The Chicago Police Department has used gun buybacks to get thousands of guns off the street, but at least two of them have resurfaced at crime scenes. In November, a 16-year-old boy was found with a Glock handgun that went missing after it was handed in at a buyback.
Criminal Justice & Public Safety
Posted inStatewide Investigations
Champaign County Jail Begins Tracking and Reporting Use of Restraint Chairs to the State for the First Time
Champaign County Jail updated the way it documents, tracks and reports use of restraint chairs after an Illinois Answers Project investigation raised questions about the facility’s record-keeping practices and failure to report incidents to a state oversight unit.
Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
Many cameras. Little focus. Blurry results.
Chicago police bet big on pricey surveillance cameras. Two decades later, the devices do little to solve most crimes.
Posted inFollow-Up
Police Reports: School Officials Blocked Cops Access to Video Surveillance and Discouraged Witness From Cooperating After Fatal Shooting on Campus
The records, obtained by the Illinois Answers Project, provide greater detail on the clash between CPS and CPD at Juarez High School where four students had been shot, two fatally .
Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
CPS Principal, Staff Stymied Police Investigation of Mass Shooting at Pilsen High School, Emails, Interviews Show
In the first crucial hours, police could not get access to video surveillance, a witness and other key information in a shooting that left two students dead, two wounded. CPS says it cooperated.
Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
The Police Department for Fired Cops
An analysis of state data shows that 17% of all police officers hired by the Robbins Police Department since 2000 came on board directly after they were fired from previous law enforcement jobs, the most of any department in Illinois. Those hires include two cops who lied about what they saw the night Laquan McDonald was murdered.
Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
Court Clerk’s Error Exposed Data Involving Thousands of Juvenile Defendants, Violating State Law
A clerk’s office spokesman called the exposure “brief, non-damaging and limited in nature.” But a top county official says it was only the office’s latest failure.
Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
Dad Found Guilty in Abuse Death of 8-year-old Peoria Boy Navin Jones
A Peoria jury convicted Brandon Walker of murder in a trial that highlighted the failures of DCFS to remove 8-year-old Navin Jones from his parents’ care.
Posted inInvestigations
Illinois Taxpayers Shell Out Hundreds of Millions as Prison Reform Lawsuits Grind On
The settlement agreements have prompted major changes for incarcerated people who are deaf, mentally ill or under the care of the state prison’s beleaguered healthcare system, but advocates argue more needs to be done.
Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
What Happens at the End of a ShotSpotter Contract?
As Chicago decides whether to end the controversial service that alerts police to gunshots, the city of Dayton, which canceled its contract, may offer some lessons.
