Files That Shouldn't Exist
- As the U.S. Department of Justice gears up for a civil rights investigation into the Chicago Police Department, the city’s police unions are fighting in court to keep hidden reams of complaint records spanning decades.
Last year, a request made under the Freedom of Information Act for records of complaints against Chicago police officers dating back to 1967 was challenged unsuccessfully by the city. The Illinois Appellate Court ruled the city must honor the request, made by independent local journalist Jamie Kalven.
In the wake of that ruling, Kalven was joined by the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times in his fight for the data, and city officials agreed to release it.
But then the unions stepped in.
In October 2014, the union representing rank-and-file Chicago police officers sued the city to prevent the release of records more than four years old.
The suit by the Fraternal Order of Police, or FOP, argued that officers would face “public humiliation and loss of prestige in their employment” were those older records made public. The Chicago Police Benevolent and Protective Association, or PBPA, which represents higher-ranking officers, filed a separate, similar lawsuit.
Illinois Circuit Court Judge Peter Flynn granted the unions an injunction preventing the release of most of the files. But preliminary findings show the power and importance of this kind of information.
We fail to see what releasing records dating back decades would show. In many cases, these people are retired or deceased. This is just a broad-based initiative by the leftist agenda muckraker Kalven for his so-called "Invisible Institute" to further smear, tarnish and de-ligitimize the Department. These files were supposed to be destroyed by Law after five-to-seven years, especially in the cases of exonerated, unfounded and not sustained files. That's what a Contract is in Illinois - it is effectively a Law.
If only he directed his considerable efforts at the Chicago Machine, Cook County corruption or the Illinois Combine, but you know lefties - see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil...especially against those who enable your agenda.
If only he directed his considerable efforts at the Chicago Machine, Cook County corruption or the Illinois Combine, but you know lefties - see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil...especially against those who enable your agenda.
posted by SCC at 12:21 AM
44 Comments:
I never believed for one moment that the C.R. files would be destroyed after "X" number of years. And now here is the proof.
link on illinois policy institute.
http://progressillinois.com/posts/content/2013/11/18/new-report-sheds-some-light-illinois-policy-institutes-big-money-funders
If I remember correctly the unions tried to file a class action, but it was denied so seperate suits had to be filed by the unions. I don't recall the reason why they weren't successful.
Question from someone who has long been retired and should not have to worry about what's in those F#&ing files.
But let's say a retiree, gets served with a subpoena from the Feds for something that happened eons ago while he/she was on the job and a union member ...
Will the FOP provide an attorney based on his/her employment and union membership?
Will the city provide travel and lodging expenses if now out of town?
Will the city now PAY the retiree as a continuation of his/her employment?
Will the city pay for rapid onset Alzheimer's treatment?
The unions or someone needs to FOIA the complaint's name on each and every CR. If my name is out there so should theirs. Also their IR and ARREST record. The knife cuts both ways boy-o!
Just let the County take over city government already. That's what they want.
Hey, after ten years I can destroy gun sales records.
The people that did not destroy the records mandated by law should be held liable.
Why wasn't anyone assigned to make sure they were destroyed. Why didn't FOP ensure that they were.
from a troll who has experience with FBI and ATF investigations: DO NOT EVER TALK TO THEM. And if you must, it should be ONLY under a subpoena (you can then envoke) and NEVER outside the presence of an attorney. No matter how much they cajole you, promise this or that DO NOT TALK TO THEM. They will intimidate you, they may follow you or set you up, they may confront you in front of your family, they may sit down with you at a restaurant, they may in a small group walk up to you and flash their g-tin, walk away from them. This business to get complaint paper is going to be one measure to obtain a target list. They will match complaints to police reports and work from there. They are going to try to get you to admit that you observed unlawful behavior by other officers and did not report it based upon your own report, accusing you of a crime. You are under no obligation to talk to them, don't. They should be investigating the government corruption and its merit connections to the police department and not all of you folks. The Mayor has always controlled CPD, we all know that. One even ordered you how to shoot and wound one kind of criminal in May, 1968. Remember? By and large you are not the problem but that is not what they want to find. They want that endemic, that culture of police abuse,racism, corruption that they found prevelent within the rank and file and command structure of the CPD. Then they want to proudly announce that a consent decree has been signed and you will operate under the oversight of the DOJ. That folks is what political history has taught us.
from a troll: my prior post was for the as some call them, hail gels. I think of them as younger police with less experience. I am aware old time cops already know what I posted but it needs to be said. I do not want to see the CPD tarnished with another crooked government investigation.
incomplete files that just have vague descriptions with terms like "verbal abuse" or "physical abuse" tarnish officers names. Yet the City feels free to put out anything to calm the mob.
Once those records are released they will be online forever. So the FOP asking for records in the future being destroyed will be a big waste on negotiations. Every year some ass hat lawyer will request ever CR investigation file from that year and post it to a website. The City should just make their own website with adds and forced log ins to generate revenue.
Time to start attacking the lawyers that represent the city and police department, they have some ethical violations, there was a provision in our contract the last 10 years that is actually state law, the Personnel Records Review Act, which states this kind of stuff must be removed after 4 years, we keep it one more year than state law.... A R D C complaints for all the lawyers, Don O'niel, Ralph Price, Paul Geiger.....
FOP - Please wake up on this issue. It's popped up before in the past. And with the "invisible institute" lurking and trying to smear us it now is more than the "us vs. the city" routine.
SCC - yet another job well done!
With regard to contract being law, remember this is Illinois. So that thinking is shot to hell. And as to "public humiliation and loss of prestige in their employment", gimme a break. How much more humiliation can we face? And you can't lose job "prestige" that you don't have anymore and haven't had for years. I, for one, say F*** "em, they can see my whole career stats, including the dozen or so totally bullshit "complaints" made by the fine citizens of the west side. And I was certainly no hard charger. As our future president (gag) says, "At this point, what difference does it make?"
Does anyone with any legal knowledge know if we as a group can sue the city for them having record of and for exposing complaints passed the 7 year mark? Complaints that exist in violation of a contract?
Not that I give a damn about these complaints, but the city is always getting over on us. How can we get over on it?
The problem is that they weren't destroyed. There is no reason, given that, for a court not to order them produced.
Why is no one talking about how easy it is to file a complaint. How they get investigated. What each finding means. Why the complaint didnt disappear when it was supposed to have been removed from your file if not sustained. I have no problem coughing up data on sustained complaints. By policy they stay with you forever. They also mean in essence you were found to have had a violation.
The idea that all complaints even ones exonerated, unfounded or not sustained are out there being used to taint the entire department is absurd. If people actually new how easy it was to get a complaint filed they would understand what a joke the amount of complaints compared to actual misconduct would be would make their head explode. This is the kind of stuff our Union should be pushing in the media while fighting this in court. Why not use the media to our advantage one time instead of laying on the floor in the fetal position covered up. Exonerated, unfounded, and not sustained all means an investigation was conducted and there was no evidence and in most cases no cooperation from the original complainant with no affidavit signed. Let's go even further and show how the CPD was last in line to institute an affidavit policy and how that affidavit policy dropped the amount of complaints against officers because now if you're found lying you can be charged criminally. FOP PBPA GET ON BOARD. I JUST WROTE OUT YOUR PLAN OF ATTACK FOR THE GOOD GUYS ONCE.
Will the media also differentiate the complaints that had no contact with the complainants, or where they gave false names, addresses and phone numbers. Working on the west side for the last 15 years, 95% of the people who file complaints never got back to me or gave real contact info. I would guess that percentage is about the same on the south side as well. Let me give a clue to the media and the liberals out there, criminals lie. They lie even more when they get caught. They will even make things up to try and confuse the liberal democrats who seem to believe everything that these criminals say. In the new year I would like to welcome all the new victims to the reality of the criminal element of the west and south sides. As they become more and more emboldened and empowered by this assault on law enforcement, they will reach out to those living in historically "safe" areas. There will be no safe haven in Chicago. We will become the next Baltimore, where the political "leaders" have hamstrung the police, causing the homicide, shooting, robbery, rape and every other violent crime numbers to sky rocket. But remember, you brought this on yourselves by buying into the BLM nonsense. The number one cause of death to black males is other black males (approximately 80%). The number of black males killed by the police is a fraction of one percent. And the majority of those are deemed justifiable. So who is the real problem. So, Mr/Mrs liberal, when that thug is pointing a gun in your face demanding your possessions, just tell them you support the BLM movement and see how well that turns out for you. Enjoy the explosion in violent crime that is coming to neighborhoods everywhere, and when it comes time to point the finger, look in the mirror.
Ok so whoever didn't destroy them needs to go to jail. And since the contract was broken then give us a bigger raise dating back to when that issue/item was put in contract.
Time to retire or stop working guys...
Blue flu!!!!
Our buddy Quentin Tarantino has gone into a tizzy over his new movie being bounced out of LA cinerama by Star Wars.
Hey asshole maybe its because people are sick of you samuel l jackson and the usual cast of dickheads who remind people that since Pulp Fiction your movies have sucked.
http://time.com/4153143/quentin-tarantino-hateful-eight-theater/
Why would anyone ever report an arrest record. Arrests are just complaints that failed to lead to convictions, so obviously there was no merit ...
Since most if not all of these files were to be destroyed wouldn't any action taken on them be negated as in "Fruit of the Poison Tree" doctrine of evidence?
The files are there, they splash mud, someone will write a book, but take it to court, it shouldn't happen.
Is the department NOW properly destroying files?
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Question from someone who has long been retired and should not have to worry about what's in those F#&ing files.
But let's say a retiree, gets served with a subpoena from the Feds for something that happened eons ago while he/she was on the job and a union member ...
Will the FOP provide an attorney based on his/her employment and union membership?
Will the city provide travel and lodging expenses if now out of town?
Will the city now PAY the retiree as a continuation of his/her employment?
Will the city pay for rapid onset Alzheimer's treatment?
12/17/2015 02:07:00 AM
Travel expenses are on you, hey hairgel club think about this post? Keep on running and chasing dopw pinches! Keep on chasing cars! Come on down you could be the next contestant on "I lost my house and family!" Many of you have big educations, fancy degrees, but zero common sense think, use your head as more than the proverbial "hat rack"
Why are the Feds allowed to use our range at the academy?
Problem is there are Sgts and above working the streets with a rule 14 violation but Po's that remain at 311 stripped for the same.
I don't understand. The previous blog entry was in favor of old files being dug up (Noel Sanchez). This one seems to be arguing that old files should be destroyed. Which is it? What am I missing?
If ANYONE who has 20 years and is 50 years old does not put in their papers immediately, they are absolutely CRAZY!!! It has taken decades, but this Department in in FEDERAL RECEIVERSHIP and the man that put it there has proven, by his actions, that he'll throw ANYONE under the bus! Line yourself up a part-time job or another full-time job where you can sleep well at night and you will enjoy that pension longer.
Signed,
One who has been there and knows!
Mayor sell us down the river , how about posting online to your half-ass city portal the disciplinary investigations of Ahmad, everyone's favorite convicted felon comptroller, scum bag school chief river boat queen Byrd-Bennett, and the assortment of misfits, creeps and weasels who work in the Mayor's office.
Amazingly swift action on the part of the DOJ/FBI to get to the matters of the CPD.
What did it take to get them to finally probe into and seek permission to skim over Hillary's remaining server records?
What electronic correspondences have been released by The Rahm Administration in matters pertaining to the CPS Byrd-Bennett deal?
This is another distraction by the Democrat Mayor, twice elected, well, three times if you count the run-off.
He's loading his deck, shuffling the crisis cards, hoping the upcoming tax increases and big money sweetheart deals will go unnoticed.
Remember he opposed the inquest before he welcomed it...after succumbing to Deadbeat protestors.
Wimp of the White House past, it's no wonder Obama liked his weasel-style.
I don't understand. The previous blog entry was in favor of old files being dug up (Noel Sanchez). This one seems to be arguing that old files should be destroyed. Which is it? What am I missing?
++++++
This isn't a CR file, this is a lawsuit
The lawyers learned from the sex abuse "scandal" of Catholic dioceses of 10 years back. They insisted on unsealing personnel records since the 1930's never taking into account social/cultural norms, the medical and psychological understanding of the decades in question, never thoroughly vetted accusations vs credible cases, and continue to resist putting data in an honest, historical context. This has cost dioceses throughout the country billions of dollars. Now the lawyers have a blueprint, a game plan on how to attack any and all institutions for "historical abuses". There is way too much money involved.
It does not make a whit of difference if the facts indicate that those involved with "bad" activity are in the single percentile (4% in the case of Catholic clergy) . All associated with the accused institution will be branded as evil and they must pay, pay, pay!
Officer Friendly and Fr. O'Malley of "Going My Way" are distant memories.
The overwhelmingly positive conduct of the police does not fit into their machinations and will not see the light of day in court.
Buckle up, cowboys. You're in for the ride of your life.
If ANYONE who has 20 years and is 50 years old does not put in their papers immediately, they are absolutely CRAZY!!! It has taken decades, but this Department in in FEDERAL RECEIVERSHIP and the man that put it there has proven, by his actions, that he'll throw ANYONE under the bus! Line yourself up a part-time job or another full-time job where you can sleep well at night and you will enjoy that pension longer.
Signed,
One who has been there and knows!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey kid.
I got 4 kids and need the health insurance.
I will just keep doin' NOTHING.
Anonymous said...
Why is no one talking about how easy it is to file a complaint. How they get investigated. What each finding means. Why the complaint didnt disappear when it was supposed to have been removed from your file if not sustained. I have no problem coughing up data on sustained complaints. By policy they stay with you forever. They also mean in essence you were found to have had a violation.
The idea that all complaints even ones exonerated, unfounded or not sustained are out there being used to taint the entire department is absurd. If people actually new how easy it was to get a complaint filed they would understand what a joke the amount of complaints compared to actual misconduct would be would make their head explode. This is the kind of stuff our Union should be pushing in the media while fighting this in court. Why not use the media to our advantage one time instead of laying on the floor in the fetal position covered up. Exonerated, unfounded, and not sustained all means an investigation was conducted and there was no evidence and in most cases no cooperation from the original complainant with no affidavit signed. Let's go even further and show how the CPD was last in line to institute an affidavit policy and how that affidavit policy dropped the amount of complaints against officers because now if you're found lying you can be charged criminally. FOP PBPA GET ON BOARD. I JUST WROTE OUT YOUR PLAN OF ATTACK FOR THE GOOD GUYS ONCE.
12/17/2015 08:43:00 AM
++++++++++++++++++++
Vote republican for ASA next time. And Marty time to get a life.
If its on paper or computer its there forever! How could anyone think otherwise??
bratton fan said...
Why would anyone ever report an arrest record. Arrests are just complaints that failed to lead to convictions, so obviously there was no merit ...
12/17/2015 01:35:00 PM
Because there are rules in place that prevent you from using a person's arrests against them, such as in applying for jobs, rg r you only consider convictions. Rightly so. Get the picture?
How come we're the only ones who have to live by all this "transparency" and "accountability" that Rahm is always touting?
Certainly Rahm and his alder thieves never, ever adhere to the whole transparency and accountability thing.... they abhor it.
Most other city workers also really don't have to adhere to the transparency and accountability thing..... but CPD? Rahm wants us to be ALL about COMPLETE transparency and accountability.
Fuck you Rahm. If it's good for the goose it's good for the gander.... so Rahm get all those body cameras and microphones lined up for you and all of your alder thieves to be transparent and accountable whenever conducting any city business.
What do you say Rahm?
It's an all out feeding frenzy for the police hating groups and media.
I've read thru it I understand it and i do get it but at this point Blue Flu looks pretty good, yea I know the rules and all that but here is the thing they are being rewritten as we speak and definitely not for us ....So about 60-62 % will do . Just say what the fuck and spend a much needed day with the kids and such.
The first rule of the Flu Club is we don't take about the Flu Club..........
bratton fan said...
Why would anyone ever report an arrest record. Arrests are just complaints that failed to lead to convictions, so obviously there was no merit ...
12/17/2015 01:35:00 PM
Because there are rules in place that prevent you from using a person's arrests against them, such as in applying for jobs, rg r you only consider convictions. Rightly so. Get the picture?
12/18/2015 01:19:00 PM
Because 9 weed cases, 10 PCS cases and a couple of UUW's, all nolle'd, don't paint a picture...just sayin.
Anonymous said...
Question from someone who has long been retired and should not have to worry about what's in those F#&ing files.
1. But let's say a retiree, gets served with a subpoena from the Feds for something that happened eons ago while he/she was on the job and a union member ...
R/O HAS NO KNOWLEDGE. (SEE QUESTION # 5)
2. Will the FOP provide an attorney based on his/her employment and union membership?
NO. UNLESS YOU CONTINUE PAY THE SAME DUES AS AN ACTIVE BEFORE YOU GET SERVED.
3. Will the city provide travel and lodging expenses if now out of town?
WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING?
4. Will the city now PAY the retiree as a continuation of his/her employment?
WHAT ARE YOU SNORTING?
5. Will the city pay for rapid onset Alzheimer's treatment?
TOO LATE IN YOUR CASE. BUT IT’S NICE TO MET NEW PEOPLE EVERYDAY?!
12/17/2015 02:07:00 AM
YOU’RE AN IDIOT. IS THAT YOU MARTY?
According to the Illinois Personnel Record Review Act...
(820 ILCS 40/8) (from Ch. 48, par. 2008)
Sec. 8. An employer shall review a personnel record before releasing information to a third party and, except when the release is ordered to a party in a legal action or arbitration, delete disciplinary reports, letters of reprimand, or other records of disciplinary action which are more than 4 years old.
(Source: P.A. 83-1104.)
Individuals have the right to inspect and copy their record, and can enforce the Act via a lawsuit or through the Illinois Dept. of Labor.
Post a Comment
<< Home