proposed “Level of Force Guidelines” import CPD’s old use of force matrix which has proved confusing, impractical and ineffective, and the guidelines are inconsistent with the use of force policies outlined above.