A Broken System

I. Background on the Homeless Youth Problem –

Most people are unaware of the scope of youth homelessness and the reasons youth become homeless. On any given night in Chicago, nearly 2,000 youth experience homelessness. Most homeless youth have no home and no family to which they can return. There are only 120 shelter beds for youth in the Chicagoland area, and youth face myriad obstacles to self-sufficiency. Meanwhile, youth on the streets are met with extreme danger and risk as they fight the odds for survival and progress. They need and deserve ethical, competent, professional treatment from police, whose job it is “to serve and protect.”

Lakeview is a gathering spot for youth who experience homelessness, and/or who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and/or Transgender. These youth experience harassment and abuse by police who come from the 19^th and 23^rd districts of the Chicago Police Department – patterns which LAC members have documented. Over 18 months, LAC compiled over 112 reports of incidents of abuse and mistreatment of homeless and/or LGBT youth which included their being stopped by police for no reason, being threatened with assault and/or planting of drugs by police, being slurred by officers regarding their race, gender, sexual orientation or homelessness, being sexually harassed and propositioned by officers, having their belongings, identification, or money confiscated by police for no reason and never returned to them, being falsely arrested (having drugs planted on them or having false charges filed), and being physically assaulted by police officers.

Staff were careful to screen all complaints for credibility, and encouraged youth to file formal complaints with the Office of Professional Standards, the department which is instituted to investigate officer misconduct. It is critical to note that most youth who report experiencing mistreatment and abuse from police are hesitant to discuss it in detail or complete incident reports for fear of reprisal, and because they feel resigned to the abuse. Likewise, they are very frustrated with the OPS process because it is difficult to engage, and almost never results in conclusive findings or remedy of any kind. LAC leaders have filed, or has assisted youth in filing several official complaints with OPS dating from spring of 2002, and NOT ONE has moved to any conclusion.

Since fall of 2003, LAC member organizations have worked in earnest with the police department to ameliorate the abuse experienced by youth on Lakeview streets. This work has included numerous meetings with commanders of the 19^th and 23^rd police districts and others in the police department, including the Area Deputy Chief, the Superintendent, and his First Deputy Superintendent and an Assistant Deputy Superintendent.

LAC leaders continued to spend time and energy on strategies suggested by police officials, including trainings for police officers and discussions at Sergeants meetings, only to find that the CPD Legal Department would not allow the strategy to be implemented. Leaders organized and held a forum with the understanding that the police officials would discuss officer accountability with the Sergeants present, and instead police officials spoke to the community about inappropriate youth behavior.

In short, LAC leaders jumped through all of the hoops set up by the police in the hopes that each strategy would increase the officers’ understanding of the particular situations for the youth on the street, and that the police harassment and abuse of youth would lessen as a result. In fact, often just the opposite occurred. Police would appear to increase the pressure on youth after an LAC event, in what seemed to be retaliation. The condition for youth on the streets has not improved after 3 years of efforts with the police.

LAC is not alone is searching for accountability in the Chicago Police Department. Professor Craig Futterman, of the Mandel Clinic of the University of Chicago Law School, The Justice Coalition of Greater Chicago, Amnesty International, and other outside experts have all found systemic weaknesses in the department’s disciplinary system.

Today, LAC leaders call for a reduction of incidents of harassment and abuse of youth in Lakeview by the police in the 19^th and 23^rd Districts by 50% by August 2007. LAC leaders will continue documenting reports of harassment and abuse of youth by the police during this period. LAC leaders ask that the commanders of the 19^th and 23^rd Districts report on the strategies and tactics that they have employed locally to meet this goal of a 50% reduction.

Finally, the Office of Professional Standards is currently in flux. There are clear opportunities for real reform and citywide police accountability. LAC leaders will be working in collaboration with other organizations across Chicago towards developing a system that effectively polices the police.

Chapter 1-Introduction:

The system of police accountability in Chicago is broken, both citywide and at the local level. This report, A Broken System: Lakeview Action Coalitions Report on Police Harassment & Abuse of Homeless Youth in Lakeview, chronicles the problems in a particular community, but this issue is felt strongly throughout the city of Chicago.

The Lakeview Action Coalition (LAC) is a non-profit, multi-issue community organization. LAC is made up of 39 institutional members, including religious congregations, non-profit agencies, banks, business associations, a credit union and a senior citizens caucus. These diverse institutions are stakeholders in the Chicago communities of Lakeview, Lincoln Park and North Center. LAC stands for justice, solidarity, and diversity.

This report outlines the results of three years of activity by community leaders through LAC to build better relationships with the local police, to understand the accountability system as it exists, and to document the experiences of youth on the street. Meanwhile, the experiences that youth on the streets have with the police have not improved. The documentation collected shows that police continue to harass homeless and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth using racial slurs, making fun of them because they are homeless, stopping and searching them constantly and for no apparent reason, and on several occasions committing illegal acts like planting drugs, stealing LINK cards and physically assaulting them.

Chapter 2-Background on the Homeless Youth Problem:

Youth Homelessness is a big problem that too few people know about!

Most homeless youth carefully manage their appearance and belongings, and conduct themselves in such a way as to “blend in” and not attract attention. Often people are shocked to hear the real truth about the prevalence of youth homelessness. The average age of a homeless person in the United States of America is 9 years old. Every year in Illinois, some 26,000 youth experience homelessness. As many as ten thousand Chicago youth find themselves homeless every year, and half of those become chronically homeless. There are only about 120 shelter beds in Chicagoland for all those youth (and 212 in total in the state of Illinois). Only one shelter accepts youth outside conventional business hours, and it’s always full. All of these statistics on youth homelessness are gathered from programs that serve youth, and so it’s almost impossible to estimate how many youth experience homelessness, since most homeless youth can’t find services and perhaps don’t even seek them.

Only 2-8% of youth served in homeless youth shelters have a runaway report filed on them. Some 40% of homeless youth identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender, and report that their families have “disowned” them because of that. Others (some 50% of homeless youth) have prior involvement in the child welfare system, so that they never had permanent families or homes to begin with. Many youth became homeless when their families are destabilized by loss of affordable housing in a community and they are forced to move. The current demolition of public housing in Chicago is often cited as a reason for homelessness. The extreme paucity of affordable housing, lack of health insurance, and jobs that don’t pay a living wage all contribute to the rise in youth homelessness. Many homeless youth experienced violence or other trauma that made their homes feel less safe than the streets. Some youth maintain contact with extended family members, but are still unable to find housing, acceptance, or safety at home. The Department of Children and Family Services (the state child welfare organization) very rarely takes protective custody of teenagers.

Practically all homeless youth experience violence and exploitation regularly after becoming homeless. 61.5% of homeless youth in Illinois reported being victims of violence in the last 12 months according to a 2005 University of Illinois at Chicago study. 26.6% unaccompanied homeless youth reported police harassment in that report. Unaccompanied homeless young people experience dramatically more frequent and damaging incidences of homophobic hate crimes, robbery, identity theft, and discrimination based on their race, gender, age, or sexual orientation, as well as more risk of physical and sexual assault, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and serious health problems. Homeless youth rely on each other for safety, protection, and community, and often don’t trust adults because they’ve been rejected or harmed by adults who were supposed to love and protect them. Because homeless youth face such danger, and because they’re conditioned to distrust adults, it is even more critical for them to be able to receive dependable, professional, ethical treatment and be “served and protected” by police.

*To find out more about youth homelessness, consult the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless or the National Runaway Switchboard.

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Compilation of Documentation – Breakdown of Incident Reports

In our documentation of police misconduct in the 19^th and 23^rd districts, collected between November 2004, and May 2006, youth report:

· Harassment (being stopped multiple times; being told to leave neighborhood; threats of violence or of planted drugs; verbal abuse of all kinds, including racial slurs, sexual harassment and homophobic comments): 95

(Note: Numbers add up to more than 112 because some youth reported more than one type of abuse per incident.)

This documentation primarily came from our partner service agencies, including The Night Ministry, Broadway Youth Center, Center on Halsted, and Youth Pride Center, who helped their youth clients document incidents of police misconduct that they experienced in the 19^th and 23^rd districts. Service providers encouraged youth to make formal complaints with OPS when appropriate, but respected clients’ decisions either way.

Why youth often don’t file official reports to the Office of Professional Standards Top Reasons cited by youth include:

· Don’t believe there will be any results or anything done because of making a formal complaint; think it will be a waste of time

· Have tried to file and have been told they can’t because they don’t have enough information or aren’t doing it properly

Examples of Reported Incidents
(Any identifying specifics have been removed for the safety of the youth involved)

He was alone, sitting at the Belmont Rocks when “2 police officers from an unmarked vehicle came up to me and asked me for my identification. I gave them my social security card which was all I had. They then searched me and told me I was arrested, handcuffed me and took me to their car. They took me north of Foster beach where they met up with 2 other police officer and then pulled me out to the car. All 4 of them hit and kicked me while I was still in the handcuffs. When they were done they took the handcuffs off of me and got in their cars and left.
They never told me why I was arrested.”

The youth sustained injuries of cracked ribs and a busted knee. He went to Illinois Masonic
emergency room after he was injured. He was not taken to a police station and the officers made no known record of the stop.

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”I was handcuffed by security for supposedly shoplifting. Two police officers arrived; they smacked my face, then punched me in the chest, searched my wallet and confiscated my LINK card, then released me.”

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”I first became homeless when I was 17 when I got kicked out of my parent’s home by my stepmother…My first incident with the police occurred in the summer of 2002, while I
was staying at the Open Door Shelter. I heard that there was going to a mini hot-rod auto show at the McDonald’s on Addison in their parking lot. I went up there to take a look. While I was up there looking at the cars, I had an epileptic seizure. Two police officers were there and saw me go into the seizure. They claimed that I intended to destroy property. I don’t remember everything when I have seizures, but when I came to, I was being handcuffed. I tried to tell them that I was epileptic and just had a seizure, but they didn’t listen. They put the handcuffs on me way too tight and my hands hurt really badly. They put me in the back of the police car and I kept telling them that the cuffs were too tight but they just told me to shut up. I then spent 12 hours in the 19th District’s lock-up at Belmont and Western and they released me at midnight. Eventually, when I went to court, these charges were dropped.”

”I feel that I have been profiled repeatedly because I am young, male, and homeless and because I have a chronic medical condition. I have never broken the law and I don’t have a criminal record, yet I have been harassed by the police and stopped and searched for no reason.”

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A young black woman reported, “3 officers illegally entered my apartment. One officer stole my $1500 refund check money from college and went in my purse and stole my drivers’ license. He said they were looking for my boyfriend.”

Demographics of youth who submitted reports on incidents of police harassment and abuse

Sexual Orientation
Lesbian: 6, Gay: 15, Bisexual: 17, Transgender: 10, Straight: 32

The Chicago Coalition For the Homeless, The Night Ministry and Lakeview Action Coalition Police Misconduct Survey

We are collecting stories about youth experiences with the police in the Lakeview community and surrounding area. THIS SURVEY IS ANONYMOUS. We ask for a first name to prevent double counting.

2. Where did it happen? __ ___________________________________(address or intersection)

3. Who was there? ______________________________________________________________

Officer(s) name? _______________________________________________________________ Officer sex: Male Female Officer(s) age: ________ Officer race:________________________

Were you taken to the police station? Yes No Which station? _________________________

What did the officer call you?____________________________________________________

What did the officer call you? __ ________________________________________________

Were you hurt by the officer? Yes No How?_________________________________________________________________________

Fall 2003-November 2006

Many LAC member organizations work closely with homeless and at-risk youth every day. They provide a variety of services, including direct assistance with food and other survival needs, counseling, housing, and activism and affinity groups. They provide a community where the youth can experience safety, structure, and practical and emotional support. For years, those who work directly with the youth have heard reports and seen the results of police abuse and misconduct against the youth. The range of these abuses is highlighted in Chapter 3.

In May 2004, LAC leaders met with Gary Yamashiroya, the Commander of the 23^rd District, to discuss this problem and possible solutions. Leaders described incidents of improper police interactions with the youth. The commander focused on the behavior of youth in the community, which has been a common response from the police through the years, and did not speak of any accountability measures that he could implement. However, meetings with the commander continued, with a focus on trying to find common ground. In June, LAC initiated a similar dialogue with the commander of the 19^th District, who retired soon after.

The ineffectiveness of OPS has been well documented by other groups and is discussed in Chapter 5 of this report. One of the main problems with the OPS system is that people – police officers and citizens alike - do not see it as an effective or safe means to hold officers accountable for inappropriate behavior. Not only do complaints remain unresolved for years, but the accused officers remain on the streets. Homeless youth are particularly vulnerable to retribution, since they often do not have a safe place to go at night, and they are required to sign their names when they make an OPS complaint. There are also very credible reports of retribution for filing a complaint against an officer. For that reason, most youth do not report abuse to OPS.

In July, LAC convened a public meeting with 200 community members. As a result of this meeting, Commanders Yamashiroya and George Rosebrock (19^th District) agreed to address officer misconduct at the “roll call” meetings that take place during officer shift changes, to meet with LAC leaders monthly, and to work together with LAC to develop officer training. In addition, Alderman Tunney agreed to continue working with us on this issue.

ADS Skahill suggested instead that the district Commanders convene meetings of their sergeants and invite LAC leaders to speak about homeless youth and the abuse that we were documenting. This idea was rejected by the General Counsel a few weeks later. LAC leaders began to feel as though they were spending time jumping through hoops, with no concrete improvements for youth on the streets.

In May 2006, LAC leaders agreed to work with ADS Skahill and Commanders Yamashiroya and George Rosebrock (19^th District) to plan a community forum. At the forum, LAC leaders were to educate Sergeants of the 19^th and 23^rd Districts about youth homelessness and the Commanders were to reinforce the responsibility of sergeants to hold officers accountable for consistent use of appropriate police procedures, especially during street stops of youth, and of the tools that supervisors have been given to do so. The community members would be present so they could also witness the sergeants being told how to hold their officers accountable, something that no LAC leaders could be sure had ever happened.

The forum took place on July 10, 2006. In some ways it was a success – at least 20 sergeants from the two districts were present, as well as the two Commanders, the Deputy Chief for Area 3 (who supervises the 19^th and 23^rd Districts), ADS Skahill and about 40 community members. When it came time for the police officials to relay their expectations to the sergeants, however, they instead addressed the community members present. They expressed doubts about the truthfulness of youth reports of police abuse, stated that police officers regarded all youth on the streets as potential criminals, and once again suggested that the best approach for addressing police misconduct was to file complaints with OPS or to press for an investigation by an outside body such as the U.S. Justice Department. Despite a clearly negotiated agreement, police officials did not publicly state their expectation that sergeants are expected to hold officers accountable for consistent use of police procedures, especially during street stops of youth.

In the weeks immediately following the forum there was a clear backlash against the youth and the organizations serving the youth. Police cars were noticed more frequently circling or parked in front of youth-service agencies. In addition, police began appearing repeatedly at a youth outreach event that has been taking place on the corner of Belmont and Halsted Streets every Tuesday and Friday for the past eight years. This behavior intimidated the youth in attendance and deterred them from receiving the services they needed. Volunteers from religious congregations and a Night Ministry outreach van park in a bus stop on the corner, serve sandwiches, and give information about local services to passersby, especially at-risk and homeless youth. Starting on July 11 and continuing for the next several weeks, police converged on that event each night it was in operation, scaring off youth, ticketing or threatening to ticket volunteers’ cars, and demanding that the program change locations. On several occasions, arrests were made, and on one evening a youth was handcuffed, beaten by several officers and arrested. Youth in the community noted increased harassment and attention by the police when visiting this event and other community-based programs.

As the conversations were happening about the training idea at higher levels within the Chicago Police Department in late 2005 and early 2006, LAC leaders were working with youth service providers to document reports by youth of police misconduct and abuse. The results of that documentation are reported in Chapter 3 of this report. Each month, LAC leaders met together with Commanders Yamashiroya and Rosebrock to present summaries of reports documented in the past month and to press the commanders to take steps to deal with what leaders had come to term a “culture of abuse” within the 19^th and 23^rd Districts.

The misconduct reports were stripped of identifying information because service providers promised confidentiality to youth who provided them. In addition, the Commanders informed LAC leaders that if they were given identifying information such as date, time and location, they would have to open an investigation into the incidents and could no longer discuss them. Instead, LAC leaders agreed to provide the commanders general reports of street incidents each month, and the commanders agreed to address them in officer “roll calls” at the beginning of each shift. LAC leaders hoped this would decrease the most pervasive problem experienced by youth – harassment in the form of racial slurs, rude statements about sexual orientation or gender identity, being cursed and yelled at, and being stopped and searched for no apparent reason. This strategy also failed to yield positive results. Although the commanders reported that each month they spoke to their officers at roll call meetings, conditions for youth on the streets did not improve.

This narrative outlines nearly three years of work, done by hundreds of community residents, local clergy, homeless youth and their service providers, lawyers and other allies. While the meetings and actions have exposed an issue that has existed in the community for years, the youth on the streets in Lakeview have not benefited from an improved relationship with the police. While relationships have been developed between youth and other community stakeholders, including police officers, the culture of abuse is still evident within districts 19 and 23 of the Chicago Police Department.

Lakeview Action Coalition is not alone. Over the past decade, numerous respected community organizations and experts have issued reports documenting police abuse and misconduct in Chicago and have called on the city to repair or replace its failed system for holding officers accountable.

Professor Craig Futterman, of the Mandel Clinic of the University of Chicago Law School, analyzed 10,150 citizen complaints of excessive force, illegal arrest, illegal searches, and racial and sexual abuse from 2002-2004. Officers received disciplinary suspensions of seven days or more in only 18 of those cases. Futterman, who represents a citizen suing the Chicago Police Department for misconduct, also found that 5 percent of officers accounted for almost 45% of all 18,000 complaints during the same time period. Yet those officers were no more likely than any other to be disciplined with a suspension of seven days or more.[1]

The Justice Coalition of Greater Chicago, Amnesty International, and other outside experts have all found systemic weaknesses in the department’s disciplinary system. In a recent analysis for a case against the department, Lou Reiter, a former deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, concluded that problem officers feel a sense of impunity because Chicago police officials have intentionally not implemented an effective system to identify them. In a deposition in the same case, Brian Netols testified that in 18 corrupt officer cases he prosecuted in Chicago as an assistant U.S. attorney, he encountered a “blue wall of silence,” in which officers failed to report or stop criminal activities by fellow officers and refused to cooperate in criminal investigations.[2]

The Justice Coalition of Greater Chicago, an alliance of more than 70 civic, religious, legal, educational, business, and community organizations and concerned individuals, identified similar systemic weaknesses, and in 2001 issued a 12 Point Plan for reform. The Coalition recommended that the Chicago Police Department do a better job identifying, monitoring, and counseling officers who develop a pattern of complaints, that measures be taken to protect officers who report misconduct by their colleagues, and that citizens be permitted to file complaints anonymously.[3]

Finally, in its 2005 “Stonewalled” report, Amnesty International expressed concern that lack of public trust in police internal oversight, combined with fear of retaliation suggests that many people don’t make complaints about police abuse and misconduct. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth and LGBT homeless people are among those least likely to come forward with complaints, the report said.[4]

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Lakeview Action Coalition has been attempting to collaborate with officials within the Chicago Police Department for the past three years, developing and implementing strategies that have not met the goal of improving the situation for youth on the streets, and improving the relationship between the police and local youth.

Today, LAC leaders call for a reduction of incidents of harassment and abuse of youth in Lakeview by the police in the 19^th and 23^rd Districts by 50% by August 2007.

LAC leaders will continue documenting reports of harassment and abuse of youth by the police during this period.

LAC leaders ask that the commanders of the 19^th and 23^rd Districts report on the strategies and tactics that they have employed locally to meet this goal of a 50% reduction.

Finally, the Office of Professional Standards is currently in flux. Its director stepped down in October. A search firm is seeking replacement candidates, who will be reviewed by a panel headed by former Chicago Police Superintendent Terry Hillard. The panel includes several outspoken OPS critics, and may provide an opening to look at the accountability system as a whole. There are clear opportunities for real reform and citywide police accountability. LAC leaders will be working in collaboration with other organizations across Chicago towards developing a system that effectively polices the police.

[1] “Portrait of Impunity – Part II,” The View From The Ground, www.viewfromtheground.com, September 20, 2006.

[2] “Report: Bad cops protected,” Chicago Tribune, November 29, 2006.

[3] “The Justice Coalition Of Greater Chicago’s Proposed Minimum Rules And Regulations Necessary To Create An Effective Chicago Police Department Disciplinary System To Be Implemented By New General Orders Of Superintendent Hillard,” www.jcgc.org/12Points.html.

[4] “Stonewalled: Police Abuse and Misconduct Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People in the U.S.,” www.amnestyusa.org/outfront/stonewalled/index.html, September 22, 2005.

A Broken System:

Lakeview Action Coalition’s Report on Police Harassment & Abuse of Homeless Youth in Lakeview

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Background on the Homeless Youth Problem

Chapter 3: Documentation of Police Misconduct in the
19^th and 23^rd Districts

Chapter 4: History of LAC’s Work on this Issue

Chapter 5: A System Under Scrutiny

Chapter 6: What's Next

Executive Summary:

Chapter 1-Introduction:

The Chicago Coalition For the Homeless, The Night Ministry and Lakeview Action Coalition Police Misconduct Survey

A Broken System:

Lakeview Action Coalition’s Report on Police Harassment & Abuse of Homeless Youth in Lakeview

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Background on the Homeless Youth Problem

Chapter 3: Documentation of Police Misconduct in the 19th and 23rd Districts

Chapter 4: History of LAC’s Work on this Issue

Chapter 5: A System Under Scrutiny Chapter 6: What's Next

Executive Summary:

Chapter 1-Introduction:

The Chicago Coalition For the Homeless, The Night Ministry and Lakeview Action Coalition Police Misconduct Survey

Chapter 3: Documentation of Police Misconduct in the
19^th and 23^rd Districts

Chapter 5: A System Under Scrutiny

Chapter 6: What's Next