Chicago Police Department

Chicago’s Homeless Go Into Hiding as City Cracks Down on Tent Cities

As temperatures drop and the winter months near, the city of Chicago remains committed to ensuring homeless individuals are unable to erect “Tent Cities” in the Uptown area of the city near Lake Shore Drive. Authorities also contend the city has no obligation to offer alternative housing for homeless individuals.
The Chicago Police Department is prohibiting any “protest tent encampments” in Uptown and anyone who attempts to setup tents will be subject to arrest, as of September 19.

Chicago’s ‘Green Zone’: Plans For Massive Police Compound Worries Community

The city of Chicago plans to build a massive multi-million dollar training center for police and firefighters in the West Garfield Park neighborhood. But a coalition of community organizations contend the center will compound President Donald Trump’s “multi-pronged attack” on communities of color and expand the Chicago Police Department’s “capacity for violence.”

New York Times Publishes ACLU’s Factual Errors, Will They Publish Our Correction?

The New York Times usually gets it right, but the Newspaper of Record published an op-ed piece titled “How to Prosecute Abusive Prosecutors” containing a glaring factual error.
While we support the ACLU’s efforts and mission at PINAC News, we wish they would have returned our calls and emails this past week as we did our research.

Chicago Cop Will Face No Charges Despite Video Showing Him Shoot Man in Back

A Chicago police officer who killed a fleeing man by shooting him in the back will not face criminal charges, Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez announced today.
The decision was announced more than a year after the October 2014 shooting death of 25-year-old Ronald Johnson; a year in which Chicago officials fought hard not to release the dash cam video of the incident.

Chicago Pays $100,000 to Photojournalist Arrested and Abused by Police

A photojournalist who photographed Chicago police abusing a protesters during the 2012 NATO Summit, only to be beaten up himself by police, received a $100,000 settlement last month.
Joshua Lott, who was on assignment for Getty Images, said police destroyed one of two of his cameras as they stomped on him and beat him with batons.
He was jailed for misdemeanor reckless conduct, a charge that was dismissed when the cops failed to show up to court.

OPINION: Will Police Accountability Enter New Era After #LaquanMcDonald?

It took Chicago Police over a year to release the video of Laquan McDonald. If a video is recorded and nobody sees it, then does the recording matter?
What if there wasn’t a whistleblower, a reporter and a lawyer who combined to sue on behalf of the public interest and gain release of the video depicting an officer shooting the teenager McDonald as he walked away from cops.

Here is the Video of the Chicago Police Officer Shooting Laquan McDonald

The long-awaited video has finally been released and it’s not pretty, showing 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was nowhere near Chicago police when one cop opened fire and shot him 16 times.
Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke then walked up to him and continued to shoot after the teenager had collapsed on the street.
Initially, police claimed that McDonald had “lunged” at Van Dyke with a knife, but the knife is barely visible in the video.
But what is visible is that McDonald never lunged.

Chicago Police Fail in Attempt to Delete Video While Trying to Extort Lyft Passenger

Two men at Chicago O’Hare Airport were harassed by Chicago police and had their Constitutional rights violated for riding in a Lyft taxi that allegedly wasn’t allowed.
After a long business trip, a passenger who goes by Stovie Wan Kenobi on YouTube loaded his belongings in a Lyft taxi and left the airport.
But moments later, airport police officers pulled the taxi over for what appeared to be a traffic stop.