Chicago suburb threatens resident with house condemnation for offering shelter to the homeless in subzero weather

Officials in the Chicago suburb of Elgin, Illinois gave resident Greg Schiller an ultimatum: stop providing shelter to the homeless, or we’ll condemn your house.

Schiller told Chicago’s NBC 5 that he began hosting “slumber parties” for homeless people to stay warm during the region’s frigid cold in December, and would give them food and warm drinks in his unfinished basement — but would not allow drugs or alcohol.

Unbelievable: One Chicago Cop Accused of Framing 51 People for Murder

Horrific acts of Chicago Police Department brutality, from killings to racial profiling to harassment of youth, do not spring from a few bad apples alone. Mounting evidence from city residents, grassroots organizations like We Charge Genocide and even the Department of Justice shows that the problem is system-wide, extending from streets to courts to jail cells and condoned by the chain of command, all the way up to the mayor’s office. However, focusing on the bad behavior of individual cops, and examining how the system responds, can be instructive.

What the Investigation Into the Chicago Police Department Found

The results of the investigation into the Chicago Police Department’s use of force released Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice shows the city’s police engaged in systemic practices that violated residents’ constitutional rights. Here are some of the key findings from the report, which you can read in full here. The findings come 13 months after the investigation began, and more than two years since the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, whose death—which was captured by police dash-cam footage and withheld by Chicago authorities for more than a year—prompted the inquiry.

Report: Chicago police use excessive force and often treat people “as animals or subhuman”

The Chicago Police Department routinely violates civil rights, uses unnecessary force, discriminates against minority residents, and fails to hold officers accountable — creating a climate of distrust, violence, and fear that makes residents and cops unsafe. That’s according to a massive new report that the US Department of Justice released on Friday.

As part of the investigation for the report, the Justice Department reviewed thousands of pages of documents, conducted hundreds of interviews with officials and residents, and participated in dozens of ride-along observations with police over 13 months.

Don’t let racists fool you: The Chicago kidnapping isn’t about Black Lives Matter. It’s about the violence faced by people with disabilities

A brutal crime in Chicago shocked the nation earlier this week after four teenagers kidnapped an 18-year-old student and tormented him over Facebook Live — punching him, kicking him, and tearing off his clothing while he screamed for help. What made the crime a front page story, however, isn’t that it was live-streamed over social media: The perpetrators — Jordan Hill, Tesfaye Cooper, Brittany Covington, and Tanishia Covington — invoked the name of the president-elect during the attack. “F**k Trump!” the assailants yelled. “F**k white people!”

Chicago Mayor Holds On For Dear Life In The Face Of Chicago’s Continuing Police Corruption

It’s been six months since the video of Laquan McDonald’s fatal shooting put a national spotlight on police brutality and corruption in Chicago, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel is still grappling with how to restore trust of the city’s officers.

After replacing the head of the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) to review and overhaul the agency, which has long colluded with Chicago officers instead of holding them accountable, Emanuel wants to scrap the police oversight body altogether.

'I was struck with multiple blows': inside the secret violence of Homan Square

Internal documents from the Chicago police department show that officers used physical force on at least 14 men already in custody at the warehouse known as Homan Square.

Police used punches, knee strikes, elbow strikes, slaps, wrist twists, baton blows and Tasers at Homan Square, according to documents released to the Guardian in the course of its transparency lawsuit about the warehouse. The new information contradicts an official denial about treatment of prisoners at the facility.

Lawsuit: Chicago Police Entered Family's Home, Shot Their Dog, Won't Explain Why

CHICAGO (CN) - Chicago police shot and killed a man's dog in front of his kids and they refuse to turn over records about the incident, he claims in a Cook County lawsuit.

Antonie Glasper's attorney, Torreya Hamilton, said Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers showed up at his house in August 2015 and busted down his front door while he was home with his 9-year-old and 20-year-old autistic children.

Quintonio LeGrier, Bettie Jones deaths renew anger over Chicago police shootings

Family members of a woman and man fatally shot by Chicago police say officers must stop killing residents.

Neighbours Quintonio LeGrier, 19, and Bettie Jones, 55, were shot and killed by police inside their apartment building on Saturday.

Speaking at a news conference held Sunday outside the home where the victims were killed, LeGrier's mother, Janet Cooksey, said the Chicago Police Department has failed her and so many others.

Rahm Emanuel Denies Laquan McDonald Cover-Up In Op-Ed

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel strongly denied accusations that he covered up the police shooting death of Laquan McDonald and reiterated his commitment to reforming police practices in an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune on Friday.

Emanuel rebutted charges that he suppressed the police dashcam video from October 2014 showing a white officer firing 16 rounds into McDonald, a 17-year-old African American, so as not to harm his chances in a tough re-election a few months later.

Here's Evidence The Chicago PD Is Worse Than You Thought

The release of a video showing the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald -- whom Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke fatally shot 16 times in October 2014, as the teen was walking away from him -- has made the city's police department an object of national scrutiny, with questions arising about its policies, its practices and its troubled history with the city's communities of color.

Chicago Releases 'Chilling' Video Of Cop Shooting Teen 16 Times

CHICAGO -- City officials on Tuesday released police dashcam video showing an officer shooting teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times, continuing to fire well after the youth falls to the ground. The court-ordered release of the video came hours after authorities charged Officer Jason Van Dyke with first-degree murder in the teen's killing.

Homan Square revealed: how Chicago police 'disappeared' 7,000 people

Police “disappeared” more than 7,000 people at an off-the-books interrogation warehouse in Chicago, nearly twice as many detentions as previously disclosed, the Guardian can now reveal.

From August 2004 to June 2015, nearly 6,000 of those held at the facility were black, which represents more than twice the proportion of the city’s population. But only 68 of those held were allowed access to attorneys or a public notice of their whereabouts, internal police records show.

Chicago Starts The Week With 14 Shot In 15 Hours

Chicago's bloody weekend spilled into the workweek, as 14 people were shot in the city over a 15-hour period from late Monday night to early Tuesday morning.

At least six people died. They included a pregnant woman and her mother, who were struck by a "barrage of bullets" in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, NBC Chicago reports. The woman's 11-month-old child was also injured in the shooting, although he is expected to recover.

Chicago police detained thousands of black Americans at interrogation facility

At least 3,500 Americans have been detained inside a Chicago police warehouse described by some of its arrestees as a secretive interrogation facility, newly uncovered records reveal.

Of the thousands held in the facility known as Homan Square over a decade, 82% were black. Only three received documented visits from an attorney, according to a cache of documents obtained when the Guardian sued the police.

Chicago Just Fired An Investigator Trying To Hold Cops Accountable For Unjustified Shootings

The independent agency tasked with policing Chicago cops hasn’t released findings on several unjustified police shootings, and its leaders are more concerned with protecting officers than investigating citizen complaints, a fired employee said.

Lorenzo Davis, an Independent Police Review Authority supervisor who was fired this month, said Chief Administrator Scott Ando asked him to change his findings in three police shootings in which he had determined officers committed wrongdoing.

Filmmaker Spike Lee Defends His Planned Film On Chicago Violence

CHICAGO, May 14 (Reuters) - Movie director Spike Lee, known for films that deal frankly with racial issues, appeared in Chicago on Thursday to defend his planned movie about the city, after its reported title, "Chiraq," was criticized by local politicians.

Speaking at a South Side church and surrounded by African-American mothers carrying pictures of children killed in street violence, Lee said artists hold up a mirror to society and are not afraid to tell the truth.

Chicago's Stop-And-Frisk Rate Four Times New York At Its Worst, ACLU Says

CHICAGO (AP) -- Chicago police officers initiated stop, question and frisk encounters at a much higher rate last summer than their New York City counterparts ever did, and just like with New York's heavily criticized program, Chicago blacks and other racial minorities were disproportionately targeted, according to a civil liberties group.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois released a report Monday saying it identified more than 250,000 Chicago stop-and-frisk encounters in which there were no arrests from May through August 2014. African-Americans accounted for nearly three-quarters of those stopped, even though they make up about a third of the city's population. On a per capita basis, Chicago police stopped 93.6 people per 1,000 residents, or more than four times New York's peak rate of 22.9 stops per 1,000 residents, which happened during the same four-month period of 2011.

Chicago Credit Downgrade Pushes City Closer To Fiscal Free Fall

CHICAGO, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Chicago drew closer to a fiscal free fall on Friday with a rating downgrade from Moody's Investors Service that could trigger the immediate termination of four interest-rate swap agreements, costing the city about $58 million and raising the prospect of more broken swaps contracts.

The downgrade to Baa2, just two steps above junk, and a warning the rating could fall further still, means the third-biggest U.S. city could face even higher costs in the future if banks choose to terminate other interest-rate hedges against fluctuations in interest rates. All told, Chicago holds swaps contracts covering $2.67 billion in debt, according to a disclosure late last year.

The disappeared: Chicago police detain Americans at abuse-laden 'black site'

The Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site.

The facility, a nondescript warehouse on Chicago’s west side known as Homan Square, has long been the scene of secretive work by special police units. Interviews with local attorneys and one protester who spent the better part of a day shackled in Homan Square describe operations that deny access to basic constitutional rights.