Chicago's police officers are the city's first line of defense and they deserve our thanks.  That being said, they are also paid with taxpayer dollars and should be expected to withstand public scrutiny.  Yet again and again, the Daley administration has worked to prevent reasonable attempts to create more accountability around the Chicago Police Department (CPD).

As a record number of citizen complaints have flooded the so-called Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) in recent years, City Hall has fought a legal effort to uncover the names of officers who've received ten or more complaints.  This week, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Daley administration, denying a petition by journalist Jamie Kalven and 28 aldermen to lift the protective order placed on this list.  Kalven and his lawyers are planning to appeal.  Meanwhile, the aldermen continue to insist the names belong in the public sphere:

"The unwillingness of the Police Department to provide information to public officials about officers whose conduct may be questionable is a real problem," said Ad. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), a leader of the 28 aldermen. [...]

If the names remain secret, [Ald. Joe] Moore [49th Ward] said, "It makes it more difficult to root out officers who may be routinely violating the law. We, in the City Council, have a right to know so we can call upon the Police Department to explain why these officers have so many complaints. That's what public disclosure is all about.

While CPD would like the public to believe that there's an exhaustive review process, the department's own record of ferreting out abusive cops speaks for itself. As the Chicago Justice Project revealed (PDF) earlier this month, a firing recommendation by CPD's own superintendent rarely leads the Chicago Police Board (CPB) to terminate an officer.

As far as CJP's director Tracy Siska is concerned, the board does not do an adequate job explaining why they regularly approve more lenient punishments. "Our biggest recommendation is for increased transparency," he said Tuesday while appearing on WTTW's Chicago Tonight alongside board chairman Demetrius Carney. Watch it (full video here):

As host Carol Marin explains in the full WTTW segment, the police accountability process in Chicago is a long one. Once a complaint is filed, both an internal investigation and a subsequent IPRA study are launched. The police superintendent also gets a chance to weigh in before a final recommendation is passed along to the mayoral-appointed CPB.

The problem with the process is not the quantity but the apparent quality of the various reviews. By University of Chicago law professor Craig Futterman's count, less than one percent of Chicago police misconduct allegations are sustained by the department's internal investigations. That's far lower than the national average, which has led to suspicion that the city is deliberately sweeping misconduct under the rug.

By fiercely fighting efforts to open up the department to greater scrutiny, Daley is doing little to dispel that notion.

Full disclosure: Jamie Kalven is the father of PI editor Josh Kalven.