When video cameras captured Chicago Police Officer William Cozzi pummeling a wheelchair-bound hospital patient with a sap, it seemed a sure thing that the cop would lose his job.
But the members of Chicago’s Police Board, which reviews the police superintendent’s decision to fire officers, saw the case otherwise.
The board elected to suspend Cozzi for two years. Read more...
When the Chicago City Council created an independent agency in 2007 to review officer-involved shootings and allegations of misconduct, aldermen called the move a powerful way to reform the Police Department.
Now, a law firm that has won several large judgments in brutality cases is targeting the Independent Police Review Authority, accusing the agency of stalling a brutality case and concealing the names of the officers involved.
"They keep saying they are legit, but their actions say otherwise," says Jon Loevy, of the law firm Loevy & Loevy. "Whenever the police do something wrong, they refuse to close the investigation. It's hard not to see IPRA as just another cog in the machine." Read more...
