Chicago police announce new changes to crowd response policies

CHICAGO - The Chicago Police Department (CPD) has announced new changes to how it responds to large crowds, following the guidelines of the consent decree and constitutional policing practices. These changes are detailed in a 14-page document.

The updated policies come in the wake of protests and scrutiny the department faced after the death of George Floyd in 2020. The document outlines new procedures for handling crowds, protests, and civil disturbances.

For instance, during the upcoming Democratic National Convention, 2,500 CPD officers will be deployed. Officers will be required to activate their body-worn cameras to record all law enforcement-related activities, display their star numbers and name tags at all times, and follow a new system for arrests.

Sergeants will be assigned to transport vehicles, while detectives will be responsible for entering data collected on scene and processing arrestees at the stations.

"I think for mass arrest processing, there was no supervision at the trucks. There was no probable cause or a lack of clear probable cause and identifying who actually saw what occurred, and then making sure we're efficient in our rescue processing. Obviously, it's unsafe for the arrestees and the arresting officers when we have significant delays in arrest processing," said Jake Alderden, CPD Captain.

The new policy addresses mistakes identified by the Independent Monitoring Team in 2020 and the Inspector General's after-action reports.

Through June 30, CPD is inviting the community to review the police changes and provide feedback: Click Here.