Chicago police officers near the Chicago Theatre on State Street on Saturday, May 30, 2020, as protests and looting continued around the city. Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times The civil unrest that devolved into rampant mayhem after the murder of George Floyd was one of the most chaotic days in Chicago history. Within 24 hours, there were 18 homicides — one of the city's most violent days in 60 years. The inspector general’s blistering critique of the Chicago Police Department’s handling of the citywide chaos concluded it was "outflanked and unprepared" for problems it should have anticipated a ..read more

Iris Chavez, sister of Irene Chavez, speaks at a February 2022 news conference about her family’s lawsuit over her sister’s death while in police custody. Brian Rich/Sun-Times file Chicago taxpayers will spend $1.75 million to compensate the family of a 33-year-old woman found hanged inside a police holding cell on the South Side. La Voz Sidebar Lea este artículo en español en La Voz Chicago, la sección bilingüe del Sun-Times. Irene Chavez was arrested in December 2021 for simple battery after an incident at the Jeffery Pub in South Shore. The $1.75 million settlement, on the agend ..read more

Pro-Palestinian protesters and Chicago police officers face each other Saturday as students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago set up an encampment outside the museum to protest the Israel-Hamas war. Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times The Civilian Office of Police Accountability has opened a preliminary investigation into complaints against Chicago police officers at a pro-Palestinian protest near the Art Institute of Chicago on Saturday, officials confirmed. COPA opened a preliminary investigation to determine whether it or the Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs wi ..read more

“I can tell you that we reached out to everybody,” Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling said of an investigation of police officers with ties to extremist groups. Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times Before Larry Snelling was officially named the city's top cop, he told Chicagoans they had to partner with him and rank-and-file officers to build up the trust that is crucial to solving and deterring crime. "We can’t do this unless we do it together," the police superintendent said less than a year ago. "I can’t help you if I don’t listen to you." So let's be clear to Snelling: Chicagoans don't ..read more

Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling. Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere / Chicago Sun-Times A group of Chicago police officers admitted they were in contact with the Oath Keepers — and many acknowledged they even joined what would become a nationally notorious, anti-government group. But the cops said they did little or nothing with the Oath Keepers and thought they were merely “supporters of the Constitution” in the years before the group played a key role in the 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Based largely on their interviews with eight officers, Chicago Police Department officials decided a mont ..read more

Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling at CPD headquarters Oct. 17, 2023. Pat Nabong / Chicago Sun-Times Chicago Police Department leaders said Thursday they have decided not to punish any officers whose names appeared on the leaked membership list of the Oath Keepers, an anti-government extremist group that played a key role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. "The investigation is closed and the allegations were not sustained," a spokeswoman for the CPD said in a statement, declining to provide any documents from the internal probe. The brief statement stood in stark contrast t ..read more

Anthony Driver Jr., president of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, speaks at a City Hall news conference in March 2023. Pat Nabong/Sun-Times The president and vice president of Chicago’s Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability on Tuesday are among Mayor Brandon Johnson’s choices to serve on the permanent panel responsible for civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department. Anthony Driver Jr. and interim vice president Remel Terry are among seven mayoral nominees to the permanent commission. They will be joined by attorney Sandra Wortham ..read more

Chicago police officers surround Dexter Reed’s SUV. Civilian Office of Police Accountability Dexter Reed was shot at least 13 times when he was killed in a gun battle with Chicago police during a traffic stop last month in Humboldt Park, according to a newly released autopsy report. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the oversight agency investigating the shooting, has reported that four officers fired nearly 100 rounds at Reed after he shot another officer in the wrist on March 21 in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand Street. Reed was struck four times in his buttocks and twice ..read more

Dexter Reed’s mother, Nicole Banks, attends a news conference Wednesday outside the Harrison District police station in East Garfield Park. Her attorney announced a lawsuit filed against the City of Chicago and the five officers allegedly involved in the traffic stop that led to the fatal shooting of Reed in March. Pat Nabong/Sun-Times A federal lawsuit filed by the mother of Dexter Reed contends he was killed by Chicago police officers who unlawfully pulled over his SUV last month and were "outrageously" aggressive as they approached him. The lawsuit accuses Chicago police of promoting ..read more

Lawyers for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 on Monday filed notice that they will appeal a judge’s ruling that granted officers the right to have an arbitrator decide serious discipline cases, but said that hearings could be open to the public. Sun-Times file Chicago’s largest police union has given formal notice that it will appeal a court ruling that would open hearings on major disciplinary cases to the public. In a court filing, lawyers for Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 said they would challenge an order by Cook County Judge Michael Mullen issued last month. That order pare ..read more