Progress Illinois

Some interesting news on the police accountability front. The Sun-Times is reporting that federal Judge Robert Gettleman found Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis in contempt of court today and gave him until 8:45 a.m. Monday to release the names of officers who have at least five citizen complaints filed against them since 2000.

In late February, Weis -- with the backing of Mayor Daley -- withheld the officer’s identities from the court for fear that handing over the names would “compromise officers’ performance, threaten safety, reduce morale and improperly impugn many officers’ otherwise well-deserved good reputations.” This is the same reasoning the city has used in response to the pending petition by 28 aldermen seeking the list.  But as we've argued, there are some major holes in the argument: complaints aren’t frivolous, the CPD does not adequately investigates citizen complaints internally, and resistance to disclosure adds to many citizens' distrust of law enforcement officials.

In a press release, G. Flint Taylor of the People’s Law Office -- one of the attorneys suing the city over allegations that an officer falsely arrested and used excessive force against two children -- noted that Judge Gettleman had been “visibly angry” during the hearing this morning.  More from Taylor:

“We are very heartened by Judge Gettlemen’s strong reaction to Weis and the City’s continuing lawless conduct and his finding that their conduct is directly contempuous of the Federal Court. We trust that the city will rethink its postion before Monday and produce the names. We also look forward to questioning Weis about his bad faith conduct and his policy of protecting, rather than rooting out, the Department’s worst repeaters.”

We'll keep you posted on Weis’ decision early next week.