Case Explained: Police Reform Advocates Say CPD Progress Too Slow Following Study Showing Disproportionate Use of Force | Chicago News – Legal Perspective

Crime & Law

Police Reform Advocates Say CPD Progress Too Slow Following Study Showing Disproportionate Use of Force

Chicago police officers disproportionately used force against Black Chicagoans, even when considering they are more likely to be arrested or suspected of committing a crime in the city, according to the results of a court-ordered, first-of-its-kind study that examined four years of data.

CPD officers also disproportionately used force against Latino Chicagoans, as compared with White Chicagoans, according to the study. In addition, CPD officers used greater levels of force against both Black and Latino Chicagoans than White Chicagoans, according to the study.

The study, conducted by social scientists from the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Pennsylvania hired by CPD brass and crafted with the approval of a court-appointed monitoring team, blamed “systemic factors” for the disparity, not the actions of individual officers.

Read the full study and its executive summary.

A spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department said the department “continues to make significant strides in our consent decree compliance efforts. We know we have more work to do and will continue to build on the foundation we have set.” 

Still, community organizations and police reform groups have expressed a deep dissatisfaction with CPD’s progress toward consent decree compliance following the study’s release.

Alexandra Block of ACLU Illinois, Crista Noel of Women’s All Points Bulletin and Michael Harrington of Network 49 joined “Chicago Tonight” to discuss how CPD should move forward.

Alexandra Block

Alexandra Block is director of the Criminal Legal System and Policing Project at the ACLU of Illinois. She represents victims of police violence and a coalition of police reform groups in federal court seeking stricter compliance with the consent decree.

Block said that although the Chicago Police Department commissioned the study, its findings have not been acted on or incorporated into department policy.

“The Chicago Police Department is required to take steps to address the results, and as of right now, we have seen no evidence that the Chicago Police Department has changed any policies or training or examined any operational changes they are going to make as a response to these really disturbing findings.”

The study, which was completed in March 2025, demonstrates systemic bias by CPD, Block said. 

“This was a methodology that CPD agreed to use and controlled for crime rates, arrest rates, the rates at which Black and Latino people are suspected of committing crimes. … None of those factors explained away the racial disparities,” Block said. “(The findings) are not related to crime rates, they are related to bias.” 

As of June 30, 2025, CPD has reached preliminary compliance with 94% of the consent decree, secondary compliance with 66%, and full compliance with only 23%.

Block said the numbers signify “progress on paper, but not much progress on the streets.” 

Michael Harrington

Michael Harrington is the co-chairperson of Network 49, a community organization based in Chicago’s 49th Ward advocating for police accountability.

Network 49 was part of the coalition of police reform groups that submitted the Freedom of Information Act request that ultimately led to the study’s release. 

“We’re glad that the police department did the study,” Harrington said. “We’re not happy that we had to force them to release the results of the study.” 

Harrington said he and Network 49 had talks with CPD about implementing the study’s results into department policy. Talks have been nice but unproductive, Harrington said. 

“We met with them (CPD) in January,” Harrington said. “They said, ‘We need to study it more, we need to find out why it’s happening.’ We don’t need another meeting to plan a meeting to talk about maybe an agenda. We need action.” 

Harrington, who has been authorized by a federal judge to monitor the Chicago Police Department’s progress since the consent decree was established, has had personal negative experiences with CPD officers.

In a virtual federal court hearing Saturday, Harrington recalled a time when plainclothes CPD officers arrested him on the way to work at his local CTA station and searched his home. He had been mistakenly identified as a robber. 

Harrington said CPD’s progress toward consent decree compliance has been too slow. 

“We don’t see the changes that are necessary in officer training,” Harrington said. “We don’t see them evaluating whether the officers have even learned what they’ve been taught in training. We see the police department talking, but we don’t see the resolve to make action happen. It’s becoming comical.” 

Crista Noel  

Crista Noel is the founder of the Women’s All Points Bulletin, an organization supporting women victimized by police violence. Women’s All Points Bulletin was one of the organizations responsible for putting Chicago under the consent decree in 2019. 

The results of the study were not surprising, she said.

“It’s them. They’re a racist group. They’re a racist institution and that’s who they are and they continue to be that way,” Noel said. 

CPD’s slow progress is the result of the institution’s deep roots and pre-established norms, Noel said. The consent decree will reach its seventh anniversary on March 1, but changing the culture at CPD will take much longer than seven years, according to Noel. 

“We know policing in America goes back to the slave patrols, so we know at its foundation at its core, it’s (CPD) a racist organization,” Noel said. “You can’t change 200 years worth of racism in seven years, it’s going to take a while.” 

Noel said that although some Chicago Police Department officers are Black or Latino, all officers adopt the department’s culture and practices once they join.

“I’ve even heard from officers of color that you turn blue. It’s not about Black, White. You turn blue,” Noel said. “It’s the old boys’ club and it’s a racist club.”

Heather Cherone contributed to this report.

WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.