CHICAGO (USA TODAY REPORT) — The agency tasked with investigating allegations of major misconduct against Chicago police officers released videos, audio recordings and other investigative material Friday from more than 100 incidents, a move that city officials hope will help bolster the public’s trust in its embattled police force.
The huge dump of video and audio comes after Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced in February that the city will begin releasing recordings of Chicago Police Department officer-involved shootings and other material related to investigations of alleged major police misconduct within 60 to 90 days of the incidents. Among the video and recordings released are dozens from police-involved shootings that remain under investigation by the city’s Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA).
terial.The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police union called the move by the city “irresponsible” and said the release of information of ongoing investigations could potentially be in violation of officers’ collective bargaining agreement.
“It is sad when, with all the talk about transparency and communication, they decide to operate in this manner,” the union wrote in a statement.
The mayor and police department had faced fierce criticism for previous resistance to releasing footage of a series of police shootings that were captured on city-owned cameras.
The issue came into sharp focus after the city was forced by court order in November to release police dashcam footage of officer Jason Van Dyke shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times on a city street. The Emanuel administration had balked at releasing the video for more than a year, citing the ongoing criminal investigation into the incident.
The video that showed the white officer pumping at least a dozen of the shots into the black teen after he had fallen to the ground touched off weeks of protests in the city. It also led U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to launch a civil rights investigation into the police department’s practices.
In announcing the new policy in February, Emanuel said the city’s default stance to resist releasing such video was outdated.
The new rules, which were recommended by Emanuel’s Police Accountability Task Force that was formed amid the fallout of the McDonald video release, call for video and audio recordings as well as initial police reports to be released within 60 days of an incident. The rules include a provision that allows the police department to request a 30-day extension before the evidence is made public.
The agency releasing the video, IPRA, has been criticized by activists as toothless. The agency has reviewed more than 400 police-involved shootings since 2007 but has only found officer wrongdoing in two cases.
Emanuel has announced plans to replace IPRA with a new civilian review board.
Many of the videos released on Friday are of poor quality or show little of the incident that is under investigation. But at least a few of the videos released offer clear footage of violent encounters between police and suspects.
One recording from April 2012, shows police fire a barrage of bullets on three men who have just robbed an electronics store on the city’s South Side. Several police officers had gathered outside the garage adjacent to the store, when the suspects–David Strong, Leland Dudley, and John Givens–quickly back their van, striking one of the officers. The officers fired dozens of shots, killing Strong and wounding Dudley and Givens.
Givens and Dudley were convicted of murder for the death of their accomplice Strong , aggravated battery of a peace officer, burglary, and possession of a stolen vehicle following. IPRA continues to investigate the officers conduct in the incident.
In another recording from a Chicago Transit Authority camera, a police officer can be seen firing shots at a man, Ismael Jamison, who charged at the officer. Police were called to a bus stop on the city’s South Side shortly after receiving calls from passengers on a bus that Jamison had assaulted passengers and the driver. Jamison was outside the bus, when he was fired upon. Jamison was wounded, but survived the shooting.
A third recording made from a cell phone camera outside a spontaneous block party on the city’s West Side shows an officer roughly throwing a woman against a squad car and another police officer strike another man with a baton. The city recently paid out a $100,000 settlement to the two individuals who had sued the city for police brutality.
Follow USA TODAY Chicago correspondent Aamer Madhani on Twitter: @AamerISmad