Criminal Justice & Public Safety

In other states, attorneys general have taken active roles in increasing police accountability. Could Illinois be next?

Prompted by BGA/WBEZ series, Tom Dart tells suburban chiefs that his office is available to conduct investigations into whether officers act properly in shooting incidents.

The family of a 22-year-old who was fatally shot by a Cicero police officer will receive $3.1 million from the suburb. Next to the victim’s dead body was the .38 caliber revolver that a Cook County judge turned in to a Chicago gun buyback years earlier.

A Cook County judge turned a gun in to Chicago police as part of a buyback program 13 years ago. The gun mysteriously turned up eight years later next to the body of a young man shot to death by a Cicero police officer. Cicero officials are now poised to write a $3.5 million settlement check to members of the dead man’s family.

A handful of Illinois park districts operate taxpayer-funded police forces separate from the regular police departments that already patrol the same communities. With badges sometimes handed to the well-connected, the practice raises questions of redundancy, liability, nepotism and expense.

Double shooting, mob beatdown spurs closing of Will’s Sports Bar, which was previously identified in BGA report.

Officer John Poulos also shot and killed alleged burglar in 2013, an incident explored in detail by the watchdog group in May.

Eight-year vet of police force seen on camera slapping man in genital area. Officer was previously suspended after a sexual assault allegation.

Video is released eight days after the death of Chicago teen.