Between 2008 and 2012, the years that interim Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson commanded the Gresham district, Injustice Watch identified 15 federal lawsuits accusing a group of officers of illegal searches and arrests, at times using unnecessary force.
Ten times in the last five years, the City of Chicago has paid $1 million or more to settle claims stemming from fatal shootings by Chicago police officers, city records show. All of the 10 people shot were African-American. Eight were 25 or younger. Nine were men. Nine of the shootings occurred on the South Side.
About four times a month, officers shoot suspects, bystanders or other police. Yet, in a typical year, prosecutors bring excessive-force charges against on-duty Chicago police fewer than two times a year, an Injustice Watch analysis of federal and state data shows.
U.S. attorneys across the country charge law enforcement officers in civil rights cases about 42 times a year, declining to prosecute more than nine in every 10 cases referred to prosecutors by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.