Invisible Institute Provides Chicago Residents With Searchable Database for Police Misconduct Cases

Civic Police Data Project 3.0 is a tool to hold police officers accountable by keeping a record of police interactions with public, misconduct, use of force that would otherwise be buried in internal police databases

Frequency map of reported complaints from CPDP public websitePhoto byAuthor/CPDP Public Website

CHICAGO - On Tuesday night, staff from the Invisible Institute rolled out The Civic Police Data Project 3.0 data set of police records of misconduct and interactions with the public. The data base update incorporates records gathered from 2018 - 2023.

The presentation demonstrated how the database can be searched and the variety of variables and reports that can be accessed. Typing a CPD officers name into the data based will provide their history on the force. Available documents, complaint records and info on any officers accused with the officer in question can be accessed through the timeline portion of the officers record. Actual documents associated with complaints can be viewed and the narratives read to discover the actual details of the complaint.

There are numerous search terms that can help the user narrow down the categories. Among these are Geography, Communities, Police Beat, Police District, Public Schools, Ward, Zip Codes, Complaint Categories, Outcomes of Complaint Complaint Characteristics, Complainant Demographics, Officer Demographics and Officer Characteristics.

It was clear that the documents are where there is a wealth of information, and that the complaint type itself may not be an accurate representation of what occured during the incident. For example, in one complaint lodged against Officer Glenn Evans, an officer investigated for numerous infractions and complaints and ultimately stripped of his police powers although he continues to remain on active duty (despite 131 allegations against him including 21 use of force complaints), the reason for the complaint was listed as "Verbal Abuse".

When reading the actual report of the incident however, some of the allegations (that were ultimately) while there were allegations that would fall under verbal abuse there were also more serious allegations including that the officer grabbed a baby carrier causing a four month old to fall out and strike his head on the table (which was sustained). It became clear through the presentation that there is a great deal of information in the database that would provide a much clearer picture of how the Chicago police interact with the public.

There is likely a great deal of data that isn't in the data base as sometimes reports aren't made, complaints are determined to be not reportable, or incidents are minimized or hidden. The data provided on CPDP comes mainly from information provided by the City of Chicago in response to legal action and Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests along with other publicly availabe data. This means if it's not in the public record or there is no litigation involved it is unlikely to be a part of the database. For example, the use of force data in the Tactical Response Reports is all self-reported and so it's likely that it is not a complete representation of these incidents.

This information is only available because people who experience harm, neglect or abuse from Chicago Police Officers file a complaint. While this can be frightening at times, it's important in order to make sure police are held accountable to those they serve.

Asked about their involvement in the DNC and possible arrests of protesters, staff stated that they will have a presence there so that anyone who has a problem with an officer can be shown how to look them up and anyone who may feel the need to file a complaint can be informed how to do so.