November 5, 2020
Open Letter To the Honorable Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot,
We, the undersigned Chicago public safety, community justice, civil and human rights stakeholders, write to implore you to end incommunicado detention in Chicago in 2020 by announcing yourself “in favor” of ordinance O2019-3873, which guarantees arrestees may access counsel generally within an hour of arrest as is required in Illinois but ignored in your Chicago.
Many of us served on committees for your 2016 Police Accountability Task Force (PATF) that did the research, cost analysis, and blueprints to support the PATF’s recommendation that this very policy be enacted to end incommunicado detention. We, yourself included, were of one mind, that it is a make-or-break for police-community relations that police enforce the law on the right to an attorney and phone calls.
Almost 5 years later, incommunicado detention continues, but now directly under your watch.
We, 210,770 people and counting, and you cannot ignore the over 98% of people in Chicago Police Department control who never get access to legal representation. That’s at least 100 Chicagoans at this very moment. Take a stand with us, not against us, to ensure that your arrestees are given the dignity of a real chance to exercise their rights to and through an attorney and not to disappear from their loved ones at the hands of your police force.
Please lead (the updated) GO2019-3873 across the finish line in 2020.
We have 2 months to get it done and leave incommunicado detention behind us for a more just and humane 2021.
The ordinance is amended to address the only lingering concerns of your staff, including CPD, that: 1)it may not be possible for an officer to offer their arrestee the phone “within an hour” in every case; 2)it may not be necessary since state law requires it “generally” within an hour, leaving some grey area; and 3)those two things mean O2019-3873 could invite a new way for the City of Chicago to be sued for police misconduct. Please note, the latest version of the ordinance solves all of this with a new provision by which any officer will include in their arrest report, in the instance they can’t provide the phone within an hour, why that was reasonable.
Further, the real legal, ethical, humanitarian, moral, social, and financial liability on your hands comes from not addressing this swiftly. Mayor Lightfoot, that is why we insist your position on this be refreshed and announced as “in favor” without delay.
Respectfully,
46th Ward Neighbors Against Police Violence
A Knock At Midnight
A. M.
Abeedah Hassan
ACLU of Illinois
Adalah Justice Project
Afro American Police Officers League
Aidan
Aina Cambridge
Alan D. Goldberg
Alec Roseen
Alejandro Soberanis
Aleksa Sorgatz
Alenka Figa
Alex Newman
Alex Tillett-Saks
Alexandra Sossa
Alexandria Santistevan
Alexis Moreno
Alexis Muñoz
Alexis O’Connor
Ali Abid
Ali Schreibman
Alisa Kondratyev
Alison Chesley
Alison Murphy
Alma Rios
Almanza Family
Alonso Cisneros
Amara Alexander
Amelia Harding
Amy Burns and family
Amy Clark
Ana Rowley
Andersonville/Edgewater Indivisible IL9
Andrea Guzman
Andrei Heward-Mills
Andres rios
Andrew Rohm
Andy Sorgatz
Angela Cuadros
Anna Kelma
Anna Rodimtseva
Annikka Bouwsma
Anthony Carter
Anthony Lowery
Antonette Narvasa
Antonio Campagna
Asa Gelber
Asha Edwards
Ashley Rodriguez
Attorney Standish E. Willis (Ret.) & Vickie Casanova-Willis PhD US Human Rights Network
Aubrey Hopper
Audrey Hills
Audrey Sides
Ava Delariman
Ava Gates
Ava Thompson
Avery Danao
Aviva Futorian
Azadi Mathew-Lewis and family
Bailey Nicholoff
Barbara Havens
Barnes-Brown Family
Beatrice Hawkins
Ben Weis, MPH, MSW
Benjamin D. Meyer
Benjamin Jacobs
Benjamin Kailin, Esq.
Bergin & Associates
Bernardine Dohrn
Bessie Tsitsopoulos
BLMChi Black Lives Matter Chicago
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Brendan Hudson
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