Latest news with #CivilianOfficeofPoliceAccountability

Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bucking policy trend, public access to video of CPD Officer Krystal Rivera's fatal shooting is delayed
A judge has barred the release of video and other materials related to the investigation into the friendly fire shooting death of Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera, a move that came after the Cook County state's attorney's office asked that the information be shielded from public records requests. Rivera, 36, a four-year veteran of the department, was mistakenly shot and killed by a fellow officer on June 5 after a confrontation with an armed suspect. The tragic slaying of the officer, who will be laid to rest on Wednesday, happened amid long-brewing debates about the safety of foot pursuits and is sure to raise questions about training and officer safety in general. But the court order, signed June 13 by Judge Deidre Dyer, delays the public's access to critical information about the matter, even though long-held public policy since the 2014 fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald favors timely access to video that can shed light on officer-involved shootings. Though it's not uncommon for video to be restricted from public view while an investigation or prosecution is proceeding, legal experts and advocates for transparency raised concerns about the move, especially if such orders are being sought by the state and granted by judges without a thorough examination of balance between the integrity of the case and the public's right to know how their government is functioning. Multiple legal experts noted that the motion, filed by the prosecutor's office on June 13, referenced federal exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act rather than the state's companion law that would govern it. 'There is a big picture concern that the default role of transparency is being flipped on its head whenever there is a criminal case,' said Craig Futterman, a clinical professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School. 'I have a fear that these motions are being filed and orders are being entered without a particularized interrogation that was envisioned under the FOIA statute.' In response to questions from the Tribune, a spokesperson for the state's attorney's office said it does not comment on pending litigation. Requests for comment from the city were not returned by deadline. Throughout the past decade, video from police body-worn cameras and other sources has become a critical check on official narratives about police shootings after the release of such material became policy following the murder of 17-year-old McDonald at the hands of former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke. The dashcam video of the shooting captured Van Dyke, who served a little more than three years in prison, shooting the teenager 16 times as he walked away. The video contradicted the accounts of police and led to a rare murder charge against Van Dyke. With the fight over the release of the dashcam video still fresh in the city's mind, the newly formulated Civilian Office of Police Accountability instituted a policy to publish CPD body-worn camera footage and related police records within 60 days of a police shooting. The agency replaced the Independent Police Review Authority after the McDonald video was released in 2015. COPA's policy, though, has exceptions and cannot supersede a judge's order. Experts said they believe the policy to release videos has rebuilt some public trust, but raised concerns about it backsliding if videos are routinely shielded by judges. 'We would be back to the days of pre-Laquan McDonald,' said Matt Topic, a partner at the civil rights firm Loevy and Loevy who litigated for the release of the dashcam video of McDonald's shooting. 'We would be back to not knowing if what police are telling us is true or not.' In a criminal case related to Rivera's death, Adrian Rucker, 25, is charged with armed violence and other felonies. Prosecutors alleged that Rucker pointed an AR-style pistol after Rivera and her partner followed another suspect into the apartment. Prosecutors later charged a second man, Jaylin Arnold, 27. In the motion to withhold release of the video and other materials filed in Rucker's case, Cook County prosecutors argued that the release could interfere with enforcement proceedings and a defendant's right to a fair trial. Futterman pointed out that usually defense attorneys would be the party that makes arguments about their clients' due process rights. The judge's order bars release until 'further order of the court.' In a statement, a COPA spokesperson said: 'The materials will be available under FOIA once the court order is lifted. Until then, COPA is prohibited from releasing them.' It's not clear, though, when and how the order may be lifted. 'Someone would have to incur the time and expense to vacate that order unless we think the state's attorney would move to vacate,' Topic said. Stephanie Holmes Didwania, an associate professor of law at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, said federal and state Freedom of Information laws have 'a strong preference for disclosure.' 'It's designed to allow the public to be adequately informed about what their government is doing,' she said. Holmes Didwania noted, though, that the laws have exceptions, and that law enforcement can have legitimate interests in keeping investigations confidential. She said prosecutors could be concerned about issues like the video shaping the accounts of witnesses who have yet to be interviewed. 'The statute itself is trying to balance these two competing interests,' she said, though she added that Illinois' FOIA statute requires the government to provide clear and convincing evidence to support an exemption from the law. Loren Jones, director of the Criminal Legal Systems Program at Impact for Equity, said that the government should be held to a high standard in overcoming public access laws related to police shootings. 'When there is a case that is as complicated and tragic as this case, I think the standard for the balance that we have to take into account here and overcome is really high,' she said. 'It's important to keep our foot on the pedal as far as ensuring that … our government is being transparent as possible in these situations.'


Chicago Tribune
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Bucking policy trend, public access to video of CPD Officer Krystal Rivera's fatal shooting is delayed
A judge has barred the release of video and other materials related to the investigation into the friendly fire shooting death of Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera, a move that came after the Cook County state's attorney's office asked that the information be shielded from public records requests. Rivera, 36, a four-year veteran of the department, was mistakenly shot and killed by a fellow officer on June 5 after a confrontation with an armed suspect. The tragic slaying of the officer, who will be laid to rest on Wednesday, happened amid long-brewing debates about the safety of foot pursuits and is sure to raise questions about training and officer safety in general. But the court order, signed June 13 by Judge Deidre Dyer, delays the public's access to critical information about the matter, even though long-held public policy since the 2014 fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald favors timely access to video that can shed light on officer-involved shootings. Though it's not uncommon for video to be restricted from public view while an investigation or prosecution is proceeding, legal experts and advocates for transparency raised concerns about the move, especially if such orders are being sought by the state and granted by judges without a thorough examination of balance between the integrity of the case and the public's right to know how their government is functioning. Multiple legal experts noted that the motion, filed by the prosecutor's office on June 13, referenced federal exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act rather than the state's companion law that would govern it. 'There is a big picture concern that the default role of transparency is being flipped on its head whenever there is a criminal case,' said Craig Futterman, a clinical professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School. 'I have a fear that these motions are being filed and orders are being entered without a particularized interrogation that was envisioned under the FOIA statute.' In response to questions from the Tribune, a spokesperson for the state's attorney's office said it does not comment on pending litigation. Requests for comment from the city were not returned by deadline. Throughout the past decade, video from police body-worn cameras and other sources has become a critical check on official narratives about police shootings after the release of such material became policy following the murder of 17-year-old McDonald at the hands of former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke. The dashcam video of the shooting captured Van Dyke, who served a little more than three years in prison, shooting the teenager 16 times as he walked away. The video contradicted the accounts of police and led to a rare murder charge against Van Dyke. With the fight over the release of the dashcam video still fresh in the city's mind, the newly formulated Civilian Office of Police Accountability instituted a policy to publish CPD body-worn camera footage and related police records within 60 days of a police shooting. The agency replaced the Independent Police Review Authority after the McDonald video was released in 2015. COPA's policy, though, has exceptions and cannot supersede a judge's order. Experts said they believe the policy to release videos has rebuilt some public trust, but raised concerns about it backsliding if videos are routinely shielded by judges. 'We would be back to the days of pre-Laquan McDonald,' said Matt Topic, a partner at the civil rights firm Loevy and Loevy who litigated for the release of the dashcam video of McDonald's shooting. 'We would be back to not knowing if what police are telling us is true or not.' In a criminal case related to Rivera's death, Adrian Rucker, 25, is charged with armed violence and other felonies. Prosecutors alleged that Rucker pointed an AR-style pistol after Rivera and her partner followed another suspect into the apartment. Prosecutors later charged a second man, Jaylin Arnold, 27. In the motion to withhold release of the video and other materials filed in Rucker's case, Cook County prosecutors argued that the release could interfere with enforcement proceedings and a defendant's right to a fair trial. Futterman pointed out that usually defense attorneys would be the party that makes arguments about their clients' due process rights. The judge's order bars release until 'further order of the court.' In a statement, a COPA spokesperson said: 'The materials will be available under FOIA once the court order is lifted. Until then, COPA is prohibited from releasing them.' It's not clear, though, when and how the order may be lifted. 'Someone would have to incur the time and expense to vacate that order unless we think the state's attorney would move to vacate,' Topic said. Stephanie Holmes Didwania, an associate professor of law at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, said federal and state Freedom of Information laws have 'a strong preference for disclosure.' 'It's designed to allow the public to be adequately informed about what their government is doing,' she said. Holmes Didwania noted, though, that the laws have exceptions, and that law enforcement can have legitimate interests in keeping investigations confidential. She said prosecutors could be concerned about issues like the video shaping the accounts of witnesses who have yet to be interviewed. 'The statute itself is trying to balance these two competing interests,' she said, though she added that Illinois' FOIA statute requires the government to provide clear and convincing evidence to support an exemption from the law. Loren Jones, director of the Criminal Legal Systems Program at Impact for Equity, said that the government should be held to a high standard in overcoming public access laws related to police shootings. 'When there is a case that is as complicated and tragic as this case, I think the standard for the balance that we have to take into account here and overcome is really high,' she said. 'It's important to keep our foot on the pedal as far as ensuring that … our government is being transparent as possible in these situations.'


Chicago Tribune
07-06-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Fellow cop ‘unintentionally' shot slain officer while confronting suspect, according to police, who were holding at least two in custody
Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera was mistakenly shot and killed by a fellow cop during a confrontation with an armed suspect, according to police, who continued to hold at least two people in custody as of late Friday. The department announced Rivera had been struck by friendly fire about a day after she died. She and the Gresham (6th) district tactical team she had been a part of were trying to conduct an investigatory stop in the Chatham neighborhood, police have said, and encountered an armed suspect after chasing a person into an apartment building on the 8200 block of South Drexel Avenue. An autopsy conducted Friday found that Rivera had died of a gunshot wound to the back. 'As released in yesterday's preliminary statement, an officer discharged his weapon during the encounter with an armed offender,' the statement read. 'Further investigation revealed the only weapon discharged during this incident was the weapon of the officer, whose gunfire unintentionally struck Officer Rivera.' Rivera, 36, a four-year veteran of the police force, leaves behind a young daughter. She lived in the Irving Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side. Police said they were continuing to investigate the suspect the tactical team met in the apartment, who allegedly pointed a rifle at the officers. 'This offender remains in custody,' the police department said in a statement. 'Detectives also continue to investigate the circumstances that led to the investigative stop preceding the encounter.' At least two people remained in custody as of late Friday night, though Supt. Larry Snelling said 'several' people were initially arrested following the shooting. Just after the time of the shooting Thursday, officers found and detained a 25-year-old man and 26-year-old woman in a gated yard near an apartment building at 8215 S. Maryland Ave., according to police sources. The man was described in arrest paperwork as being armed with a rifle. According to police sources, authorities had issued multiple active warrants for the man out of Cook County and Stephenson County and Winnebago County, both in northwestern Illinois. The woman had one active warrant, according to police sources, and both are listed in arrest records as residents of Freeport in northwestern Illinois. Rivera was the first city police officer to be killed in the line of duty this year. The last cop to suffer fatal injuries on the job was Enrique Martinez, 26. Martinez, who was also assigned to the same Gresham District as Rivera, was fatally shot in November in the 8200 block of South Ingleside Avenue— just one street east of where Rivera was killed Thursday. She was widely mourned by city officials and her fellow officers, who praised her work ethic and asked Chicagoans to keep her family in their prayers. Investigators recovered three weapons at the scene and were still reviewing body-worn camera footage, Snelling said after the shooting, and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability was investigating. After the shooting, police officers took their wounded colleague to the hospital in a squad car, which crashed and caught fire on the way there because of what Snelling described as a malfunction with the vehicle. Another squad car finished the trip, Snelling said, and the officers in the first car were 'doing fine.' 'The way that she worked, it was evident that she did love her job,' Snelling said. 'She wanted to make Chicago a better place.' Rivera's mother, reached by phone, declined to comment. In a statement posted to social media, the mayor asked Chicagoans to keep Rivera's family in their prayers, especially her young daughter who will 'who will miss her mom for the rest of her life.' Rivera had an 'unmatched work ethic,' Johnson said. 'Officer Rivera was a hero who served on the force for four years. She had a long career in front of her. A bright future was stolen from her family and from her loved ones,' he said in the statement. Family friend Alicia Headrick described Rivera as someone who was 'unapologetically herself and wanted everyone else to be able to tap into that as well.' Headrick, 28 and a Grundy County sheriff's deputy, said she mostly stayed in touch with Rivera via social media. While they occasionally talked about working for two very different law enforcement agencies, Headrick mainly remembered Rivera cheering her on and likened her to an older sister. Rivera had been a single mother for some time and was ferociously independent, she said. '(Rivera) just always wanted to make a life and career for herself and for her daughter,' Headrick said. 'She had a very pure heart that just wanted to serve other people.'


Chicago Tribune
03-06-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Tom Clark: Cook County state's attorney has backtracked on felony data transparency
In the five years since the tragic death of George Floyd, Americans have wrestled with deep debates about criminal justice reform. A central part of that debate has been efforts by politicians, journalists, activists and researchers to shine a spotlight on police and prosecutors. I am one of those researchers, and I know how much resistance law enforcement officials often have to transparency into their workings. For all of the critiques that are sometimes raised about law enforcement in Chicago, one of the things it has had to be proud of in recent years was its openness to the public. Unfortunately, since coming to office, State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke has taken a significant step backward. Former State's Attorney Kim Foxx became a leader nationally in transparency among prosecutors in collecting and publishing information about her office's work. The Cook County state's attorney's office began publishing regularly detailed datasets about all of its felony cases on its website. The state's attorney released detailed information about every felony arrest made and referred for prosecution. That information included not just when and where an arrest was made, but for what offense, exactly what charges were filed and demographic information about the defendant. They also included rich information about the outcomes of all of those charges — which charges were dropped, which ones ultimately led to convictions, the judges hearing the cases and what sentences were imposed. Those datasets allowed the public, policymakers, activists and researchers to study, audit and understand the decisions the state's attorney was making. The data allowed concerned citizens and others to know how prosecutorial power was being used and to conduct cutting-edge research about law enforcement. Unfortunately, O'Neill Burke removed that data from the website without any explanation, virtually as soon as she came into office. The website that used to host the data and invite the public to contact the state's attorney's office for more information has for the last four months simply lead to an 'access denied' website. We are now nearly six months into O'Neill Burke's term, and the public records remain missing, with no explanation offered for why they have been removed or evidence that her office intends to continue updating those data or publishing new data. Emails I sent to the State's Attorney's office about the data never received a response. Additionally, several Freedom of Information Act requests for additional data, which had been previously released to others, were rejected. Not only is the Cook County state's attorney's decision unfortunate because we now know less about how her office works, but it also reinforces a problematic reputation that law enforcement agencies, both locally and nationally, are working to overcome. Here in Chicago, we have an excellent example of transparency in law enforcement. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, for example, has the authority and responsibility to oversee and investigate police activity, including police shootings. Part of its mission involves transparency — giving the public access to information about how police officers use their power. At the same time, the Chicago Police Department has been subject to a consent decree since 2019. The consent decree has forced changes in how the Police Department operates and shares information with the public. Together, COPA and the consent decree have reinforced each other to open a window into policing in Chicago. I know from my own research that they are working. In a book that will be published in the coming weeks, 'Deadly Force: Police Shootings in Urban America,' I filed more than 300 FOIA requests at police departments around the country for records about every police shooting this century. We learned a lot about how law enforcement agencies resist transparency and how much work goes into finding out basic facts such as, 'how many people do the police shoot?' Some police departments are very transparent and happy to share their records, and some departments absolutely refuse. Even among those that are transparent, some have records that are very disorganized, whereas others have very organized and understandable records. CPD was among the most transparent departments in the country, sharing a lot of information with us, in a fast, clean and complete way. That may seem surprising, though it is very likely due to the consent decree. Indeed, CPD's openness to researchers has enabled researchers to do powerful work that helps them understand important problems in law enforcement as well as evaluate programs and train leaders from police departments around the country. Comparing Chicago with the Cook County state's attorney is alarming. The records that Foxx shared were transparent, complete, coherent and accessible. By contrast, O'Neill Burke has taken the opposite approach. Whereas this time last year, anyone could know exactly how many felony charges of what kind were being filed, where, when, against whom, and what the outcomes were, and so forth, today none of that is public. As CPD has become more transparent and stayed that way, the Cook County state's attorney is moving in the opposite direction, away from transparency. These decisions — how a prosecutor uses the authority to file criminal charges — are among the most important and powerful that any government official has. Cook County stood out as a model for its transparency in allowing the public to see how that power was being used. We should demand an explanation for why that decision has been reversed and to know when the Cook County state's attorney will allow the public to have access to its own records again.

Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
Problem traffic stops predated Dexter Reed killing by police
The five tactical officers for months were on the radar of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. From mid-2023 through March 2024 — the month 26-year-old Dexter Reed was killed in a shootout during a traffic stop in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand — those five cops were named in at least four separate COPA investigations that stemmed from traffic stops initiated in the Chicago Police Department's Harrison District (11th). The fatal shooting of Reed, a former basketball player at Westinghouse College Prep high school who shot a police officer moments before he was killed, laid bare longstanding tensions between Chicago's police and the investigators who probe officers' use of deadly force. The officers involved repeatedly violated rules involving motorist traffic stops, investigators found. And, after months of public discord, the leaders of the city's police department and its oversight agency reached the same conclusion: The officers needed to be suspended. Those findings came after the stop that wound up costing Reed his life, but they highlight the problems such a pattern can create when officers put themselves in harm's way with improper stops. Chicago police still are working to prevent that kind of policework even as turmoil in the police disciplinary structure appears to be subsiding. Prior stops The 3900 block of West Van Buren has been a hotspot for drug and gang activity for years. On Friday, March 1, 2024, just after sunset, a man sat in his vehicle with his brother in the front passenger seat outside his apartment building near the end of the block. The car was stationary, but its headlights were on, according to records made public by COPA last month. Moments later, the men were boxed in by two unmarked CPD squad cars. The lead officer asked the driver for his license, but he didn't have it. He was then asked for a Firearm Owner's Identification Card and Concealed Carry License. He didn't have either and denied any weapons were in the vehicle. Both men were ordered out and patted down. The front and rear compartments of the vehicle were searched. Nothing was found. The officers told the men they were detained because the vehicle's lights were on while stationary — an unlawful interpretation of Chicago's municipal code, COPA later found. No arrests were made and the officers did not provide any sort of documentation for the traffic stop. The officers then turned off their body-worn cameras and left. 'In the absence of legal authority to detain these two members of the public, the officers' actions constitute an unlawful restraint,' COPA investigators later wrote. The man in the driver's seat alleged that the officers wouldn't provide him their names and badge numbers. Soon after the stop concluded, the man requested that a CPD sergeant come to the scene so he could file a complaint. Just minutes later, the tactical officers were about half-mile north in the 4000 block of West Wilcox, where they placed a man under arrest for allegedly possessing an illegal handgun. Cook County court records show that case is still pending. The next week, on Wednesday, March 6, the officers were involved in another traffic stop, this one in the 3800 block of West Jackson. Around 5 p.m., the team curbed the driver of a Maserati who, they said, was unbuckled, speeding and eating while driving. Another officer later told the driver he was stopped because the vehicle had tinted windows. The driver gave his license to one of the officers and was soon ordered out of his car. He initially refused, though, and requested that a sergeant come to the scene. Another of the officers threatened to arrest the man for obstruction of justice. The driver then acquiesced, and the officers searched him and the car. While standing outside the vehicle, the man requested the officers' names and badge numbers. He was again threatened with arrest, COPA records show. The search turned up nothing, and the officers disabled their body-worn cameras and left the area. A misconduct complaint was filed later that day. Friction in disciplinary structure Traveling in unmarked squad cars, often in plainclothes attire, tactical officers are frequently the first cops to respond to shootings or other high-priority calls for service. In the Harrison District — the epicenter of Chicago's narcotics trade and one of the most violent parts of the city — 'tact teams' stay busy. Civilian complaints of misconduct are common, though most are not sustained by investigators. CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling's frustration with then-COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten was apparent for much of 2024. Inside COPA, friction among managers and allegations of biased investigations prompted Kersten to resign earlier this year. Despite the public tensions, CPD ultimately agreed with COPA's assessment that the tactical officers should be suspended for repeatedly violating CPD rules related to traffic stops.. CPD said those five officers should be off the street, collectively, for 109 days for their behavior during four traffic stops on the West Side that occurred in the months before the Reed shooting. One of those five quit CPD in November 2024. The officer who was shot may not be able to perform police duties in the future, a police source recently told the Tribune. CPD is now working to develop and implement a new traffic stops policy, the first draft of which was released last month. Though nothing is set in stone, the draft of the new policy would allow officers to continue using pretextual traffic stops as a means to go after guns and drugs. Meanwhile, Mayor Brandon Johnson nominated an interim leader of COPA as the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability continues the search for Kersten's permanent replacement. The officers still with CPD are on administrative duty, according to a department spokesperson. Of CPD's 22 patrol districts, the Harrison District — roughly bounded by Roosevelt Road, Division Street and Western and Cicero avenues — usually ranks near the top in narcotics arrests and shootings. Police activity is often highest in and around the blocks closest to the Eisenhower Expressway, along Pulaski Road, as well as the intersection of Chicago and Homan avenues. 'What I've seen from police officers in my district is they use traffic stops as a way of going around some of the limitations that they're finding and trying to enforce drug laws,' Brian Ramson, one of the Harrison District Councilors, said last month. Dexter Reed Nine days before his death, Dexter Reed had court. It was a status hearing for a gun charge that came the previous July after he was arrested with a revolver near the Windy City Smokeout festival outside the United Center. Another hearing was set for the following month. Court filings show that the years leading up to Reed's death were marked by physical, emotional and financial hardship. He survived a shooting in 2021, though he spent months in the hospital recovering. 'I'm physically disabled and mentally unstable with PTSD, short-term memory loss, slurred speech, drop foot in one of my legs, blindness in one eye, shoulder/arm hard to move, weakness and/or sensitivity,' Reed wrote in a 2023 court filing. On March 21, 2024, Reed was driving in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand when his vehicle was boxed in by the team of tactical officers. Police bodycam footage shows the officers exit an unmarked police vehicle, draw their weapons and repeatedly order Reed to roll down his SUV's tinted windows. Reed initially complied and rolled down his window, but he appeared to disregard the officers' commands to roll down the window on the passenger side. Moments later, Reed shot the officer standing on the SUV's passenger side. The other four officers then opened fire, shooting dozens of rounds at Reed, who exited the vehicle before falling to the pavement. One officer fired three more shots at Reed as he was lying motionless in the street. That officer shot at least 50 times during the 41 seconds of gunfire. He was one of three officers who reloaded their weapons, according to COPA. An autopsy later found that Reed was shot 13 times. *** Just hours before the fatal gunfire erupted, a Cook County judge entered an order that would allow CPD officers accused of serious misconduct to forgo the Chicago Police Board. The board convened for its monthly meeting that evening, about 90 minutes after the Reed shooting. Both Snellling and Kersten delivered their agency's monthly report to the dozen or so regular meeting attendees. 'I want to also express condolences to members of the Chicago Police Department in light of tonight's events,' Kersten told Snelling shortly after Reed was killed and the officer was wounded. 'I think it just really crystallizes the importance of having these conversations, collaboratively and productively, about how COPA does its job, how the Chicago Police Department lives up to its policies and training, and how we move forward as a city.' It was a striking change in tone from the police board's meeting in February. It was then that Snelling chided COPA investigators for leaning on 'personal opinions and speculation.' Less than two weeks after the Reed shooting, on April 1, Kersten wrote Snelling to note that the officers involved were under investigation for their actions during another traffic stop in the Harrison District. Kersten urged that the officers be stripped of their police powers and placed on desk duty. The body-worn video footage of the Reed shooting was made public on April 9, 2024. Two days later, Kersten was a guest on ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith's YouTube show. Kersten did not discuss the facts of the shooting, but her appearance irked CPD leaders and the conservative wing of the City Council. Ald. Nick Sposato, 38th, soon filed a complaint against Kersten with the city's Office of Inspector General. Sposato accused Kersten of speaking 'in an accusatory and inappropriate prejudicial tone about facts that have yet to be investigated,' but his letter did not cite examples from her public remarks. A few weeks later, during the April 2024 police board meeting, Kersten addressed the outcry. 'Last week's release of materials and my public comments pertaining to the fatal police shooting of Dexter Reed, in which an officer was also shot and wounded, have led to sharp criticisms,' Kersten said. 'This criticism demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of COPA's role and process and smacks of hypocrisy.' 'This is misleading at best,' Snelling said in response. 'There is nothing wrong with transparency, transparency is of the utmost importance,' Snelling added. 'But when information is leaked prior to releasing the video, when statements are made without all of the information, an investigation has to begin. And if we're starting by putting it out in the public in a manner in which we framed it, and we expect the public to see it the way we want them to see it, it's problematic. This is why I've made no statements about this shooting.' Reed's family held a press conference the following week outside the Harrison District station to announce its federal lawsuit against the city. The initial complaint did not mention that Reed shot a police officer before he was killed. Nicole Banks, Reed's mother, told reporters that she watched the police bodycam footage of the shooting 'over and over and over.' 'They executed him,' Banks said through tears. 'He fell down and they put the handcuffs on him. That was not right. In the name of Jesus, I ask that he rest in peace.' Civil rights challenges Police shootings, justified or not, usually lead to some kind of civil litigation. Surviving family members often bring lawsuits that allege civil rights abuses, and CPD officers can ask a judge to undo discipline leveled against them. In August 2024, the Fraternal Order of Police filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of eight CPD officers recommended for discipline by COPA. The union alleged that the agency's investigators and higher-ups 'have engaged in a pattern and practice to treat Police Officers unequally and unfairly. Specifically, Defendant COPA conducts unconstitutional, biased and untimely investigations.' Among the defendants in the FOP's federal suit was Matthew Haynam, COPA's former deputy chief administrator who was fired from the agency, also in August 2024. The next month, Haynam filed a whistleblower lawsuit against COPA in Cook County, alleging that his firing was a result of him speaking out against what he called COPA's anti-police bias. Over that winter, the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability was fielding and investigating complaints about COPA's workplace culture and accountability and the quality of its investigations under Kersten's leadership. 'If the police accountability system is or is reasonably perceived to be ineffective or unfair, it will erode public confidence in policing and police oversight,' CCPSA President Anthony Driver and Vice President Remel Terry wrote to Kersten on Jan. 28, 2025. CCPSA told Kersten a no-confidence vote was forthcoming, and she announced her resignation two weeks later amid a purge of leadership in several other city departments. It was a decision, she said, that was in the works for some time. 'What I know to be certain about this issue is that society has forced it into this binary where you're either for or against somehow, as opposed to understanding that, truly, to do this work, to do this kind of accountability reform work, it's not one or the other. It's not 'either-or.' It's not pro-police or against,' Kersten told the Tribune shortly before she left her post. That same month, attorneys for the city and the CPD reached an agreement with Reed's family to settle their federal lawsuit for $1.25 million. In early March 2025, Snelling endorsed the agency's recommendations that the officers be suspended. Haynam then voluntarily dismissed his lawsuit against COPA, court records show. Last week, however, Haynam filed a new lawsuit in federal court alleging that his firing was a violation of his First Amendment rights. In April, the City Council voted down the proposed settlement with Reed's family. The FOP's lawsuit against COPA alleging unconstitutional investigations reached its conclusion, too. On April 24, 2025, a federal judge granted the city's motion to dismiss, agreeing that the constitution 'does not protect a police officer's interest in fair and impartial employment investigations.' 'Because COPA's investigation constitutes process rather than a protected property interest, the Court dismisses Plaintiffs' due process claim premised on a property interest in a fair investigation,' wrote U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso.