Unraveled

Protesters mock ICE, Broadview police at dildo day of action outside detention center

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 08:00:54 GMT

A protester tosses a dildo. Photo: Dominic Guanzon

Around 75 people turned out for a dildo-themed protest—dubbed “Operation Dildo Blitz”—near the Broadview ICE facility on Saturday afternoon as part of a national “Fuck ICE” day of action.

The spectacle saw hundreds of phallic items, big and small, flood the designated free speech zone—a small barricaded area where people have been permitted to demonstrate since President Trump’s mass deportation blitz swept through Chicagoland. Anti-deportation activists in Minneapolis and Los Angeles joined in using artificial members to mock federal agents and local police.

“Are those regulation dildos?” asks a contestant of a dildo-flipping competition. Just two weeks ago, they were arrested during a protest against the “processing center” where detainees are held before leaving the state for more permanent detention.

“No, these are my juggling ones. They’re about six inches, and I cut the suction cups off for less drag,” responds their opponent, wearing a bandolier of plastic penises, who waited five hours for the first protester outside the Broadview police station as part of a jail support group two weeks prior.

The event came as a day of levity after an entire month of weekly civil disobedience and over a dozen arrests at the ICE facility, including eight on the day of the March 28 “No Kings” protests that drew millions nationwide.

“It’s a really good example of a way to show ICE that we can fuck them if we want to,” one volunteer helping with setup remarked. “We want to offer them a dildo and make sure they know that these cocks are bigger than theirs…If they want one of these, they’re welcome to have one. I’m happy to hand them one, and they can do what they want with it.”

“Everything that they’re doing to that building, putting the boards over the windows, it’s all to inspire fear,” another volunteer, who goes by the name ‘Quick,’ said. “So yeah, the dichotomy is intentional.”

A person dressed in an inflatable frog costume holds a sign with a purple phallus affixed to it. Photo: Dominic Guanzon

Arts and crafts at Operation Dildo Blitz. Photo: Dominic Guanzon

The day’s organizers were protest regulars who largely operate in a flat and decentralized structure. Several have been arrested at Broadview by either feds or the local Unified Command—the all-Illinois, multi-agency police force whose crowd control efforts have allowed the unobstructed passage of DHS vehicles into and out of the facility since large demonstrations erupted last year

“Six of my friends were arrested,” one protester who was at the dildo-throwing demonstrations at Minnesota’s federal Whipple Building back in February, told Unraveled. “We were discussing where we were going to take this, if we were going to take this to the same level we did back then, or be more peaceful. Today, we’re taking this seriously, but not taking [the Village of] Broadview seriously.”

Community building amidst cock tossing carnival

A protester holding two large inflatable phalluses. Photo: Dominic Guanzon

The carnival-themed protest featured an assortment of games seen at state fairs, including ring toss (onto dildos), the Bozo bucket game (using dildos), and “dickhole,” a cornhole variant where contestants threw dildos instead of bags.

Some protesters expressed a hesitation with the emotional dissonance of the crude theme against the horrors of detention and deportation going on at the ICE facility just a couple hundred feet away.

Ally Galvan, who was assisting with a table where protesters could paint penis-shaped ICE alert whistles, co-founded Grito Latino Addison.

“That was something I was struggling with on my way here,” Galvan said. “I had just dropped off food to a family member whose husband was detained in Schaumburg. I went from feeling so serious, very emotional, to showing up here and various penile objects being all around.”

She laughed, gesturing to a pair trying to flip large dildos upright like water bottles.

“It reminded me that ‘community’ looks different in every which way. We can criticize how community looks in different communities, but that’s what also brought us to this same situation. We’re already dividing people based on race, based on where they were born,” Galvan explained. “Just being here provides a sense of community for a lot. Many of us here are enjoying ourselves, because the majority of the time, we’re up at four or five in the morning just to keep our community safe.”

Ally Galvan shows off accessories. Photo: Dominic Guanzon

There was also an initial fear of the sex toys uncomfortably contrasting with the memorial of victims of DHS violence such as Alex Pretti and Silverio Villegas González, on a nearby fence.

This never came to fruition. The previous Wednesday protester Guy Young said he witnessed a counter-protester waving a “Support ICE” flag rip down all of the photos and throw them to the ground. Young picked up the photos for safekeeping and brought them back in a bag on Saturday.

Even though the photos did not return to the memorial during the event, posters of Gregory Bovino, Tom Homan, and other right-wingers were taped to the same fence for blindfolded protesters to play “pin-the-shit [sticker]-on-the-fascist.”

Guy Young salvaged photos of ICE victims after an agitator ripped them down last week. Photo: Dominic Guanzon

Underneath the utter ridiculousness of the afternoon, organizers took advantage of the event to promote community-building and mutual aid concepts. One table was dedicated to teaching people how to properly apply a tourniquet, using dildos as practice limbs. All proceeds from a pay-what-you-want merchandise table went to support families suffering from a detained loved one, such as legal resources and food assistance. Crafters also handed out bracelets with the National Lawyers Guild hotline.

A practice tourniquet wrapped around an adult toy. Photo: Dominic Guanzon

As the carnival continued, participants leaned into the absurdity.

Musicians in the center of the protest area set up drums and speakers to play along to protest songs such as “don’t fuck a fascist” and “Bird-Legged Ho,” the latter of which is in reference to Kristi Noem. Drummers attached a ring of dildos to the sides of a floor tom as a woman with a keytar soloed.

“I’ve seen her here so many times playing church songs,” one person said. “I’ve been waiting for her to rip on that thing.”

Police respond to barricade infraction, protesters respond with fake penises

Adult toys litter the ground in front of Broadview police officers. Photo: Dominic Guanzon

At approximately 1:15PM, Unified Command stationed on the southern end of Beach Street arrived in vehicles on the south end of the designated protest zone. Protesters had been heckling passing ICE and police vehicles all afternoon, but the increased police presence came after a handful of protesters had hopped over the barricade and loitered just on the other side.

“Where’s your sense of culture?” a protester sarcastically asked.

The officer-in-charge issued a five-minute warning to the chanting crowd with no audio amplification equipment.

About a dozen dildos were tossed from the crowd at police vehicles. Officers did not appear to react, but some did put on latex gloves.

Earlier, volunteers had stressed to protesters not to physically throw the dildos at police while distributing them.

“Police brutality is pretty fucking real here,” one volunteer said. “Some of the other detention centers in the country, they may have a little more luck with that today, but here we’re trying to tell everybody, ‘do not actually throw these at ICE.’ They’re a symbol, but definitely not meant to actually be thrown at ICE. Trying to not get a felony today.”

“Are you mad these dicks are way bigger than yours?” one protester yelled at the police.

The incident eventually ended with no arrests observed. Officers escorted the protesters back into the zone, with one person helicopter-spinning a pink dildo in the air as they walked. The encounter lasted about 10 minutes.

As the crowd thinned out around 3PM, volunteers distributed awards sporting a litany of penile modifications to game winners. Several were police marksmanship trophies, modified to depict a police officer aiming a penis instead of a pistol.

Teammates held a dildo between their hips as part of a three-legged race, which was won by an amputee with an artificial leg.

“I guess I won the ‘Dildo Dash Championship,’” the three-legged race winner said. “Coming here is kind of like a reset for me…seeing that I’m not alone in feeling like absolutely everything going on is insane. It’s the only time I look forward to, honestly. Protesting.”

The winner of the dildo flipping competition held up their penis-laden trophy in front of photographers with cigarette in hand.

A photographer suggested putting the cigarette in their mouth.

“I don’t want to look like an idiot,” the winner shot back.

Adult toys rest against the curb. Photo: Dominic Guanzon

Chicago cop who killed Anthony Alvarez in 2021 engaged in fatal unreported police chase last year, new lawsuit alleges

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 13:20:25 GMT

Eliseo Maya with family. Source: Provided.

Content warning: graphic descriptions of police violence

Early in the morning of February 8, 2025, a car slammed into a utility pole at a high rate of speed on Chicago’s Northwest Side.

The single-car crash received little attention at the time; however, a newly amended lawsuit alleges that Chicago police officer Evan Solano had engaged in a “ghost” pursuit—a chase without lights, sirens, and notification to dispatch—for over a mile prior to the fatal crash.

29-year-old Eliseo Maya, a passenger in the vehicle Solano allegedly chased, was killed, and another passenger was seriously injured. The car was split in two by its collision with the pole.

Officer Solano, now a Field Training Officer instructing new recruits in the 16th Police District, is the same officer who fatally shot 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez in the back as he ran from police in 2021.

Maya’s fiancé and mother of their two daughters initially filed a wrongful death lawsuit in May 2025 against Fernan Millian-Morales, the driver of the vehicle.

New video evidence came to light in January 2026, however, after city lawyers representing the Chicago Police Department (CPD) lost a legal battle to suppress attorneys’ subpoena. Based on the new evidence, the family’s attorneys recently amended their complaint to add the City of Chicago as a defendant on January 26. After learning of his role in the crash, they filed a motion to add Solano on April 2.

16th District Commander Thomas Hanrahan with officer Evan Solano on October 3, 2025. Source: Gladstone Park Chamber of Commerce

“It was the duty of Defendant Solano to refrain from acting with an utter indifference or conscious disregard for the safety of others,” alleges the complaint. Attorneys claim Solano disregarded traffic signals and violated several department policies during the chase.

According to the lawsuit, Solano chased Millian-Morales’ vehicle for “over one mile” on westbound Irving Park Road. After turning north on Oak Park Avenue, Millian-Morales lost control and crashed into a light pole near Taft Freshman Academy.

The police incident report from the crash, completed by Solano, does not mention following or pursuing the car.

According to his report, around 2:15 a.m., officers witnessed the car turn from Irving Park Road onto Oak Park Avenue at a high rate of speed before it lost control and crashed:

PO Evan Solano’s narrative of the fatal crash on February 8, 2025. Source: CPD.

City attorneys argue that the driver was solely responsible for the crash.

“[T]he sole proximate cause of decedent’s death was therefore the conduct of the driver, and the alleged actions of the officers were not a proximate cause of decedent’s death,” they allege in court filings.

Radio traffic from that evening between dispatchers at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) and police gave no indication of a pursuit. An officer identifying himself by the same beat number assigned to Solano notified dispatchers of a major crash and requested ambulances:

Zone 1 dispatch audio recording from February 8, 2025. Source: Crimeisdown.com

Unraveled obtained GPS logs for the police vehicle Solano was driving on February 8, 2025 through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The logs show Solano quickly accelerated westbound on Irving Park Road, reaching a speed of 76 mph just before turning on Oak Park Avenue.

Illustration of Evan Solano’s assigned vehicle’s location and speed on February 8, 2025. Source: CPD GPS records.

Both Maya and the woman in the car were completely ejected from the vehicle in the crash. Maya went into traumatic cardiac arrest on the scene and was pronounced dead shortly after at the hospital.

Millian-Morales, the driver of the vehicle, was cited at the time with failure to reduce speed, a petty traffic offense.

Last week, on April 2, the family’s attorney Matthew Jenkins, with the law firm Passen Powell Jenkins, filed a motion to dismiss Millian-Morales from the case after a proposed $10,000 settlement. Lawyers representing the city said they planned to file an objection to the dismissal.

The next day—fourteen months after the crash—city lawyers presented a new citation against Millian-Morales in traffic court for negligent driving, a municipal code violation.

Video evidence produced to the court remains under seal.

Unraveled submitted a FOIA request to CPD for body-worn camera videos and other police records generated by the incident; however, Chicago police denied the request, citing an “ongoing investigation” into the crash.

A litany of investigations

Video shows a police SUV speed toward Anthony Alvarez in a gas station lot late at night on March 31, 2021. Source: Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA)

Evan Solano faced termination over three years ago after shooting and killing 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez during a chase that started at a gas station. He was promoted to the position of Field Training Officer (FTO) in April 2024 and has been training probationary police officers in the Northwest Side 16th District since. Solano and his partner Officer Sammy Encarnacion initiated the chase, which ended with Solano shooting Alvarez in the back on a neighbor’s front lawn, with their police vehicle. Alvarez was on foot at the time and holding only a bag of snacks.

Solano later told investigators he thought Alvarez was turning to shoot at him. The police board ultimately concluded that video shows Alvarez stumbling, and he “was attempting to regain his footing—not positioning himself to take a shot at the officers.”

Alvarez was found to have had a mobile phone in one hand, and a gun in the other. At no point is he seen on video aiming his gun at police. As he ran, he appeared to attempt to use his phone, however.

Videos of the shooting sparked outrage and demonstrations in the spring of 2021. Protesters called for Solano and his partner, Officer Sammy Encarnacion, to be fired.

Protesters calling for accountability for the police killing of Anthony Alvarez on May 2, 2021. Photo: Raven Geary

Investigators with the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) recommended separation for the two tactical officers—but then-superintendent David Brown disagreed. In the end, COPA’s recommendation to fire Solano was overridden by the superintendent and police board, landing him a suspension of only twenty days. Alvarez’s family would later file a federal civil rights suit against the city, which continues to this day.

Solano was stripped of his badge between June 2021 and October 2022. During that time, he was detailed to the Alternate Response Section, a landing pad for cops with serious misconduct issues under investigation. In total, Solano spent approximately three years on desk duty, pending the investigation and disciplinary proceedings. Less than four months after finally returning to his beat in the 16th District, he was promoted to his new training role.

Encarnacion would eventually resign in 2023 after COPA recommended separation following two other unrelated investigations. He was found to have violated several department policies, including a pattern of intoxication off-duty and domestic violence. In 2023, he opened fire without justification at two men outside a Norwood Park Subway.

Protesters calling for accountability for the police killing of Anthony Alvarez on May 2, 2021. Photo: Raven Geary

Solano has also faced other investigations. Just two months after killing Alvarez, he made headlines following an apparent road rage meltdown. A witness recorded him in the street in the heart of Logan Square brandishing his gun and arguing with another driver.

CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs (BIA) closed their investigation into the incident, citing the lack of a sworn affidavit. BIA investigates reported misconduct that does not fall under the purview of COPA, and is primarily staffed by Chicago police officers.

Solano and Encarnacion were also investigated for their role in an alcohol-fueled fight in a Northwest Side Irish bar that left both officers bloodied in September 2020. In early 2025, Solano was served with a 35-day suspension over the incident, which he appealed. Unraveled cannot confirm the current status of that appeal.

Ghost pursuits

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The Chicago Police Department’s vehicular pursuit policy, last updated in 2020, requires that police officers continuously evaluate and balance the need to apprehend an individual with the “inherent danger” of a pursuit. It also requires officers to immediately notify dispatch once a pursuit is in progress, and mandates flashing police lights and sirens. The lights and sirens also serve the purpose of automatically activating each police vehicle’s in-car camera system, which records video from the view of the car’s dashboard.

Despite the policy, the city has paid at least $130 million since January 2025 to resolve lawsuits stemming from injuries and deaths caused by police chases.

In 2017, officers Shawn Susnis and Megan Ryan engaged in a high-speed pursuit without engaging lights or sirens while also driving an unmarked police vehicle. The car officers chased collided with a vehicle driven by 47-year-old Stacy Vaughn-Harrell, killing her and seriously injuring her daughter.

In 2023, a jury awarded Vaughn-Harrell’s family $10.2 million. City lawyers appealed the verdict; then, last March, they recommended a $27 million settlement. According to the family’s attorneys, newly discovered video came to light that allegedly showed officers had attempted to coverup the pursuit.

“They tried to pass it off as a regular traffic crash,” the family’s attorney, Lance Northcutt, said at a press conference. “The cover-up was wide. The cover-up was systemic.”

In June 2023, Angel Eduardo Alvarez Montesinos, age 25, was killed when a vehicle being chased crashed into his car in Homan Square. Investigators determined officers Michael Spilotro III and his partner Erik Arroyo caused a fatal multi-vehicle collision as they sped through rush hour traffic on Roosevelt Road without lights and sirens—and without informing dispatch of their pursuit.

In January, City Council members approved a $22 million settlement to Angel Alvarez’s family. CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling concurred with COPA’s recommendation to terminate Spilotro. He remains on the force pending proceedings before the police board or an arbitrator.

At least 22 people were killed during pursuits initiated by Chicago police between 2017 and 2022, according to data published by The Chronicle.

Jenkins reiterated that video evidence shows Solano engaged in an undeclared pursuit that led to Maya’s death.

“The information we’ve obtained in this case demonstrates officer Evan Solano engaged in an unauthorized police chase on February 8, 2025, that led to the death of Eliseo Maya. We are committed to getting justice for his two young daughters in this case,” Jenkins said in a statement to Unraveled.

A COPA spokesperson confirmed to Unraveled that they did not receive notification of the crash from CPD, and the agency has not initiated an investigation.

A spokesperson for CPD confirmed the crash remains “an open investigation” with the Major Accident Investigations Unit.

“Urgency was left in the dust long ago”—few answers from Chicago police superintendent on department collaboration with ICE

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:26:29 GMT

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling in the audience on April 2, 2026. Photo: Dave Byrnes.

Dozens of Chicagoans turned out to Thomas Kelly High School on a stormy Thursday night to hear Superintendent Snelling answer questions from the city’s Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) about cooperation between Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers and federal immigration agents.

For about forty minutes, Snelling sat with commissioners on the school’s auditorium stage and fielded the commissioners’ questions about CPD officers’ behavior during Midway Blitz, how they ought to respond to a federal immigration agent violating state law, and how community members can report police who appear to assist federal agents with immigration enforcement.

The meeting was a long time coming. On January 8, the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) held a special meeting to hear residents’ accounts of violence and potential violations of so-called “sanctuary” laws, after a community petition demanding such a meeting gathered more than 2,000 signatures in 21 days. Both Chicago and Illinois have laws—the Welcoming City Ordinance and the Illinois TRUST Act, respectively—that theoretically bar local police from assisting federal agents with civil immigration enforcement.

But since last June, when CPD officers were first witnessed coordinating traffic and crowd control around an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) abduction at an immigration office in the South Loop, community members and local leaders have questioned whether CPD has violated those laws.

On February 26, CCPSA used their regular monthly meeting to invite leaders from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the Office of Inspector General, and Chicago Police Department to answer questions about how police have interacted with immigration agents. Snelling said he was unavailable to attend.

Thursday night’s special meeting was the public’s chance to finally hear Snelling answer questions about the issue. Block Club Chicago reported earlier this week that Snelling only agreed to attend if experts on immigration and police reform did not join the panel.

Several attendees hold “End ICE and CPD collaboration!” signs on April 2, 2026. Photo: Dave Byrnes.

Throughout the meeting, Snelling defended Chicago police officers’ actions since last June, insisting CPD’s goal was to keep people safe through a fluid and unprecedentedly aggressive deportation campaign.

“I can guarantee you when [the Welcoming City Ordinance and the TRUST Act] were written, no one wrote the ordinance and the law with this type of immigration enforcement in mind,” Snelling said.

At one point, Snelling fielded questions from CCPSA commissioner Gina Piemonte over why CPD officers kept their backs to federal immigration agents during Midway Blitz at times when communities confronted the agents and CPD formed perimeters around them. He responded that CPD sought to prevent “a clash” between agents and the community—on whom he placed the blame for potential escalation.

“We’re trained to watch those who are posing a threat that would lead to a higher level of force from agents,” Snelling said.

Snelling also argued, in response to questions from commissioner Abierre Minor, that there would be times when it would “look like” CPD was collaborating with federal immigration agents during chaotic situations, when they were actually trying to diffuse the situation.

“We try to get those federal agents off the scene as quickly as possible because we know the longer they stay there, the more emotions continue to rise,” Snelling said.

He specifically referenced the shooting of Marimar Martinez in October, and the community protest which sprung up in response, less than a mile from Thomas Kelly High School. In that incident, Chicago police formed a barrier around armed federal immigration agents, facing the crowd.

When the agents finally left the scene of Martinez’s shooting, they tear gassed the community and CPD officers alike.

When heckled by meeting attendees over his answers, Snelling addressed them directly.

“You don’t have the experience or the knowledge to understand why we wouldn’t face the ICE agents,” Snelling said.

Snelling remained on the defensive for much of the meeting, beginning with a public comment period where speakers chewed out both him and the CCPSA commissioners.

Unlike the January special meeting where dozens of people offered public comment, on Thursday the commission limited public comment to ten speakers. Nearly all of the speakers criticized CPD for what they believed was collaboration with federal agents and questioned why CPD had not conducted investigations into incidents of violence or property damage caused by ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents.

Chris Gentry, a U.S. Army military police veteran, wearing a “veterans against fascism” t-shirt, told a story of a federal agent pointing a gun and threatening him, in front of police.

“An ICE agent rolled his window down as they’re driving out of the discount mall, pointed a handgun out the window and said, bang, you’re gonna die… in front of a police officer,” Gentry said, addressing both the commission and Snelling.

At one point following public comment, Snelling chided meeting attendees after someone shouted at him to shut the fuck up.

“I’m sorry, how disrespectful are we gonna allow these people — ‘shut the what up?’ I mean, come on,” Snelling said, addressing both the crowd and commissioners.

The meeting ended after every commissioner present Thursday had a chance to ask Snelling a question. As soon as CCPSA President Remel Terry concluded the discussion, members of the crowd began to protest Snelling.

A chant eventually broke out of “CPD, KKK, ICE, they’re all the same!”

Chicago police officers moved to guard the stage while school staff gave the crowd two minutes to disperse before they were considered trespassing.

Snelling briefly spoke to the press after the crowd cleared out. He criticized meeting attendees for not “walking in with an open mind” about what he had to say. Community members themselves, including at least one member of Chicago’s police district councils, had a different takeaway.

“Commissioners can’t feel proud of themselves after that hearing. So disappointing,” 20th District Councilor Deirdre O’Connor said on social media after the meeting concluded.

Snelling also addressed an unconfirmed ICE arrest that reportedly occurred at the Cook County Domestic Violence Courthouse on Thursday.

The Illinois Court Access, Safety and Participation Act, which Governor JB Pritzker signed last December, bars civil arrests (e.g. immigration arrests without a judicial warrant) against people attending state court proceedings. When a reporter for Univision asked if Chicago police should respond to ICE agents apparently violating this state law to conduct an arrest at the domestic violence courthouse, Snelling incorrectly said such a law didn’t exist.

“There’s no law like that,” Snelling wrongly stated. “There’s no law that says that immigration enforcement can’t happen around particular locations. That’s not a law.”

The Department of Justice has sued Chicago and Illinois over the new law, but the law remains in effect. Both Snelling and other reporters in the press scrum seemed to confuse the new law with the Illinois TRUST Act, which Snelling correctly noted does not compel Illinois law enforcement to interfere with immigration arrests.

Besides Snelling’s comments, the commission also voted Thursday to recommend Chicago’s Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety open an audit over CPD’s implementation of the Welcoming City Ordinance. Only commissioner Sandra Wortham voted against making the recommendation.

Thursday’s meeting occurred during the Jewish observation of Passover and the Christian feast of Holy Thursday. Terry acknowledged the complications this presented for people of faith who wished to attend the meeting, but said the commission wanted to ensure the meeting with Supt. Snelling went forward “with urgency.”

Public commenter Delaney Bonacquisti disputed Terry’s assessment.

“I don’t countenance your statement that this had to happen with urgency,” she said. “It was an eight month delay between the June 4 incident of collaboration with CPD and ICE. It’s been three months since the last meeting. Urgency was left in the dust long ago.”

Correction (April 13, 2026): The story has been updated to reflect that Governor JB Pritzker signed the Illinois Court Access, Safety and Participation Act in December 2025, not October, which is when the state legislature passed the bill.

“Pressure, influence, and intimidation”—house call by former Chicago cop sparks dispute among police oversight officials

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 10:34:58 GMT

The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability meets on January 8, 2026: Photo: Andres Alejandro Chavez.

In a press conference Thursday, Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) youth commissioner Abierre Minor and her supporters from the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) raised safety concerns and alleged that Minor’s re-nomination to the board was derailed by individuals aligned with the Fraternal Order of Police.

Around 10 p.m. on February 17, following a meeting of the nominating committee, retired Chicago cop and current 22nd Police District Councilor Lee Bielecki went to Minor’s apartment building. Bielecki, at the time, served on CCPSA’s nominating committee, which is composed of a representative from each of the city’s 22 police “District Councils.”

The CCPSA was established by city ordinance in July 2021. By law, at least two commissioners must reside in the North Side, two in the South Side, and two in the West Side. Each police district has an elected three-member panel who serve on the local District Councils. One of the primary responsibilities of local councils is to nominate potential members of the CCPSA to the mayor for appointment.

“Imagine you’re applying for a job, you’re in the midst of the selection, and one of your evaluators shows up at your door at 10 pm because they don’t like you personally,” Minor said at the presser.

Bielecki does not dispute that he went to Minor’s home, according to emails reviewed by Unraveled. He says he went because he had doubts about her residency on the North Side.

According to Minor, Bielecki interrogated building security about her unit and lease.

“I did go to the building once we learned at the meeting that Commissioner Minor supposedly moved to a Northside address to allow herself to be considered for reappointment,” Bielecki said. “I did so to inquire or verify if this was indeed factual. At NO time did I request her presence nor intend to meet with her.”

Bielecki apologized to Minor in the same message, denied he made any threats against her, and subsequently recused himself from the nominating committee.

At Thursday night’s monthly CCPSA meeting, Bielecki added that “none of the bylaws prohibit me from doing that:”

Minor was nevertheless disturbed by the incident, which she made known both to the nominating committee in February and to attendees of Thursday’s press conference. She said that after Bielecki’s visit, her grandmother urged her to resign her seat, citing the history of “bad actors showing up at Black homes in the middle of the night.”

“She made a plea that no public servant should ever have to hear from their family,” Minor said. “She told me that this work is not worth my life, she told me she does not want to bury me or my brothers or anyone attached to my last name because of my advocacy.”

Angelica Green, another nominating committee member and councilor for the 25th Police District on Chicago’s Northwest Side, said in a prepared statement she would be submitting a formal complaint to Chicago’s Office of the Inspector General over Bielecki’s actions.

“The situation involving Councilor Lee Bielecki going to Commissioner Minor’s home raises serious concerns about judgment, professionalism, and respect,” Green said. “It also underscores the importance of ensuring that all commissioners are able to serve without fear, intimidation, or inappropriate intrusion into their personal lives.”

In an emailed statement, CAARPR claimed Bielecki had “mobilized FOP allies” to block Minor’s renomination.

22nd Police District councilor Lee Bielecki. Source: CCPSA.

The nominating committee censured Bielecki over his visit to Minor’s residence on March 4 in a measure signed by 17 committee members, including fellow 22nd District Council member Carisa Parker, who replaced Bielecki as its nominator.

This was not the first time Bielecki intervened in the appointment of those he considered too anti-police for the city’s police district councils.

In November 2024, when the 17th District Police Council had a vacancy, Bielecki wrote a letter to members of the city’s Police and Fire Committee, urging them to reject Grace Patino’s appointment to the council. Patino, a member of CAARPR, has frequently attended 17th District Council and CCPSA meetings since the bodies were created. The 17th District includes Northwest Side neighborhood Albany Park.

In his letter, Bielecki cited Patino’s earlier public comments to the Chicago Board of Police, where she criticized police superintendent Larry Snelling for not reopening an investigation into police who appeared on an Oath Keepers membership list and called for justice over the police killing of 26-year-old Dexter Reed in March 2024. Noting she did not mention that Reed also shot at police, Bielecki argued Patino’s appointment to a police district council would not further the goal of public-police cooperation.

“Patino collaborates with anti-police organizations that would not further the mission of District Councils. Only through collaboration with the Chicago Police Department can we get better results in both public safety and accountability,” he wrote.

The letter against Patino was signed by the entirety of the 22nd, 8th and 16th District Councils, which together include majority white neighborhoods on the city’s far Southwest and Northwest sides. Council members from the 5th, 9th, 14th and 18th District Councils also signed Bielecki’s letter.

Patino said that although she had strong community support for her appointment, she believes Bielecki’s letter contributed to her not being selected for the 17th District Council.

According to the Civic Police Data Project, Bielecki had 26 complaints lodged against him between November 1985 and December 2012. These include allegations of excessive use of force and illegal searches. None of the complaints were sustained—however, all of the complaints predate the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), established in 2016 because the previous body, the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA), rarely sustained allegations against officers.

“The process must be fair”

CCPSA Commissioner Abierre Minor speaks at Thursday’s press conference, surrounded by supporters. Photo: Dave Byrnes.

Nominating committee member Michelle Paige of the 12th District Council and former committee member Arewa Najm Ekua of the 15th District Council—who says she resigned from the committee after its last session over “toxic” racism she experienced—both represent Chicago’s West Side. They spoke at Thursday’s press conference.

Both voiced support for Minor, with Ekua demanding that her name be submitted to Mayor Brandon Johnson for reconsideration for service on the commission.

“Even though she’s from another side of the city, Abierre Minor is one of the commissioners that I feel represents me the most,” Ekua said.

Some members of the nominating committee condemned Bielecki’s actions, while also disputing that he impacted the fairness of the process.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, four nominating committee liaisons denied that Bielecki’s actions had any impact on the committee’s votes. Following publication, Green told Unraveled she has since asked CCPSA to remove her name from the statement.

“Councilor Bielecki’s inappropriate and unsanctioned actions did not have any effect on the final result. The nominating committee extended Commissioner Minor an interview and gave her application full consideration,” the statement read. “In the end, Commissioner Minor did not have the support of two-thirds of the nominating committee—15 of 22 members—required by city ordinance for nomination.”

Nominating committee member Sam Schoenburg, who represents the 19th Police District on the North Side and signed the liaisons’ statement, said a public vote on Minor’s nomination never took place.

“No public vote on Ms. Minor’s nomination was held, because no member of the Nominating Committee—including two individuals who spoke at today’s press conference—moved to nominate her,” Schoenburg said.

Seventh District councilor Dion McGill said there was support for renominating Minor behind closed doors, particularly among progressive nominators and people of color on the police district councils. He argued that Minor’s supporters “felt defeated” by the time nominations were being made, pointing to resistance from what he said was a conservative block of nominators.

“At a certain point it was obvious that the conservative block was not going to vote on anything with Minor’s name on it,” McGill said.

7th Police District councilor Dion McGill at a press conference on January 8, 2026. Photo: Andres Alejandro Chavez.

Green, in her personal statement, also noted the committee had the chance to pause the process but chose to proceed.

“Staff offered the committee the opportunity to pause the process following the February 17th incident. As a committee, we made the decision to proceed, believing it was the most appropriate course of action at the time while the matter was being addressed,” Green wrote.

CAARPR issued a subsequent statement late Thursday afternoon, maintaining that Minor faced “obstruction perpetrated by the Fraternal Order of Police.”

The group urged the mayor to “conduct a full review and investigation,” and to demand a revote from the nominating committee to ensure “all applicants are fairly reconsidered.”

McGill said he agreed with the characterization of the conservative block of CCPSA nominators as FOP-aligned, noting that two other nominators—Tom McMahon of the 5th District and Robert Johnson of the 18th District—are also former police officers.

“The nominating committee has always had a lot of racial tensions,” he said. “That’s just part of this work.”

With this in mind, he argued Bielecki’s actions—a white former police officer and a man showing up at the home of a Black woman serving as a police accountability commissioner, and an outspoken progressive—should have immediately halted the nomination process.

“There was an insinuation [Minor] was unqualified,” McGill said, pointing to a February 19 meeting where Bielecki’s actions were discussed. “Literally one of the nominators wrote on a black board, ‘cause and effect.’ The cause of this was Commissioner Minor…the effect was Bielecki getting so mad that he went to Minor’s home.”

Minor said that a letter had been sent to the mayor’s office calling for a reassessment of the nomination process. The letter was signed by 18 police district councilors, including Ekua, Paige, and McGill, as well as representatives from CAARPR and its national body NAARPR. All 18 councilor signatories, including McGill, are people of color.

Their letter said that beyond Bielecki’s actions, “there has been a pattern of pressure, influence, and intimidation directed at participants in an effort to shape the slate of nominees.”

The letter’s signatories echoed CAARPR in calling on Mayor Johnson to pause the current CCPSA nominating process, investigate what happened during that process, and hold a new vote for commission applicants.

The nominating committee liaisons, however, opposed any measure that would overturn the six nominees approved earlier this month. The current nominees include Anjanette Young, who was the victim of a wrong-address Chicago police raid in February 2019 and went on to become a high-profile advocate for police reform, and Rebecca Levin, a public health expert who works with the social services nonprofit Treatment Alternatives for Stronger Communities and advocates for viewing community violence as a public health concern.

“This morning’s letter and press conference called upon the mayor to reject these two exceptional candidates,” the nominating committee’s statement said. “But the demands go even further, calling on the mayor to reject all nominees, including four youth candidates under the age of 25.”

The letter signed by 18 district councilors said their call for a revote wasn’t meant as an attack on the new commission nominees, and they “should not bear responsibility for the failures of the process.”

“Our goal is simple,” the 18 district councilor’s letter read. “The process must be fair. It must be accountable. And it must reflect the democratic and ethical standards that Chicago residents deserve.”

The mayor’s office said only that it received the letter and “is reviewing the situation.”

McGill meanwhile maintained that after Bielecki went to Minor’s home, the process was “marred” and should have been immediately halted. He rebuked Bielecki as someone with racist and obstructionist tendencies, saying he and those aligned with him do not understand why CCPSA exists.

“The reason we’re all here is because the system needs to be changed,” he said.

March 31 10:25pm update: The story was updated with Angelica Green’s withdrawal of her support for the liaison’s statement.

Border Patrol agents ignored orders to end car chase before gassing Chicago neighborhood

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 09:18:45 GMT

On the morning of October 14 of last year, organizer Oscar Sanchez was in Chicago’s City Hall, preparing to deliver public comment on a stalled environmental justice ordinance, when his phone started blowing up with texts: Border Patrol was in the East Side neighborhood of Chicago. There was a car crash. People were angry and scared.

“I know we came here for one thing, but I think we gotta head back,” recounted Sanchez.

The day fell roughly at the midpoint of President Donald Trump’s so-called “Operation Midway Blitz.” Thirty-three days earlier, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot and killed Silverio Villegas González—and just ten days prior, a Border Patrol agent shot Marimar Martinez five times. Chicagoans were on alert and on edge.

Sanchez rushed back home to get to the scene. He said his first priority was de-escalation, and to ensure that people recorded the agents’ actions.

“We were just trying to set a tone of hey, we’re here, and let’s make sure that we prove everything that’s happening, because they’re going to try to lie,” said Sanchez.

Border Patrol agents stand near the vehicle agents crashed on October 14, 2025. Photo: Matthew Kaplan.

At the time, local and national media outlets published the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) claim that the crash was an intentional, controlled decision by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents who initiated an “authorized precision immobilization technique,” or PIT maneuver, to stop a fleeing vehicle.

An Unraveled analysis of publicly available CBP incident reports and over 70 hours of body-worn camera (BWC) videos released by a federal judge in November appears to tell a very different story, however. Video shows that agents ignored direct orders from a supervisor to stop the pursuit, and that the crash was not the result of an authorized PIT maneuver—rather, the agents blew a tire immediately before crashing. The chase was also more dangerous than previously understood, extending over 18 minutes with both cars speeding through stop signs without lights or sirens.

Following the crash, one of the involved agents also pointed his service weapon at bystanders in a nearby Walgreens. He claimed men in the store “charged” at him, though video of the incident shows otherwise.

The “consensual encounter”

Scene from E. 105th Street and S. Avenue N on Chicago’s southeast side on October 14, 2025. Photo: Matthew Kaplan.

According to CBP records, around 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, October 14, Border Patrol agents Benito Nunez, Carlos Chavira, Jr., and Jesus Guillen pulled their vehicle in front of a red Ford Explorer parked outside of a business at 3004 East 100th Street.

Agents claimed they attempted to initiate a “consensual encounter” with the occupants because they felt it was “suspicious” that they were parked outside of a store that was not open.

Excerpt from Border Patrol agent Benito Nunez’s incident report from October 14, 2025. Source: CBP.

The report written by Agent Nunez appears to contain several errors. Commercial Ave is a north-south road, and video shows the chase already underway at 10:17 a.m. The business, which appears to be Eagle Food and Liquor Market, opens at 7:00 a.m. on weekdays. Store employees confirmed to Unraveled they were open at the time.

In his narrative, Nunez also repeats unfounded rumors that “bounties to hurt or kill agents” had been issued. He says that upon seeing their uniforms, the driver “aggressively drove directly into my driver door, pinning me between the vehicle door and vehicle door frame.”

According to Nunez, the SUV continued to drive forward, also pinning Agent Guillen between the back passenger door and the car frame. Guillen reported thinking “at the very least” he was going to “lose a limb” from the impact.

Left: The side of Border Patrol’s white Ford Expedition where agents claim they were “rammed” prior to initiating a pursuit on October 14, 2025. Right: Border Patrol agent Jesus Guillen points to a scrape on the agents’ Ford Expedition. Source: CBP.

Video of the agents’ car following the crash shows no apparent damage to the driver’s door, and a scrape on the rear passenger door.

The initial stop and the alleged assault were not captured because agents failed to activate their cameras until they had already been in hot pursuit for at least two miles.

Early in the pursuit, one of the agents shouts, “PIT him, PIT him, PIT him!”

“I’m not certified, bro,” replies Nunez, who was driving the rented Ford Expedition. “Ask ‘em if I can PIT—but tell ‘em I’m not certified.”

Guillen, riding in the back seat, relays the request several times, but never receives authorization.

Minutes into the chase, one of CBP’s helicopters, callsign “TROY,” tracks the fleeing vehicle and reports its location to agents. The agents continue to closely pursue the vehicle and then change tactics to try to get in front of the SUV to deploy Stop Sticks. Much of the chase involves the fleeing vehicle leading the agents in circles around East 105th Street and South Avenue N.

Another federal vehicle, a Black Chevy Tahoe outfitted with lights and sirens, briefly joins the pursuit about 14 minutes into the chase.

“Stop following that vehicle”

Approximately 15 minutes into the pursuit, the team’s supervisor, CBP agent Alberto Gonzalez, Jr., orders the agents to stop following. He is also in the neighborhood by this time, riding in a different vehicle.

“He said stop following,” Guillen says.

“No, he hit two agents, bro,” replies Chavira from the front passenger seat.

Gonzalez attempted to order the agents to call off the chase several more times over a handheld radio and his phone.

“I already fucking told them, dude,” Gonzalez remarks after he realizes they have not stopped. “ST6 [Strike Team 6], stop following that vehicle!”

A few minutes after the orders to terminate, the agent’s SUV strikes a curb, blowing the front left tire.

Chavira looks at Nunez, “We got a flat?”

Nunez accelerates on the flat tire, crashing into the rear of the red Explorer. The instant before the crash, the speedometer reads 51 mph as Nunez appears to swerve into the car braking in front of them.

As other CBP agents arrived on the scene, Border Patrol supervisory agent Michael Sveum asked Nunez about the crash. Nunez described it as an unavoidable collision because he could not brake fast enough on a flat tire.

“We were chasing him… I hit my tire on the corner… I was just hitting my brake. He brake checked me at this intersection and I swerved and…” Nunez claps his hands together indicating the crash.

Nunez gave a similar explanation to supervisory agent Gonzalez. In the middle of his explanation, Gonzalez points to his BWC, seemingly to caution the agent.

Nunez wrote virtually the same description in his official report on the accident.

“I hit a curb with my front driver’s side tire causing the tire to lose air… the subject vehicle instantly applied the brakes causing me to immediately engage my brakes and swerve. As a result, I collided with the driver side rear bumper of the subject’s vehicle,” Nunez wrote

Supervisory agent Gonzalez appears to have tried to downplay the agents’ actions in his report, writing that the agents “followed” the fleeing vehicle, but were unable to “pursue” because they were in a rental vehicle without lights and sirens.

He does not mention that he ordered them multiple times to terminate the pursuit.

Excerpt from supervisory Border Patrol agent Alberto Gonzalez, Jr.’s incident report from October 14, 2025. Source: CBP.

The following day, DHS issued a statement which contradicted the agents’ accounts and BWC video. The federal agency described the collision as an “authorized precision immobilization technique (PIT) maneuver,” a tactic police use to intentionally disable a fleeing vehicle.

During the entire chase, other CBP agents and leadership were able to track the exact position of the pursuit vehicle on a map using ATAK, or the Android Team Awareness Kit. ATAK is an app frequently used and referenced on agents’ BWC videos that allow them to see where other agents and teams are located in real-time:

Supervisory Border Patrol agent Michael Sveum’s BWC shows him using the ATAK app on his phone. Source: CBP.

All three agents involved in the crash have been with the agency less than four years. Unraveled is listing their ages as written in the October 2025 report.

Nunez, age 30, joined CBP in March 2023.

Chavira, 35, started with CBP in September 2022 and Guillen, 35, joined in May 2022.

45-year-old supervisory agent Gonzalez has been with CBP since December 2003.

“Maybe it’s like a Corvair—unsafe at any speed”

Border Patrol agents stand guard over the vehicle agents crashed into in the East Side neighborhood on October 14, 2025. Photo: Matthew Kaplan.

A San Francisco Chronicle analysis of government data found that at least 1,377 people were killed as a result of police pursuits in the U.S. in 2020 and 2021. Between 2017 and 2022, the number killed exceeds 3,336. More than 52,600 people were injured.

The Chronicle found that more than a quarter of all people killed in police pursuits were bystanders; chases disproportionately harmed Black people, who were killed at a rate four times as high as white people; and most police pursuits were initiated over traffic violations and nonviolent crimes such as shoplifting.

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At least 22 people were killed during pursuits initiated by Chicago police between 2017 and 2022, according to data published by The Chronicle. According to a WTTW report published last week, police pursuits have cost Chicago taxpayers at least $103.1 million since January 2025 to resolve lawsuits stemming from injuries and deaths. That total does not include a proposed $27 million settlement in a case where Chicago police allegedly tried to cover-up a police pursuit that killed 47-year-old Stacy Vaughn-Harrell.

The Chicago Police Department prohibits the use of PIT maneuvers, while departments such as the Los Angeles Police Department and California Highway Patrol limit the use of this offensive driving technique to speeds under 35 mph. During the Biden Administration, CBP’s pursuit policy prohibited the use of PIT maneuvers; however, President Donald Trump rescinded that policy in January 2025.

Border Patrol agent Benito Nunez’s BWC shows the speedometer at 51 mph less than a second before he crashes on October 14, 2025. Source: CBP.

According to CBP’s use-of-force policy, an intentional vehicular impact at “excessive speeds” is defined as the use of deadly force. Most police departments restrict the use of PIT maneuvers and other tactics that involve physical contact between vehicles to speeds below 35 to 40 mph. Nunez’s speedometer read 51 mph just before the crash.

According to CBP’s pursuit policy that was in effect at the time: “The use of emergency lights and siren is mandatory when in pursuit or taking exemptions to traffic signals, stop signs or prescribed direction of travel.”

The policy requires pursuing agents and their supervisor to be certified in offensive driving techniques, and to weigh the danger to the public presented by the fleeing individual versus the “immediate danger to the public of continuing the emergency driving or vehicle pursuit (i.e. proximity of population centers, pedestrians, schools, traffic flow, etc.).” The policy also advises agents to consider other factors such as the presence of air support.

CBP issued a new pursuit policy just 12 days after this incident, which retains all of the above considerations.

Border Patrol agent Jesus Guillen arrests the driver of a fleeing vehicle following a pursuit on October 14, 2025. Source: CBP.

Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, has worked with local and federal law enforcement on crafting use-of-force and pursuit policies for decades.

He explained that the purpose of air support is to minimize risk on the ground.

“When you have air support, why are you chasing?” said Alpert. “It’s more likely than not, when you quit chasing, the suspect will quit fleeing. So the whole point of air support is to avoid a dangerous ground chase.”

Alpert described the decision to pursue as a constant balancing act.

“You look at the government’s interest in apprehension. In other words, what did this guy do? Did he kill someone? And the other side of the coin is risk. If you’re going 100 miles an hour, the risk is more than if you’re going 30 miles an hour. […] When is a PIT maneuver safe? We don’t have the data. We don’t know. The slower the speed, the more safe it is,” he said. “Maybe it’s like a Corvair—unsafe at any speed. When you ram someone with a 4000 pound vehicle, it’s likely to cause serious injury or death.”

The aftermath

Border Patrol agents confront community members in Chicago’s East Side neighborhood on October 14, 2025. Photo: Matthew Kaplan.

Following the chase, the crash occurred at the intersection of East 105th Street and South Avenue N. Immediately after impact, the two occupants of the red Explorer jumped from their car and ran in different directions.

Nunez and Guillen sprinted after the car’s driver, while Chavira chased the passenger. Nunez caught up with the driver and arrested him about two blocks away as he tried to jump a fence. Chavira chased the passenger to a Walgreens about three blocks away.

Excerpt of Border Patrol agent Carlos Chavira, Jr.’s incident report from October 14, 2025. Source: CBP.

Inside the Walgreens store, Chavira points his firearm at bystanders gathered three or four aisles away. The men shout at Chavira, with one seemingly recording on his phone. Chavira reported that he pulled his sidearm because the group was “charging at me.”

After agents arrested both occupants, the driver was transported by ambulance to a hospital. CBP reported that both individuals were placed into FBI custody.

All three agents returned to the scene of the accident where a crowd had gathered. Agents Guillen and Nunez both reported minor injuries from the alleged assault, and Guillen reported injuries from the crash, but all three declined examination by Emergency Medical Services personnel at the scene.

Chavira reported throwing a smoke grenade into the crowd of neighbors who had gathered about 45 minutes before other agents tossed at least seven tear gas canisters—four of which are the “triple chaser” variety which explodes into three separate canisters spewing CS gas.

CBP reported an alleged 270 assaults against federal agents took place in the East Side that day after the vehicle crash. This includes “various verbal threats.”

Excerpt from CBP’s incident report showing the total number of reported assaults against agents on October 14, 2025. Source: CBP.

Sanchez said he’s heard from residents who suffered from the effects of the chemical gas for days afterwards.

“The 10th Ward is within the 94th percentile of the worst respiratory health in the state of Illinois,” he explained. “There’s many members that we knew of, afterwards, having trouble breathing. They [Border Patrol] did what they did because they wanted to scare us, so people say I don’t know if I can be involved, because I’m scared this is going to kill me.”

Residents of the East Side neighborhood—and the entire Southeast Side of Chicago—have battled the health effects of widespread air pollution since the industrialization of the Calumet region began in the late 19th century. Overlapping layers of industrial toxins ranging from heavy metals to black dust (petcoke) blowing in the wind have afflicted the community with significantly higher rates of asthma, autoimmune disease, and other chronic health conditions.

An agent throws what appears to be a tear gas canister in Chicago’s East Side neighborhood on October 14, 2025. Photo: Matthew Kaplan

Sanchez said he would like to see accountability, but is skeptical that anyone is investigating incidents like this one in his neighborhood.

“We need accountability when it comes to aggressive tactics against the community,” he said. “We’re told that they’re going to do their investigation, but do we still trust the same government that’s lying about what they’re doing to also be in charge of the investigation of their own people? We don’t.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to our questions about their initial narrative of events on October 14. Unraveled cannot confirm if any investigation was opened into the involved officers.

Editorial note (March 29, 2026): Names are published exactly as they appear in CBP’s official reports.

Editorial note: Unraveled reporters Steve Held and Raven Geary were named plaintiffs in Chicago Headline Club v. Noem.

Civil rights stories removed from Border Patrol’s website during Black History Month

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:53:11 GMT

In early February—which marked the 100th anniversary of Black History Month—stories describing U.S. Border Patrol’s role in enforcing desegregation and the historical contributions of select Black people and women within the agency were removed from Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) website.

This move mirrors a long series of attempts by the Trump administration to whitewash American history over the past year. The Department of Defense and Arlington Cemetery deleted thousands of references to notable Black, Latine, and female figures. The Smithsonian Institution remains under pressure to wipe their museums of “improper ideology.” The targeted purges extend beyond gender and race to erase LGBTQ+ history, Indigenous people, and references to climate change from national parks.

Some of the erasures have since been reversed following public outcry or judicial orders. Last year, the National Park Service restored a reference to Harriet Tubman to a web page; on February 17, a federal judge determined that an exhibit about people enslaved by George Washington at his former home in Philadelphia should be put back.

The historical accounts now missing from CBP’s website are lesser known. The stories were listed on a page titled “Did you know?” which details “interesting facts from CBP history.”

An analysis of the removed pages compared to archived versions shows the stories were removed sometime between February 2 and February 9. All of the removed stories were first published in March 2014. They appear to have remained untouched through the first Trump administration. The current standing version of the page claims it was last modified on January 2.

One memory-holed story described President John F. Kennedy’s deployment of Border Patrol agents to Mississippi in 1962 to protect James Meredith as he registered as the University of Mississippi’s first Black student.

James Meredith is flanked by U.S. Marshal James McShane, left, and John Doar of the Justice Department, as he prepares to attend first class at the University of Mississippi on October 1, 1962. Photo: Marion S. Trikosko. Source: Library of Congress.

In September 1962, following two rejections by the university based on his race and a year-long legal battle, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the university to admit Meredith. Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett, a staunch segregationist, denied Meredith’s entry to Ole Miss, however Meredith and President Kennedy were undeterred.

Hundreds of white people, armed with firearms, Molotov cocktails, and other blunt instruments and projectiles tried to violently block Meredith from registering on campus. To protect Meredith and force the governor’s hand, President Kennedy deployed 127 U.S. Marshals and over 300 Border Patrol agents. In the face of an armed mob, Kennedy was adamant that federal agents not return fire to avoid bloodshed. Meredith was ultimately able to register, but the riot left two civilians dead—including journalist Paul Guihard—and over two dozen federal agents wounded by gunfire.

Matthew Alexander Henson in 1910. Source: Library of Congress.

The story of Black explorer Matthew Henson, debatably the first person to reach the North Pole, also appears to have been removed from the CBP “Did you know?” page.

After more than a decade of expeditions with fellow explorer Robert E. Peary, the two embarked on a mission to reach the North Pole on July 6, 1908 with 23 others. By the time they neared their destination in April, the team had dwindled to Peary, Henson and four Inuit men.

On April 6, 1909 Henson arrived at the point he believed to be the North Pole. Reportedly, 45 minutes later, Peary caught up with Henson.

“I think I’m the first man to sit on top of the world,” Henson reportedly said.

Peary confirmed that, by his calculations, they had reached the North Pole. According to the story, Peary was “hopping mad” that he was not first.

Upon their return, Henson wrote a book about his travels, but it was Peary—who was white—who claimed sole title as the first man to reach the North Pole.

Henson worked as a handyman until his story came to the attention of President William H. Taft. On February 26, 1913, President Taft appointed Henson to a position in the U.S. Custom House in New York City, where he worked as clerk until he retired in 1936. After his death, President Ronald Reagan granted an exception to allow for the bodies of Henson and his wife to be reinterred at Arlington National Cemetery.

Robert Smalls. Photo: Mathew Brady. Source: Library of Congress.

Not all references to Black men have been erased from the page. The story of Robert Smalls, a skilled ship pilot who commandeered a Confederate gunship in 1862, still remains on CBP’s site.

Smalls and the crew, all enslaved people, took the ship when the three white officers defied standing orders and went ashore. They guided the ship out of the harbor, picked up their families, and surrendered the ship to the Union. Smalls was hailed a hero in the North and freed a total of 16 people that night.

Smalls later went on to purchase his former master’s home after it was put up for sale for unpaid taxes. Following the war, he launched a political career, ultimately serving as a five-term U.S. Congressman from South Carolina. After leaving Congress, he was appointed Collector of Customs by President Benjamin Harrison.

Anna C.M. Tillinghast taking the oath of office in 1931. Source: Library of Congress.

Not all of the stories that were removed involved Black people. The story of Anna C.M. Tillinghast, the first woman appointed to the position of District Commissioner of Immigration, is now gone.

Tillinghast was a prohibitionist, suffragist, political activist, and ordained minister. In 1912 she organized the Massachusetts Federation of Progressive Women in Boston and served as President. She was a successful public speaker, known to deliver lectures advocating for the minimum wage, the eight hour work day, and equal rights to vote.

She was appointed District Commissioner of Immigration for the port of Boston by President Calvin Coolidge in 1927. During her time in the role, Tillinghast was involved in the deportation proceedings against infamous Italian swindler Charles Ponzi.

The fourth page now missing described Border Patrol’s role in addressing the trafficking of women and children for prostitution.

According to data about the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) collected by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, approximately 5% of Border Patrol agents are women. Seven percent are Black.

When asked why the pages were removed, a CBP spokesperson told Unraveled they are “looking into” the matter.

Identified: the El Paso BORTAC crew rampaging through the Midwest

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 12:26:40 GMT

Content warning: this story contains descriptions of police violence.

Editorial note: Unraveled reporters Steve Held and Raven Geary were named plaintiffs in Chicago Headline Club v. Noem.

BORTAC Agents Michael Sveum (EZ-2, left) and Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17, right) at the scene where Renée Good was killed on January 7, 2026. Photo: Chad Davis

From California to Illinois to Minnesota, where federal agents have gone, violence and death have followed.

This past fall, masked men in military gear plucked over 1600 people from their lives across Chicago to imprison them in deadly detention centers. A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot a woman five times and later bragged about it. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer killed Silverio Villegas González in his car after he dropped off his kids at daycare. Another unidentified agent, off-duty, killed a man celebrating New Year’s in Los Angeles (the feds continue to raid and kidnap people across Southern California, even though many news cameras have moved on). Hundreds of people not subject to immigration “enforcement” have also been arrested and criminalized: protesters, community defense volunteers, clergy, and people who simply followed the sound of whistles piercing the air. A few sentences can hardly capture the scope of the lives affected in less than a year.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, along with their now-former campaign leader, Gregory Bovino, left Chicago in mid-November to maraud through North Carolina and Louisiana over the holiday season (simultaneously, a flood of federal task force traffic stops has continued with little attention in Tennessee). After right-wing propagandist Nick Shirley painted a target on the Somali community via viral videos lobbing false allegations of fraud, another target emerged: Minneapolis-Saint Paul, which also happened to be “ground zero” for anti-police protests following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

On January 6, Trump announced 2000 federal agents were headed to the Twin Cities, an escalation of federal police activity that had already intensified in the metro in December 2025.

The next day, an ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Minneapolis mother, artist, and poet Renée Good. Seventeen days later, two CBP agents then killed 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti just 1.5 miles away from where Good was shot.

BORTAC Agents Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17, front left), former-operation commander Greg Bovino (middle), and Michael Sveum (EZ-2, right) at the scene where Renée Good was killed on January 7, 2026. Photo: Chad Davis

Chicagoans and Minnesotans now share many of the same traumas as a result of federal occupations of the two metros. But in the Twin Cities, with possibly ten times the number of feds dispersed across a smaller area (including other Minnesota cities, just as in the Chicagoland “blitz” that sprawled across several northern Illinois counties and into Indiana), the chances of violent encounters between residents and agents greatly increased.

When CBP arrest teams face crowds of bystanders in the streets, they call upon their Quick Response Force (QRF) for help. Many agents on these QRF teams belong to the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC), where agents are allegedly trained to deal with “high-risk operations” such as hostage situations, active shooters, and terrorist threats. The Uvalde, Texas mass shooter was killed by BORTAC agents.

One group of BORTAC agents from El Paso, Texas has been recorded repeatedly attacking people with chemical weapons in both Chicago and Minneapolis. Two have only been known by their identification patches: “EZ-2” and “EZ-17.”

Based on an analysis of publicly available CBP incident reports and over 70 hours of body-worn camera (BWC) videos released by a federal judge in November, Unraveled has identified EZ-2 and EZ-17, along with some of the other agents present at notable incidents.

In a video published yesterday by Unicorn Riot, the pair can be seen front-and-center during a protest outside the Whipple Federal Building on January 15.

Unraveled has identified the agent on the left firing the launcher as Edgar E. Vazquez, 39, wearing the identification patch “EZ-17.” On the right, blasting the pepper spray, is supervisory agent Michael B. Sveum, 41, known as “EZ-2.”

Vazquez began to draw increased public attention as images of him went viral after shooting a man in the head with a chemical munition on the day Renée Good was killed.

Open source investigators with Bellingcat performed an extensive analysis of this incident. They found that Vazquez fired his 40mm launcher at people five times within five minutes on January 7:

Border Patrol Agent Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17) fires a chemical munition directly into the face of a man in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026. Source: Status Coup

At the same scene, Michael Sveum doused people with pepper spray and deployed tear gas.

Border Patrol Agents Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17, left) and Michael Sveum (EZ-2, right) shove people at the scene where Renée Good was killed on January 7, 2026. Source: Status Coup

Unraveled identified Sveum by reviewing his body camera video from an incident in Chicago’s East Side neighborhood on October 14, 2025.

Sveum’s equipment is marked with the initials “MS.” He is one of only two agents present with those initials, and his actions that day match those described in reports he authored. His identity was further confirmed by the lock screen on his phone, captured on BWC video. It shows a photo from an Arizona ultrarunning event he also posted to social media in 2021.

Left: Border Patrol Agent Michael Sveum (EZ-2) holding his personal phone on October 14, 2025. Right: Sveum’s post on X with the same photo. Sources: CBP and X.

Sveum’s report identified the other agents he was riding with during the same incident, which includes Vazquez. His BWC video shows him riding with agents identified as “EZ-17,” “EZ-13,” and another agent without a visible identification number.

Excerpt from a CBP E-STAR report from October 14, 2025. Source: CBP

Vazquez’s report from the same incident describes “providing security” for officers making an arrest after a man threw a smoke grenade back at agents. This description matches the same arrest and time of day, where “EZ-17” is seen standing guard. His identity was further confirmed through a similar analysis of reports and video from an October 23 incident in Little Village, which also shows “EZ-17” taking actions that match those described by Vazquez.

Excerpt from a CBP E-STAR report describing Edgar Vazquez’s actions on October 14, 2025 (left) and BWC video showing agent EZ-17 standing between residents and agents as described. Note: The BWC clock is on Eastern Daylight Time. Source: CBP

The Twin Cities

On January 7, ICE agent Jonathan Ross killed Renée Good as she observed agents on patrol. As word of the fatal shooting spread, residents showed up at the scene.

Video livestreamed by independent news outlet Status Coup shows federal agents—primarily Vazquez and Sveum—shoving residents to the ground, firing chemical munitions at people at close range, and deploying CS gas (tear gas). The so-called “less lethal” munitions used by the feds—and other police forces—have resulted in serious injury and deaths, particularly when aimed at people’s heads.

Border Patrol Agent Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17) fires a chemical munition directly into the face of a man in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026. Source: Status Coup

The bright orange cloud exploding from the launcher has the same appearance as cartridges fired by Vazquez in Chicago, where he reported firing a 40mm Muzzle Blast CS cartridge. The munition disperses the same powder used to create tear-gas in a concentrated powder form.

Moments later, the agents try to move a car through the crowd, when Vazquez fires his launcher at another person’s head. By the time the agents departed, Vazquez had fired at least four chemical rounds directly in people’s faces. Sveum then pepper sprays a group of people standing in the road before Vazquez shoves several of them out of the way. Once the vehicle has a clear path, Sveum lobs a gas canister into the crowd as they make their exit.

Border Patrol Agent Michael Sveum (EZ-2) pepper-sprays residents in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026. Source: Status Coup

Border Patrol Agent Michael Sveum (EZ-2) throws a canister of CS gas in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026. Source: Status Coup

The CBP use of force policy clearly prohibits targeting “the head, neck, groin, spine, or female breast” with projectiles and limits their use to subjects “offering active resistance.”

According to their reports, both agents have completed months of rigorous BORTAC training, as well as the Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue (BORSTAR) program, emergency medical training, and specialized tactics on crowd control and civil unrest. Sveum is also trained to execute vehicle pursuits, while Vazquez is qualified as a firearm instructor:

Excerpts from CBP’s E-Star reports for Oct. 14, 2025 and Oct. 23, 2025 in Chicago. EDVPTP=Emergency Driving Vehicular Pursuit Training Program, EMT=Emergency Medical Technician, FITP=Firearms Instructor Training Program, MRT=Mobile Response Team, MFF=Mobile Field Force. Source: Border Patrol

Vazquez has been with Border Patrol since 2007; Sveum since 2008.

On January 11, Vazquez was seen immediately after a group of agents marched out of the Whipple Federal Building to fire a barrage of pepper balls and pepper spray at protesters.

Border Patrol Agent Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17, third from left with tan knit cap) stands with other federal agents facing protesters outside of the Whipple Federal Building, in Fort Snelling, Minnesota on January 11, 2026. Photo: Raven Geary

On January 12, he was also seen assisting with the arrest of a young boy.

Border Patrol Agent Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17, front) keeps residents back as agents arrest a young boy on January 12, 2026 near Bloomington and East 45th St. in Minneapolis. Source: Mercado Media

Both Sveum and Vazquez were at the scene of another incident just twenty minutes later where agents deployed tear gas and pepper balls against residents.

Minneapolis right now— At 35th and Park, a crowd has gathered after a car crash involving the feds. Agents just launched tear gas and pepper balls at people.

[image or embed]
— unraveled (@unraveledpress.com) January 12, 2026 at 12:37 PM

Border Patrol Agent Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17) holds up a CS gas canister as a warning to residents at East 35th St. and Park Ave. in Minneapolis on January 12, 2026. Source: Status Coup

On January 13, Vazquez and Sveum were spotted with Bovino’s caravan at a gas station stop. The group went on to canvas parts of the Midway neighborhood block-by-block looking for people to arrest.

We haven't seen any detentions so far. Feds lined up for a pit stop in this Speedway.

[image or embed]
— unraveled (@unraveledpress.com) January 13, 2026 at 1:08 PM

Both agents were also seen on January 14 traveling in an armored vehicle before agents blanketed the neighborhood in a hail of flash bangs, chemical gas, and other munitions.

Border Patrol agents, including Michael Sveum (EZ-2) and Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17), maneuver an armored vehicle on January 14 in North Minneapolis. Video: Raven Geary

Chicago

Border Patrol Agent Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17) fires a 40mm chemical round at a man’s head in Little Village, Chicago on October 23, 2025. Source: CBP

During Border Patrol’s occupation of Chicago in the fall, members of the El Paso BORTAC unit were present at two significant and violent escalations by CBP. One occurred in Little Village, and the other in the East Side neighborhood.

On October 23, a crowd of at least 75 angry neighbors gathered outside a discount mall where Border Patrol agents were making arrests. Bovino, accompanied by at least one Department of Homeland Security (DHS) helicopter and more than two dozen heavily armed agents, ultimately fired projectiles and deployed gas against the heckling crowd.

Border Patrol Agent Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17) takes aim at residents in Little Village, Chicago on October 23, 2025. Source: YouTube

Unraveled has identified additional members of the El Paso BORTAC unit present that day as Bryan Belen Lleras, 32, Chad B. Hickman, 50, and Oscar A. Meza, 36.

Belen, Hickman (EZ-9), and Meza (EZ-13) joined CBP in 2017, 2000, and 2008, respectively.

Witness video shows Bovino tossing a gas canister into a crowd in defiance of a temporary restraining order. In November, a federal judge determined that Bovino lied about being hit by a rock before he threw the canister. Agents also claimed residents threw fireworks at them, but the only explosives observed on video appear to be flash grenades thrown by agents themselves.

Border Patrol Agent Oscar Meza (EZ-13) on October 23, 2025 as seen from agent Chad Hickman’s BWC. Source: CBP

Vazquez and Meza each reported firing a 40mm “muzzle blast” CS round at people gathered outside the discount mall. Vazquez also reported throwing a smoke grenade.

Body camera video showing Border Patrol Agent Oscar Meza (EZ-13) fire his launcher, followed by Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17) throwing a smoke grenade in the Little Village neighborhood in Chicago on October 23, 2025. Source: CBP

No video from Vazquez’s camera was available, and Meza’s videos exclude a twelve minute window during the time he fired his weapon. Hickman’s camera, however, captures Meza firing. Vazquez follows with a smoke canister.

Border Patrol Agent Oscar Meza (EZ-13) reloads his 40mm launcher in a vehicle after firing at bystanders. Source: CBP

Nine days earlier, on October 14, other Border Patrol agents from an unknown sector chased a car that they say rammed them after they tried to block it in to perform what they termed a “consensual encounter.” The resulting high-speed pursuit ended near 105th Street and Avenue N in the East Side neighborhood, when agents crashed into the rear of the car. Again, a crowd began to gather as neighbors emerged from homes and word spread on social media.

Border Patrol put out a call for agents to assist. Sveum, Vazquez, and Meza—riding with 36-year-old fellow El Paso BORTAC agent Derrick J. Flores—arrived twenty minutes later.

Border Patrol Agent Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17) on October 14, 2025 as seen from agent Michael Sveum’s BWC. Source: CBP

Before long, BWC footage shows at least 100 residents crowd along the perimeter, shouting at agents. The first hour goes by without incident, until agents attempt to push neighbors out of the street. An agent detonates a smoke canister, which a man lobs back, over agents’ heads.

Sveum and two other agents wrestle the man to the ground as Sveum shouts, “That’s assault! That’s assault!”

They place the man under arrest as Vazquez stands between them and the crowd with his launcher. Other agents transport the man to the FBI building while Sveum’s team remains.

As they don gas masks in preparation of gassing the crowd with CS gas, Sveum says to Flores, “Dude, this shit just motivates me.”

Flores laughs, “A little bit…a little bit.”

“It’s like, dude, we’d have been out of here an hour ago if you wouldn’t be assholes,” Sveum laments. “We’re gonna be the last guys here, you might want to get you a mask.”

Border Patrol Agent Derrick Flores talks with Agent Michael Sveum (EZ-2) and Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17) in the East Side neighborhood of Chicago on October 14, 2025. Source: CBP

Another 35 minutes pass before two other agents lob at least seven tear gas canisters into the crowd. As gas fills the area, Flores sits in the driver’s seat of their SUV with a mask on. In the backseat sits another man they arrested—allegedly for throwing a tear gas canister back at agents.

The man, arms handcuffed behind his back, chokes on the gas as it seeps into the SUV.

“Holy shit! Please!” he pleads.

“Relax,” Flores replies. “They expose us to this shit all the time. You’ll be fine.”

The man continues gagging and coughing. As the other agents pile into the car, Flores says: “You’re fine. Relax. You can breathe, trust me.”

Border Patrol Agent Derrick Flores sits in an SUV with a detainee handcuffed in the backseat as chemical gas envelopes the vehicle in the East Side neighborhood of Chicago on October 14, 2025. Source: CBP

Just before leaving, Vazquez reported firing a 40mm muzzle blast CS cartridge at a person who allegedly attempted to kick a gas canister. This moment does not appear on any available videos.

The agents then drive their arrestee from the East Side to the FBI field office at 2111 W. Roosevelt Road in the Near West Side. The trip takes over an hour because Vazquez selects an address in Wheaton, Illinois, instead of Chicago. The agents only realize their error after arriving at their destination 28 miles west of the FBI office.

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According to CBP reports, Vazquez, Meza, and Flores arrived in Chicago on October 5, the day after Border Patrol agent Charles Exum shot a woman in the Brighton Park neighborhood.

Sveum’s first day in Chicago was the day before the East Side crash.

During the East Side incident, Sveum frequently chatted with other agents and poked fun at people in the crowd. When one Black woman was lobbing “racially tinged” insults at white agents, Sveum approached Flores, who Sveum describes as Black to another agent, and suggested he go stand in front of her to see what she said. Flores did so and Sveum proceeded to tell agents about how funny this was.

Border Patrol Supervisory Agent Michael Sveum (EZ-2) talks with Derrick Flores and another agent in the East Side neighborhood of Chicago on October 14, 2025. Source: CBP

On more than one occasion that day, Sveum joked with agents that the real problem is the “females” who get the “dudes” riled up.

Two body camera video clips from the same incident: The first shows Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17) talking with Border Patrol Supervisory Agent Michael Sveum (EZ-2), the second is Sveum talking to an unknown agent. In the East Side neighborhood of Chicago on October 14, 2025. Source: CBP

Sveum, an ultra-endurance athlete, has used his public (now private at the time of publication) Instagram page to post videos of himself and other agents conducting exercises alongside videos of his personal athletic pursuits.

One video shows what appears to be a winter training mission with militarized gear. It is unclear if this is an official CBP activity:

Border Patrol agents appear to be conducting a winter training mission. Source: Instagram

Another video he shared shows agents joyriding on ATVs along a section of the border wall:

Border Patrol agents riding ATVs along a section of the border wall. Source: Instagram

BORTAC and El Paso

BORTAC was formed in 1984 to address “rioting” in detention centers run by ICE’s predecessor, Immigration and Naturalization Services. The unit’s mission and scope quickly expanded during the 1980s to include joint-missions with the Drug Enforcement Agency in South America. In 1992, BORTAC was deployed to Los Angeles in the wake of the Rodney King trial. It was also BORTAC who led the raid on the home where Elian Gonzalez was living in 2000, before he was returned to Cuba.

After 9/11, BORTAC continued to expand its scope, supporting joint-operations and training with both domestic and foreign police forces.

In 2020, BORTAC was deployed to quell Black Lives Matter protests in Portland after George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police. At the time, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum accused federal agents of escalating tensions by using tear gas and other chemical munitions against protesters—and using unmarked vehicles and unidentifiable agents to arrest them.

That same year, the ACLU found that BORTAC had been deployed in Texas with authorization to use deadly force against anti-police protesters during George Floyd’s funeral, which took place outside of Houston.

At the time, Shaw Drake, policy counsel of the ACLU of Texas Border Rights Center, observed: “CBP is the largest law enforcement agency in the country, and also the least accountable. It’s disturbing to see they made preparations to tear gas or kill people who were mourning another death at the hands of police. CBP has no place in our communities, period.”

BORTAC is based out of El Paso, Texas, a city of 680,000 residents, sitting on the Rio Grande across from Ciudad Juárez.

El Paso is a major hub for both CBP and ICE. The nation’s largest immigration detention camp, which holds more than 2,700 detainees, is located at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso. Captives there have reported horrific conditions and violence, including beatings, sexual abuse, and clandestine deportations.

According to a Project on Government Oversight (POGO) analysis of CBP records, the El Paso Sector has the second highest reports of use of force by agents. POGO’s report notes that on average CBP reports about double the number of uses of force compared to assaults on officers, however, CBP’s incident reports show how these numbers are manipulated.

It is unclear if Sveum, Vazquez, and other members of their El Paso BORTAC unit remain in Minnesota, or if they returned home after Bovino was relieved of his command over the Twin Cities operation.

DHS has not responded to our request for comment on our investigation.

Raven Geary contributed to this reporting.

Minneapolis photographer Chad Davis has been documenting the federal occupation of the Twin Cities since December 2025. More of his work can be found here.

How we identified the agents

On November 20, 2025, in the case of Chicago Headline Club v. Noem, Judge Sara L. Ellis of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois released the CBP reports and over 70 hours of body-worn camera videos she relied on in her ruling published the same day. These records cover CBP uses of force in the Chicago area from September and October.

CBP’s incident reports include the full names, ages, height, weight, services dates, and training completed by agents present. The reports included uses of force, alleged assaults against the agents, arrests, and narrative descriptions of each incident. These details enabled us to identify agents and their actions in CBP’s videos.

Note: The Pacific Antifascist Research Collective first publicly identified Michael Sveum in a post to social media site Bluesky on January 14. Unraveled independently verified his identity separately and without collaboration while analyzing the reports released by DHS in November.

Cook County State’s Attorney has “taken no action whatsoever” against feds, new lawsuit alleges

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 15:43:46 GMT

Police and federal agents cordon off the scene after two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents killed Silverio Villegas González on September 12, 2025 in Franklin Park, Illinois. Credit: Steve Held

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has failed in her duty to investigate federal agents who violated the law, according to a new lawsuit filed in Cook County on Friday.

The petition asks the court to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate federal agents’ “unlawful conduct” and to pursue both civil and criminal remedies.

The lawsuit points to several examples of potentially unlawful acts committed by federal agents where Burke’s office has taken no action, such as a warrantless raid on a South Shore apartments building, the killing of Silverio Villegas González in Franklin Park, and the shooting of Marimar Martinez in Chicago.

Burke’s failure to investigate individual agents’ deeds is either because she is “absent” or lacks the resources to do so, according to the petition.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of two more killings by federal agents in Minneapolis. On January 7, ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good. Then, on January 24, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez fatally shot Alex Pretti, also 37 years old. Unlike officials in Illinois, Minnesota’s state and local authorities went to court to ensure the preservation of evidence for local investigators.

The lawsuit argues that state prosecutors can hold federal officials accountable when their actions are not “reasonable.” According to the petition, the Supreme Court of the United States “has held that the Supremacy Clause cloaks federal agents with immunity if they act reasonably in carrying out their responsibilities.” [emphasis in original]

Attorney Sheryl Weikal filed the lawsuit against Burke in the Circuit Court of Cook County on Friday.

Weikal says she is pursuing legal action because Burke’s office has not investigated “pretty straightforward crimes” committed by federal agents during the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) “Operation Midway Blitz.”

“Clearly, her office is absent for purposes of prosecuting these crimes,” said Weikal. “The alternative to her office prosecuting these crimes, would be nothing happens. We have people who are literally killing people and doing home invasions, and nothing is happening.”

The lawsuit lays out several high-profile incidents in the Chicago area since the start of Operation Midway Blitz that deserve further investigation.

On September 12, 2025, two ICE agents attempted to stop 38-year-old Silverio Villegas González in Franklin Park, Illinois, just west of Chicago, shortly after he dropped his children off at school and daycare. DHS then claimed that Villegas González struck an agent with his car and dragged him, leading the agent to fire his weapon.

A federal agent on the scene, shortly after ICE agents killed Silverio Villegas González in Franklin Park on September 12, 2025. Credit: Steve Held

Much like with the recent executions of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in the Twin Cities, DHS’s story quickly fell apart as video evidence from eyewitnesses and police body cameras emerged.

Weikal points to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Offices’ lawsuit in Minnesota to preserve evidence after Alex Pretti was killed as an example of actions that could have been taken by Burke after the killing of Villegas González. On Saturday, January 24, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order barring federal officials from destroying or altering evidence related to Pretti’s killing.

“After the killing of Alex Pretti, there was an action brought to preserve that evidence that didn’t happen here…even though the state’s attorney has authority to bring that kind of case, that didn’t happen,” said Weikal.

Following the fatal shooting of Villegas González’, officers from the Franklin Park Police Department were first to arrive. Body-worn camera videos obtained from the department show a confused scene, as local police officers and federal agents were unsure about who was responsible for collecting evidence and witness accounts.

The FBI is reportedly investigating the fatal shooting. Governor JB Pritzker has criticized a lack of transparency in their investigation so far.

Just weeks after the fatal shooting of Villegas González, on October 4, 2025, Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum jumped out of his vehicle and shot Marimar Martinez five times in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood.

Exum had claimed Martinez rammed her car into them, but he was allowed to leave the scene with his vehicle, which he drove back to his home state of Maine—where marks on the vehicle were allegedly buffed out.

The U.S. attorney’s office in South Bend, Indiana is reportedly investigating the shooting.

In another incident cited in the lawsuit, on September 20, 2025, federal agents staged a dramatic operation at the South Shore Apartments in the middle of the night, including federal agents rappelling from Blackhawk helicopters onto the building.

Federal agents broke down doors, pointed firearms at residents, and detained 37 people—all without a judicial warrant. No criminal charges have since been filed.

In January it was revealed that Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons issued a memo on May 12, 2025, authorizing ICE agents to enter people’s homes without a judicial warrant. Another lawsuit, filed by immigrant rights organizations in Boston, argues that the guidance clearly violates the Fourth Amendment.

Police have filed misdemeanor battery charges against one ICE officer, albeit for his conduct off-duty. ICE officer Adam Saracco is accused of attacking attorney Robert Held, 68, who was filming the agent at a gas station in west suburban Brookfield in December.

Burke’s office declined to charge the agent with a felony.

Border Patrol agents in the Brighton Park neighborhood after CBP Agent Charles Exum shot resident Marimar Martinez on October 4, 2025. Credit: Steve Held

Under Illinois law, a court may appoint a special prosecutor when the State’s Attorney is “sick, absent, or unable to fulfill the State’s Attorney’s duties.” The most recent local precedent Weikal points to is the 2019 judicial appointment of a special prosecutor in the Jussie Smollett case. In that case, a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate former State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s handling of the case amid potential conflicts of interest.

Burke’s office did not respond to our request for comment.

On Friday, Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order requiring the Chicago Police to collect and retain evidence of interactions with federal immigration agents so that it can be referred to Burke’s office “for potential prosecution.”

Burke’s office immediately publicly responded on X to deny Johnson’s assertion that her office supported the order.

Asked what prompted her to take on this issue, Weikal said the failure to impose consequences on agents who do not fear consequences is a ”threat to the administration of any justice at all.”

“I am doing this because I believe so long as we have a system where people are being prosecuted for petty theft and not for killing someone on the street, in broad daylight on camera, we have a system that is too broken to continue to function. It would essentially render all of our law licenses meaningless,” said Weikal.

“I think it would be a violation of my oath to the Constitution not to do something like this.”

Note: The author is not related to Robert Held.

Police accountability commission under fire: “You have state power—fucking use it.”

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 13:16:24 GMT

Dozens of Chicago residents spoke Thursday night on instances when they said they witnessed Chicago police aiding federal immigration agents’ activities. Photo by Andres Alejandro Chavez.

Hundreds of Chicago residents braved Thursday night’s torrential rain to gather for a special meeting of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA).

The hearing was prompted by a community petition that gathered over 2,000 signatures over 21 days. District councilors from Chicago’s police district councils—22 elected councils across the city’s police districts—spoke with reporters before residents packed into Thalia Hall in Pilsen.

“This moment exists because the people demanded it,” said 7th District Councilor Dion McGill. “People have said that things have happened. We want to know the truth.”

Both Chicago and Illinois have so-called “sanctuary” laws that, in theory, bar local police from assisting federal agents with civil immigration enforcement. Dozens of community members, however, said they had witnessed collaboration between Chicago police and DHS agents on numerous occasions preceding and during Operation Midway Blitz.

Chicagoans packed Thalia Hall on Thursday night for the special CCPSA meeting, with the line to get in wrapping around the block. Building security eventually had to turn people away. Photo by Andres Alejandro Chavez.

Most comments revolved around incidents where Chicago police established traffic perimeters or conducted crowd control around immigration agents’ activities. A speaker early on recounted one such incident on Halloween.

“What I witnessed that day was not only ICE, but unsurprisingly, CPD protecting and defending ICE agents while they kidnapped my neighbors,” they said. “They pushed and they shoved us, the protesters, away from the ICE agents, and allowed ICE to get away with their abuse of power.”

Maya Macias, who said she was born and raised in the Back of the Yards neighborhoods, said the community has lost any trust they might have had in CPD and described brutal conduct by CPD after an incident with Border Patrol in the Little Village neighborhood.

“Trust that might have existed once upon a time with the community in the Chicago Police Department is long gone,” Macias said. “When I arrived…ICE was not present. Yet, there were at least 70 officers on the scene creating chaos, shouting conflicting commands…In one instance, I counted up to 10 officers pushing one man to the ground, one man, one man to the ground, 10 officers.”

Chicago Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez, who represents the neighborhood where Thursday’s meeting took place, delivered fiery comments to the CCPSA commissioners. Photo by Andres Alejandro Chavez.

Thursday’s hearing came on the heels of the killing of 37-year-old Renee Good at the hands of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Ross shot and killed the young mother in her car on Wednesday morning, in front of her wife and witnesses. The killing echoes the circumstances surrounding another recent death at the hands of federal agents, that of 38-year-old Silverio Villegas González in September.

Just before the start of the meeting, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents shot two more people in Portland, Oregon. Both are hospitalized but their conditions have not been made public.

Speakers leaned on the commission itself—ostensibly a civilian check on Chicago police activities—to hold CPD to account as DHS violence intensifies nationwide.

“You have state power—fucking use it. You have far more connections and influence and the ability to actually do what this body is set out to do than anyone here,” said Elena Gormley, a 49th ward resident. “This body is not supposed to be a nice line on your resume.”

The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability called Thursday’s meeting in response to a community petition that gathered over 2,000 signatures from Chicago residents over the course of three weeks. Photo by Andres Alejandro Chavez.

Jazmine Salas, an organizer who helped negotiate the The Empowering Communities for Public Safety Act—the 2021 city ordinance that established the CCPSA—also criticized the commission for policing attendees’ language as the meeting became more raucous.

“This is people’s real fucking lives. And if you as a public servant can’t handle a cuss word or can’t handle someone going slightly over time, then get the fuck out of your seat,” she said.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker were not spared from criticism either.

“Over the past seven months, we’ve seen Pritzker allow state police to beat people at Broadview. Brandon Johnson has told us there’s nothing he can do to make CPD intervene to protect legal observers, not that we would ever expect them to,” said Will Oldham, a Rogers Park resident.

Tempers flared at several points over the course of Thursday’s meeting. Photo by Andres Alejandro Chavez.

The first major incident last year to raise questions over whether CPD illegally aided federal immigration agents occurred in early June, outside the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) office at 2245 S. Michigan Ave. The ISAP program, under ICE’s purview, is an alternative to detention for “low risk” individuals.

On June 4, at least ten participants in the ISAP program received a text message telling them to immediately report to the ISAP office. When they arrived, they were arrested by federal agents.

As word of the arrests spread across social media, outraged community members and elected officials gathered outside the building to protest and demand their release. Multiple police units also responded to the scene.

High-ranking Chicago police officers were seen inside the office conferring with agents. Though CPD made no arrests, their vehicles blocked off traffic as ICE agents left the ISAP office with their captives in white passenger vans.

Chicago police officials would later claim that they did not know immigration enforcement agents were present when they responded. Recordings of the 911 calls obtained by the South Side Weekly contradict these claims.

Some Chicago police officers posted inside Thalia Hall listened in as multiple speakers criticized their department for cooperating with federal immigration agents. Far more police were posted outside the venue. Photo by Andres Alejandro Chavez.

On June 30, City Council’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights held a hearing about the incident outside the ISAP office. Much of the hearing was consumed debating which of the city’s oversight and accountability agencies would conduct a probe, with no clear resolution.

Chicago Alderpersons Andre Vasquez and Jesse Fuentes both introduced ordinances in September that would designate the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) as the primary agency responsible for investigating future complaints against members of the police department alleging violations of the Welcoming City Ordinance. Fuentes’ ordinance has been referred to the Joint Committee on Police and Fire and Immigrant and Refugee Rights, while Vasquez’s has since been relegated to the Rules Committee.

Vasquez, who chairs the city’s immigrant rights committee and attended the meeting Thursday night, also reminded the CCPSA that they have not yet held a hearing on that day in June in the 218 days since.

“You can’t ask an agency for evidence of misconduct and expect them to give it to you,” Vasquez told the commission.

Chicago Alderman Andre Vasquez, who chairs the city’s immigrant rights committee, lambasted the CCPSA commissioners for their lack of action investigating allegations of CPD collaboration with federal immigration agents going back to last June. “You can’t ask an agency for evidence of misconduct and expect them to give it to you,” he said. Photo by Andres Alejandro Chavez.

Shortly after Labor Day, President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched a large-scale assault on the greater Chicago area—the so-called Midway Blitz. Roving federal forces met resistance nearly everywhere they went over the following two months. Residents would gather and protest wherever the agents were caught out in the open, at times leading to tense standoffs. On more than one occasion, agents attacked bystanders and rapid responders with chemical weapons.

One major such confrontation occurred on October 4 in the heavily Latine Brighton Park neighborhood. Earlier that day, Border Patrol agent Charles Exum fired five shots into a vehicle on the 3900 block of South Kedzie, wounding 30-year-old Marimar Martinez.

“I fired 5 rounds, and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys,” Exum wrote in a text message after shooting Martinez, who was charged with assaulting a federal officer after she was shot. Prosecutors later dropped the case.

As word of the shooting spread, a crowd of angry neighbors came out to protest the federal agents who had assembled on the block. During the standoff, Chicago police officers formed a security perimeter between the protesters and the federal agents.

For their trouble, the police were tear gassed alongside the crowd as the feds made their getaway.

Three weeks later, on October 23, Border Patrol agents encountered several dozen angry residents following an arrest in Little Village near the intersection of 27th & Whipple. In agents’ body-worn camera footage made available to the public by a federal judge, CPD can be seen communicating with the feds and blocking off traffic.

And on December 17, Chicago police pulled over Omar Luna, who had been livestreaming CBP chief Gregory Bovino’s location to Facebook as his Border Patrol caravan headed up Lake Shore Drive that day. Video of the incident shows him carefully following at a safe distance, and no ramming or collision of any kind.

Via translator at Thursday’s hearing, Luna recalled being prevented from continuing north by a Chicago police officer:

“The Chicago Police Department was after me, but they had stopped the whole caravan that was following me, and that is why we are sure that Chicago Police Department is working with them.”

According to audio logs obtained by the Chicago Tribune, a Border Patrol agent called 911 for assistance as their caravan traveled Lake Shore Drive that day, claiming the vehicles following them acted “as if they’re trying to run us off the road here.”

The 911 dispatcher reportedly told the agent that “help is on the way.”

Another video of the same scene recently obtained by Unraveled shows three Chicago police units with lights and sirens escorting ten Border Patrol’s SUVs—one with no license plates—north on Sheridan Road. Another police unit appears to hang back and block traffic from following the caravan.

Bystander video shows Chicago police escorting a Border Patrol caravan through traffic while blocking vehicles reporting on their activities. Source: Provided.

After traveling through the city and reaching suburban Evanston, federal agents were again cleared an exit path that day by Evanston police:

Bovino later thanked both the Chicago and Evanston police departments on social media for “assistance in preventing violent mobs from assaulting our law enforcement officers.”

“Both departments cleared the way for us to continue our enforcement efforts unimpeded,” Bovino added.

CPD leaders knew cop proposed hiring hitman to kill fellow detective, new federal lawsuit alleges

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 12:15:11 GMT

Content warning: intimate partner abuse, police violence

A new federal lawsuit alleges a years’ long pattern in which leaders in the Chicago Police Department ignored complaints that an officer had “repeatedly physically, mentally, and sexually abused” a fellow detective.

The complaint, identifying the officer as Jane Doe for her safety, say Chicago police detective Marco Torres viciously abused her and threatened her life. They also claim high-ranking officials, including then-chief of the Bureau of Internal Affairs (BIA) Yolanda Talley, not only failed to protect Doe, but also retaliated against her for reporting the abuse. Police Superintendent Larry Snelling and Chief of Detectives Antoinette Ursitti are also named defendants.

According to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Wednesday, Torres relentlessly tried to find Doe’s new home address despite an order of protection against him.

In one text exchange with a fellow officer submitted as evidence, he allegedly wrote from a burner phone that he needed her address because he has a “guy from gangs” who “can get rid of her” for “a grand:”

Screengrab of a text message allegedly from Marco Torres to another CPD officer. Source: Court filing

The complaint alleges that CPD officials were aware of the text message, which the recipient sent to investigators at BIA, but they never warned Doe of the threat or launched an investigation.

The filing says the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) also failed to properly investigate the incidents of abuse—and their client received “what amounted to a form letter” from Deputy Corporation Counsel of the Employment Litigation Division for the City’s Department of Law when they tried to escalate their complaints.

According to the complaint, Doe also found a GPS tracking device on her car which she believes Torres used to stalk her.

Torres is currently under court mandated electronic monitoring after he was convicted of assault in December 2024 over his previous threats to kill Doe.

As a result of that conviction, he was placed in court supervision, ordered to wear a GPS ankle monitor for one year, and Doe was granted a one year order of protection. The GPS monitor provides real-time alerts to survivors of domestic violence when their abuser is detected within a set proximity.

Around Thanksgiving, just days before Torres’ court mandated electronic monitoring was set to expire, the complaint says Doe received numerous alerts while driving on the expressway. Concerned about how Torres could know where she was, she had her vehicle inspected and found a tracking device behind the wheel well.

The lawsuit expands upon allegations originally detailed in a whistleblower complaint filed by the same Jane Doe in the Cook County Circuit Court in 2023, and follows an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) determination that there was “reasonable cause” that the department discriminated and retaliated against Doe based on gender.

“The City chose to put her life in danger”

Chicago police detective Marco Torres, March 14 2024.

The complaint alleges a pattern of ambivalence, retaliation, and misogyny within the City and police department’s leadership.

Doe formally reported Torres’ abuse to BIA in November 2022. After sitting for an “hours-long” interview with BIA and members of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, providing documentation, witness information, and describing specific evidence on Torres’ phone, the complaint says officials “refused” to investigate further, closing the case in December 2022. Doe was then reassigned to another unit.

Allegedly, Torres warned Doe that if she reported him, he was involved in another “sexual relationship” with a BIA officer who “would lie for him and who could get Doe fired.” He also detailed how he planned to kill her with her own gun to make it look like a suicide, and repeatedly threatened to kill himself as well. One of those threats, included in the filing, was sent from his Chicago Police Department email address:

Screenshot of an email from Marco Torres. Source: Court filing

In February 2023, concerned about Doe’s safety, the complaint says attorneys sent additional details and documentation to the Chief of Constitutional Policing and Reform, Angel Novalez. They received no response.

Doe contacted Talley again in March 2023, asking her to re-open the closed BIA investigation. After no response, they emailed her again, asking her to confirm receipt and to confirm that she would re-open the investigation.

According to the complaint, Talley responded with one word: “Received.” The investigation was not re-opened.

At least two other CPD officers reportedly submitted written reports about Torres, one of which described violence and stalking against a different female officer years earlier. During this time, again, Talley allegedly did not investigate or recommend any disciplinary action against Torres.

While CPD was ignoring the problem, the complaint says, Torres continued to harass and stalk his fellow detective. After filing an EEOC complaint in April 2023, and subsequently filing “more than a dozen” police reports about Torres’ actions, Doe petitioned the courts for a civil Order of Protection in September 2023, which was granted.

At that time, CPD stripped Torres of his police powers—not over alleged abuse or criminal conduct, but because he was prohibited by Illinois law from possessing a firearm due to the Order of Protection against him. Torres took a leave of absence, but otherwise faced no discipline.

Doe alleges that after reporting multiple violations of the Order of Protection to CPD, they still took no action to investigate or discipline Torres. The first breakthrough finally came after two events: Doe’s attorneys requested that personnel from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office participate in any subsequent interviews with BIA, and after that, Torres showed up at Doe’s workplace at 1:00 a.m., at the end of her shift, which another detective reported to BIA.

An Assistant State’s Attorney began investigating the case. They interviewed a witness who said they had personally witnessed Torres’ physical abuse and death threats in September 2022. Finally, in March 2024, Torres was arrested and charged with assault and domestic battery. At that time, he was also ordered to wear an electronic monitor.

According to the complaint, however, the electronic monitoring did not dissuade Torres from continuing to terrorize his victim. As Cook County Sheriff’s deputies were at Torres’ home fitting him with his new ankle monitor, Torres “repeatedly and aggressively” asked deputies to tell him Doe’s home address, referring to Doe as a “bitch.”

Sheriff’s deputies found his behavior so concerning they notified their supervisor, who then contacted Doe to warn her. She filed a police report about the incident.

On May 20, 2024, less than two months later, Torres allegedly texted a fellow officer from a burner phone asking for Doe’s address, saying he needed it for his gang contact to “get rid of her” for “a grand.” The recipient provided BIA with a copy of the text and warned Doe that Torres had made a threat, but did not send her the text. Despite attorneys’ repeated requests for a copy of the text to assess the threat, CPD ignored their requests, never investigated, and never notified Doe of the direct threat against her life.

“When the City became aware of the text message seeking Doe’s address for the purpose of having her killed, it did nothing—not one thing—to alert her to this grave threat,” the complaint alleges. “By choosing not to inform Doe that a hit man may have been hired to kill her, the City made a deliberate choice to intentionally place Doe in harm’s way.”

Only after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office investigated Torres’ earlier harassing text messages and calls to potential witnesses were they able to correlate cell tower pings for Torres’ burner phone with the same location as Torres’ ankle monitor.

In March 2025, Torres was arrested and indicted on yet another charge: felony harassment of a witness.

In that case, prosecutors allege Torres told a witness to his abusive behavior that he could get his commander, Arleseuia Watson, to fire her if he wanted.

Watson was a Lieutenant in the Confidential Section of BIA in November 2022. She previously worked with both Torres and Doe before she joined BIA, and failed to recuse herself from the Torres investigation. The complaint says she was involved in summarily shutting down the initial investigation into Torres and not long after, was promoted to Commander of Area 1 Detective Division, where he was assigned.

Torres’ electronic monitoring has been extended until a February 2, 2026 hearing to determine whether violated the terms of his probation.

A pattern of inaction and retaliation

Chicago police officer Krystal Rivera was shot and killed by her partner Carlos Baker in June 2025. Source: Chicago Police Department

The pattern of protecting officers—in particular, male officers—is so common, it has a name: The Code of Silence. Doe’s complaint cites several similar cases where CPD failed to take action against domestic abusers on the force and others where police brass retaliated against whistleblowers.

One of the most recent examples of the department’s alleged failure to act swiftly against an officer with a history of excessive force and domestic violence is not cited in the complaint—because the allegations were just made public the same day Doe’s federal lawsuit was filed.

The family of Krystal Rivera, who was fatally shot by her partner, Carlos Baker, filed a lawsuit this week alleging Rivera had recently broken off a romantic relationship with Baker and that she believed he posed a threat to her. The filing points to Baker’s previous history of misconduct and domestic violence allegations, which the department failed to address even when he was a probationary officer and could have been summarily dismissed.

“It is tragically ironic that on the same day we filed Jane Doe’s lawsuit, the family of Krystal Rivera filed a lawsuit complaining that the CPD’s refusal to hold male officers accountable for gender violence led to her death. Both of these cases expose a culture of violent misogyny within the CPD. It has to stop before more women get hurt,” said Doe’s attorney, Megan O’Malley.

Another relatively recent case includes a domestic violence investigation where the Office of the Inspector General recommended the police department fire Officer Tri Tran. Investigators concluded there was ample evidence he threatened to kill his girlfriend and her entire family.

Instead, police brass chose to give Tran a two-month suspension.

Tran has since served his suspension, and he is now working as a Community Policing Officer in the 1st District.

Since 2018, the department has moved to terminate only nine officers with sustained domestic violence allegations, according to public records. In total, 66 officers had domestic violence allegations sustained in the same time period.

Of seven other officers COPA has recommended for termination, four resigned before the department took action, and three are still awaiting action from the Superintendent.

Often, these investigations take years to complete.

In another instance, COPA recommended a six-to-twelve month suspension for Enrique Delgado Fernandez, an officer with an extensive history of violence. The agency’s investigation into an incident where he forced an ex-partner into his squad car and held her captive for hours while driving on the highway took nearly five years to complete. In the end, Superintendent Snelling issued Fernandez a suspension of six months, which he then appealed via arbitration. Fernandez is currently assigned to the 7th District in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood.

The president of the Chicago police union FOP Lodge 7, John Catanzara, received only a 30-day suspension after stalking a woman, breaking into her home, and violating an order of protection.

In another case, officer Laura Kubiak was working in CPD’s Office of News Affairs in 2012 when she was assaulted and threatened by fellow officer Veejay Zala. One officer who witnessed the incident later said they thought Zala was going to pull his gun and shoot Kubiak.

During the altercation, Zala shouted, “You are nothing, you are a stupid bitch, you don’t know how to be the police, I am the police, I am the real police.”

Their boss would prove Zala right by later reassigning Kubiak to work the midnight shift in the South Chicago district. A jury awarded Kubiak nearly $2 million in 2019. The case eventually cost taxpayers over $5 million in legal fees and interest.

Doe’s lawsuit is seeking compensation for lost wages and benefits, compensatory damages for emotional distress, punitive damages, and an injunction to prevent discrimination, harassment, and retaliation against women and against whistleblowers.

Upon learning of the suit filed Thursday, attorney Michael Leonard, who is currently representing Torres, told Unraveled: “in my opinion, it appears to be a meritless case.”

A Chicago Police Department spokesperson confirmed that Torres is not currently on duty, and remains on “no-pay status.” He has not been separated (fired) from the department, but is listed as inactive.

Identified: federal agents who pointed gun, punched detainee in Evanston

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 13:28:45 GMT

Content warning: this story contains descriptions of police violence and graphic hate speech.

Editorial note: Border Patrol Agent Timothy Donahue arrested and then released Unraveled journalist Steve Held without charges on September 27 outside the Broadview, Illinois ICE facility. Held was not involved in the writing or editing of this story.

U.S. Border Patrol agents Thomas Parsons and Timothy Donahue in Evanston, Illinois on 10/31/25.

Newly released records obtained via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request reveal the names of two U.S. Border Patrol agents responsible for a violent scene that unfolded in the streets of Evanston on Halloween afternoon.

Agent Timothy Donahue of Arizona is identified via a vehicle crash report as the driver of a car of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents that traveled through Evanston and Rogers Park that day. Another agent on the team, Thomas Parsons, gives his name to an Evanston 911 dispatcher as well as a police officer.

Several hours of body-worn camera (BWC) videos from Evanston police officers who responded to the scene are also included in the materials released.

Both federal agents are seen in social media videos from the crash behaving aggressively, with Donahue pointing his service weapon at unarmed bystanders, and Parsons punching a handcuffed man on the ground. Agents reportedly also pepper sprayed onlookers, and detained three people in total before taking them to the Chicago FBI field office and then releasing them without charges.

According to The Evanston RoundTable, the City of Evanston has now asked Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul to investigate the incident.

Unraveled has verified a social media account on X (formerly known as Twitter) belonging to Donahue. While not a prolific user, he has used the account to make disparaging remarks about women and trans people, share racist imagery, and cheer on hate crimes. His tour across Chicagoland this autumn—during which he was easily spotted due to a distinctive red beard and lack of a face covering—included several known instances of reckless driving, menacing people with chemical weapons, and questioning them about their citizenship status.

Halloween rampage

Screengrab published originally in The Evanston RoundTable.

Viral videos from October 31 show Agent Timothy Donahue pointing his gun at bystanders in Evanston after a vehicle crash near Oakton and Asbury.

“Step back or I’ll fucking shoot you,” he says as he draws his weapon:

By far the most disturbing ICE video I’ve seen from Evanston, IL today.

An ICE agent points his gun at unarmed citizens. Twice.

Then, he goes around the SUV, drops to his knees, and presses his full weight onto a man’s back. Moments later, that same man’s head is beaten into… pic.twitter.com/2TkiaP3R48
— Jesus Freakin Congress (@TheJFreakinC) October 31, 2025

Another agent, identified by both 911 audio and BWC footage as Thomas Parsons, can also be seen in the street at the time beating an already handcuffed man on the ground:

Donahue provided his name in full on an Illinois traffic crash report filled out during a brief meeting with Evanston police officers after the chaos. The residence address listed is the Chicago ICE field office on Ida B. Wells drive:

Screengrab of a section of crash report from 10/31/25.

He can also been seen on video giving Evanston police his information:

Thomas Parsons, the other agent in the vehicle alongside Donahue during this exchange, identified himself as a team lead on scene approximately 45 minutes earlier to an Evanston police officer:

Shortly after leaving Evanston, Donahue and Parsons were seen driving in Rogers Park—where they were again witnessed driving erratically and intimidating people with pepper spray.

When a rapid responder witnessed him with the window rolled down and biked closer, he could hear detainees in the back of the car shouting, “ICE! ICE! ICE!” Donahue can then be seen on video casually shaking his pepper spray can.

“I was scared when he menaced the pepper spray at us,” John* told Unraveled. “He had the energy of someone that was about to snap and spray us or get out of the car and grab us.”

After driving several more blocks, a frustrated Donahue exited the vehicle in the middle of the street to threaten the car driver behind him with the chemical agent. He then sped off the wrong way down a one-way road:

“It was hard to go on with my day after witnessing this,” John said. “Their operation reminded me of what I witnessed in the West Bank of Palestine […] when the attack ended, life continued in the village, but their violence altered everything in me.”

“Some cultures are better than others”

Agent Donahue has used an X account with a small following—using the handle @Timothy77593126—to boost and reply to right-wing and QAnon influencers for years. He also claims he donates money regularly to Alex Rosen/@IFightForKids, a controversial and popular vigilante “pedophile hunter.” Rosen has repeatedly falsely blamed the LGBTQ* community for “grooming” children.

“Elections aren’t real. Lucifer is,” he writes in one reply to a post from November 8, 2023.

In another reply, he says that he previously worked as a paramedic. He claimed to Evanston police that this medic status is still active when they inquired about detainee injuries.

An archived version of the account included Donahue’s full name in his user handle, as well as a profile photo of his younger self:

A previous profile photo from Agent Donahue’s X account. A flag emblazoned with U.S. Border Patrol hangs in the background.

Donahue makes a number of bigoted comments about queer and trans people. In the replies to a post from right-wing hate account Libs of TikTok, he simply remarks “Woodchipper” to a photo of a drag queen.

“Based,” he writes underneath a disturbing video of two men allegedly beating another for being gay.

October 2023 screengrab from Agent Donahue’s X account replies.

April 2024 screengrab from Agent Donahue’s X account replies.

Under another video clip purporting to show a “car full of illegal immigrants” crashed into intentionally, someone asks if the car flippings are really necessary. “Super necessary,” Donahue replies. Federal agents were involved in numerous car crashes, including at least one admitted PIT maneuver on the Southeast Side, across Chicagoland throughout September and October.

“Super necessary,” Donahue writes in response to a purported image of a Border Patrol car flipping.

He shares several racist memes, including one that calls the Juneteenth holiday “retarded and gay,” and also approves (“Based”) of a (potentially fictional) writeup of a “Southern” father disowning his daughter for going to prom with a Black man, complete with a barrage of racial slurs.

Agent Donahue is not a man of many words.

He also affirms America would improve if women lost the the right to vote. And in a reply to right-wing provocateur Ian Miles Cheong, he shares his “unpopular opinion” that some cultures are better than others:

A September 2023 X reply to ex-MMA fighter and Holocaust denier Jake Shields.

Reply to Ian Miles Cheong in January 2023.

“You could just tell he thought he could do whatever he wanted”

Jordan* was biking through Albany Park on October 21 watching for ICE vehicles when he was briefly stopped and questioned by Agent Donahue.

As he attempted to pass the agents’ SUV, the driver, who was wearing a bright blue hoodie and no mask, rolled down his window.

“Hey brother, we’re officers with DHS, we want to ask you some questions,” the agent said. After Jordan didn’t respond, the fed asked if he was a U.S. citizen.

“It felt very much like the trope of the racist police stop,” Jordan told Unraveled. “There’s no way someone would’ve asked me that if I wasn’t brown.”

Donahue would quickly move on from Albany Park to Rogers Park after that. But Jordan was left shaken by the encounter.

“It was incredibly scary,” he added. “I carry my passport with me now. People who are white don’t have to think about this at all.”

“They were also taking photos of me. In the moment I was thinking I have to comply with these agents, because they can do anything they want with me. I can see how people are getting coerced. They are unidentifiable, they have weapons […] you could just tell he thought he could do whatever he wanted.”

A social media video from October 17 shared to Instagram shows a similar stop by Donahue across town in Chicago’s Southeast Side neighborhood. This time, Agent Donahue exits his vehicle with other agents and advances. The video ends abruptly with Donahue grabbing the person filming the encounter. Unraveled could not reach any eyewitnesses:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by LKTheMenace (@hannibalcannibal84)

On October 27, Donahue can be seen behind the wheel in yet another incident, also on the far South Side. Another Border Patrol agent advances on a person filming while questioning where they were born:

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to our inquiries on agents’ uses of force or Donahue’s social media use.

*victims’ names have been anonymized due to safety concerns

“Nobody deserves to go through what I went through”

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 09:46:16 GMT

Fired Waukegan police officer Dante Salinas received a 60 day jail sentence on Tuesday for his conviction on felony misconduct—but the court stayed his incarceration pending the separate murder trial he faces.

Salinas appeared in the Lake County courthouse Tuesday wearing the same black and white checkerboard shirt he wore a month earlier, when county judge George Strickland found him guilty of just one charge stemming from his 2019 attack of fellow Waukegan resident Angel Salgado.

He displayed little emotion as Strickland read out his sentence for that conviction: two years probation, 100 hours of community service, a number of fees and fines, and on top of all that, 60 days incarceration.

“I take responsibility for my actions,” Salinas told the court.

There was a wrinkle to Strickland’s decision, however—per his order, Salinas’ two months of jail time have been put on hold. The judge’s decision has to do with Salinas’ history with the Waukegan police.

The criminal case on which Strickland sentenced Salinas Tuesday stems from Salinas’ violent August 2019 arrest of Angel Salgado. It was an arrest Strickland deemed unlawful when finding Salinas guilty last month, and one in which Salgado suffered fractures to his facial bones— either from Salinas repeatedly striking him in the face, or from his face hitting concrete when Salinas and other Waukegan police tackled him.

State prosecutors hit Salinas with felony aggravated battery and two professional misconduct charges over the incident. Strickland only found Salinas guilty on one of those misconduct charges. Waukegan itself settled a civil lawsuit with Salgado in late 2022 to the tune of $300,000.

The beating of Angel Salgado is the less severe of two incidents over which Salinas has faced prosecution. Salinas will eventually appear in court yet again over his fatal shooting of Black 19-year-old Marcellis Stinnette at a traffic stop in October 2020. The shooting wounded Stinette’s then-20 year old girlfriend Tafara Williams as well.

The couple were unarmed, and Salinas did not activate his body-worn camera (BWC) until after the shooting. He was quickly fired from the department following the killing, and the community and family also held sustained protests in the wake of a summer of other Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country.

Salinas faces trial on multiple second degree murder and manslaughter charges over killing Stinnette, and Strickland decided to stay Salinas’ jail time pending the resolution of that case. The judge also said he would seek for Salinas to be incarcerated outside of Lake County.

No date has been set for the start of Salinas’ murder trial, though one may be decided at an upcoming court hearing on Dec. 3. Salinas has thus won a reprieve from incarceration for at least several months.

Strickland’s sentence aligned with that proposed by the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office, reprieve aside.

Salgado, who was present for the sentencing Tuesday, wrote in a statement for the court that his arrest had left him with “trauma and anxiety,” as well as lingering pain in his face. He also said the incident had distressed his children, who now expressed fear of police.

“Nobody deserves to go through what I went through,” Salgado wrote in his statement, which was presented to the court by Assistant State’s Attorney Jeff Facklam.

Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart further argued Tuesday that Salinas’ actions in August 2019 did more than injure Salgado. As a police officer who abused the power entrusted to him by the state, Rinehart claimed, Salinas had dented the underlying social contract.

“He didn’t just damage Angel and his family,” Rinehart told Strickland. “He damaged the [police] department, he damaged the community and he damaged our system.”

Citing what he called Salinas’ “power trip” on the night of Salgado’s arrest, Rinehart urged Strickland to respond “with the fury of local incarceration.”

Salinas’ own attorneys Doug and Joe Zeit argued that Strickland should reconsider his verdict or at least grant Salinas a new trial. They claimed it wasn’t possible to determine if Salinas directly caused Salgado’s facial injury from available video footage alone. They also deferred to the chaotic nature of Salgado’s arrest, saying Salinas acted reasonably, if not ideally, to the situation.

“This case involves a good faith officer making split-second decisions with a non-compliant subject,” Joe Zeit argued.

Strickland stood by his ruling, however.

The judge said he had already gone “into microscopic detail” on the case, and repeated his finding that Salinas used escalatory force while arresting Salgado in August 2019. Salinas’ BWC footage from the night in question shows him pulling a pistol—followed by a taser—on an angry but unarmed Salgado almost immediately after exiting his police vehicle.

“I found the use of force by Mr. Salinas was not necessary,” Strickland told the court Tuesday.

Salgado himself declined to comment on Salinas’ sentence. He and Salinas sat directly across the court aisle from each other leading up to Tuesday’s hearing; neither man looked at the other.

Local activists who have been following Salinas’ case, however, spoke to how the outcome of this trial fits into the larger reality of militarized federal police forces like Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement occupying the Chicago area, including Waukegan.

“When people say, ‘how are we holding these feds accountable,’ how are we holding our local police accountable?” one local named Don Gross asked.

Parker Adams, another Waukegan resident who has been following the case, meanwhile wondered what kind of accountability would assuage what Salgado and the larger community has endured.

“There’s a level of physical harm and emotional distress that will just never equate,” they said.

Ex-Waukegan cop guilty of official misconduct, cleared on aggravated battery charge

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:00:22 GMT

Ex-cop Dante Salinas found guilty of official misconduct after beating Angel Salgado outside a family party in Waukegan, IL in 2019

Following a three-day bench trial on aggravated battery and official misconduct charges, a Lake County judge on Friday returned a mixed ruling against a fired Waukegan police officer separately facing murder accusations over the 2020 killing of an unarmed Black teen.

The courtroom was strangely silent after Lake County Judge George Strickland handed down his verdict against ex-Waukegan cop Dante Salinas. People milled about, whispered quietly, and looked unsure even if it was truly over.

Moments earlier, Strickland had made a split ruling: he found Salinas guilty on one count of official misconduct, not guilty on one other count of official misconduct, and not guilty on the big ticket charge of aggravated battery.

For both Salinas’ supporters and the Waukegan community members hoping he would face sterner justice, it was a less than ideal result.

“I don’t know,” a community member going by Adele said after being asked how they felt about the verdict. Then, a long pause.

“Personally, I wasn’t surprised,” she said at last.

Community members at the verdict reading Friday felt the final decision was especially callous amid the state violence many working class Latine communities in Chicago are currently facing. Salinas repeatedly punched another Latino man during the 2019 confrontation, and his defense attorneys argued in court last week that the victim of the attack, Angel Salgado, was “tequila drunk.”

“This is happening in the context of not just police violence, but federal police violence,” a local activist named Don Gross said. “Our communities are under attack.”

Salinas’ trial began Monday and ran for three days, with Strickland taking Thursday to weigh the evidence and arguments presented.

It’s still possible the now-fired cop could face years in prison for his felony official misconduct conviction.

The incident behind the case took place on Aug. 31, 2019, shortly before 10 p.m.

Salinas, that night patrolling a part of Waukegan that its police department has designated “a high crime zone,” can be seen in his body cam footage exiting his vehicle and almost immediately pointing his gun at an unarmed Angel Salgado.

The body cam footage further shows Salgado cursing Salinas out while Salinas switches to a taser and orders Salgado to stay back. Salgado ultimately complies, notwithstanding moments when he briefly re-approaches the then-cop to insult him again. Salinas tases Salgado despite his compliance, and just as Salgado tries to re-enter the fence to his in-laws’ home — the family had been celebrating a baptism that night — Salinas strikes him and tackles him through the fence gate.

After more Waukegan police officers arrive and pile on Salgado, Salinas strikes him again while he’s on the ground. Salgado reportedly had his facial bones broken in the encounter, with his left eye swelling shut for days afterwards. He was later awarded $300,000 in a civil rights suit settlement over the beating with no admission of wrongdoing by the City.

In court more than six years later, Judge Strickland found Salinas was responsible for creating and escalating the 2019 encounter.

“He is responsible for everything that happened,” Strickland said. “He pushed the snowball down the hill.”

The judge also found that Salinas’ arrest of Salgado was unlawful. Strickland opined that while Salgado may have been “obnoxious” and “profane” toward Salinas, he had committed no crime and presented no threat justifying Salinas’ initial use of force.

“I can’t remember a time a police officer resorted to this kind of force, this quickly,” Strickland said.

These findings formed the basis for Salinas’ conviction on one count of official misconduct. Strickland gave Salinas more benefit of the doubt — and a not guilty ruling on a second misconduct charge — for his conduct following the arrival of other police.

Strickland remarked early in the verdict hearing that Salgado was “highly intoxicated” the night of his arrest; Salgado, while testifying Monday, conceded he had been drinking that night. The judge subsequently called Salgado “somewhat of a raging bull” while Salinas and other police were working to restrain and handcuff him.

The judge’s language here echoed that of Salinas’ defense attorney Joe Zeit. Zeit, during his closing arguments on Wednesday, leaned into the fact that Salgado had been drinking, with a bit of casual racism thrown in for good measure

“He had tequila muscles,” the defense attorney said Wednesday.

Strickland also said that from available video, he couldn’t determine if Salinas had ever struck Salgado with a weapon or object. Salgado maintained Monday that he had. The judge further claimed he couldn’t determine if Salinas’ punches themselves caused Salgado’s facial injuries, or if those injuries were caused by Salgado’s face hitting the ground.

This was another contention Salinas’ defense attorneys raised during the trial.

Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart gave a neutral response when asked for his own response to Judge Strickland’s ruling.

“The most important thing is we think about what Angel went through,” Rinehart said. “The court correctly found the officer…illegally used force in the face of the facts.”

Salinas’ defense attorneys have not yet returned a request for comment on their own response to the verdict. His sentence hearing is set for Oct. 28.

After facing sentence for this case, Salinas faces yet another criminal trial, as well as three second degree murder charges and a manslaughter charge, stemming from his fatal shooting of Black 19-year-old Marcellis Stinnette in October 2020.

In that incident, Salinas shot both Marcellis and his 20-year-old girlfriend Tafara Williams at a traffic stop. The couple were unarmed, and Salinas did not activate his body-worn camera until after the shooting. He was quickly fired from the department following the killing, and the community and family also held sustained protests.

Rinehart did not give an exact timeframe for when this trial would begin.

Gross, meanwhile, said the Waukegan community now has its eye on the courts, especially on its handling of Salinas’ cases going forward.

“I don’t know how things are gonna look like,” Gross said, “but people are paying attention.”

Aggravated battery trial begins for ex-cop also accused of murder

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 09:52:16 GMT

Ex-cop Dante Salinas is facing charges for battering a man outside a family party in Waukegan, IL in 2019.

Content warning: Graphic descriptions of police violence.

It’s shortly before 10 p.m. on August 31st, 2019 in Waukegan, Illinois, and then-Waukegan police officer Dante Salinas is pointing a handgun at a man named Angel Salgado. Then a taser.

Shaky police body cam footage played for a Lake County courthouse on Monday shows Salinas tackling Salgado to the ground on his in-laws’ property after tasing him. As more police officers arrive, they pile on, press their knees into his neck and back, and tase him again. Family members emerge from the house, spread over the grass and look on in horror. Salgado is eventually handcuffed shirtless and put into a police vehicle.

“The use of force in this case was not just excessive, it was criminal,” Assistant State’s Attorney Jeff Facklam said during the prosecution’s opening remarks.

Lake County prosecutors argued Monday that Salinas repeatedly punched Salgado in the face during this incident, breaking bones and causing Salgado’s left eye to swell shut for days. Salgado filed a federal civil rights suit against the City of Waukegan in August 2020. The city settled the suit with no admission of wrongdoing for $300,000.

Salinas was indicted on one count of aggravated battery and two counts of official misconduct in August 2022. All are class three felonies.

If found guilty, the former cop could face a multiple-year sentence.

Over the course of the first trial day, attorneys questioned both Salgado and his wife, and replayed body cam footage from both Salinas and an officer identified in court only as “Officer Lawrence.”

It wasn’t made clear at trial what exactly led to the confrontation between Salinas and Salgado. Salgado claimed on the stand that he had been having a smoke in front of the house when he heard a shout, and saw Salinas’ police vehicle approaching.

Salinas can be seen pointing his gun at Salgado seconds after exiting his vehicle, which Salgado said made him “kinda pissed off.”

In the footage, Salgado can be seen cursing Salinas out, approaching him, falling back, re-approaching Salinas, then falling back from the street toward the fence of his in-laws’ home. The family had been celebrating a baptism that night.

Salinas follows Salgado to the fence gate, tackling him through it after telling Salgado he is under arrest.

Defense attorneys Joe and Doug Zeit tried to use the shaky nighttime footage of the confrontation to their advantage. They contested there was any point in the videos where it was clear Salinas punched Salgado. They also leaned into Salgado’s admission he had been drinking that night, arguing it explained his attitude and behavior.

“You back up and go forward, back up and go forward; he didn’t know what you were gonna do,” defense attorney Doug Zeit told Salgado while he was on the stand for cross-examination.

Salgado, however, maintained his attitude toward Salinas and the other police who arrested him responded was only natural.

“I got tased once, I got tased twice, how do you want me to act?” he responded at one point to Zeit.

Zeit also asked him why he didn’t seem to comply with Salinas ordering him under arrest near the gate.

Salgado responded, “I was just standing on the sidewalk…I didn’t feel like I had done anything wrong.”

Salgado also repeatedly insisted one could indeed see Salinas punching him in the former cop’s body cam footage. County judge George Strickland settled the controversy in court by having Facklam play the whole video and telling Salgado to yell “stop” when Salinas punched him.

Salgado was able to point out brief instances of a few seconds each where the footage does appear to show Salinas striking him — once when Salinas tackled Salgado through the gate entrance to the in-laws’ property, and once more after he wrestled Salgado to the ground.

Salgado also maintained Salinas struck him more times than is apparent in the footage.

Proceedings recessed Monday without the prosecution having rested its case. The trial will likely continue for several days; as a bench trial, Judge Strickland himself, rather than a jury, will render Salinas’ verdict.

Despite the potentially multi-year sentence Salinas could face if found guilty, the trial which began Monday is the less severe of the cases the former cop is currently involved in.

He faces an additional three second degree murder charges and an involuntary manslaughter charge stemming from his fatal shooting of Black 19-year-old Marcellis Stinnette in October 2020.

In that incident, Salinas shot both Marcellis and his 20-year-old girlfriend, Tafara Williams at a traffic stop. The couple were unarmed, and Salinas did not activate his body-worn camera until after the shooting. He was quickly fired from the department following the killing, and community and family also held sustained protests.

That a cop is facing prosecution over so many violent offenses drew multiple local activists to the trial Monday.

“When there’s an opportunity to hold a police officer accountable, which is very rare, I’m there,” activist Don Gross said.

Stinnette’s grandmother, Sherrellis Stinnette, was also in attendance for part of the trial day.

“It’s an ongoing process with this man. He acted this way, then turned around and shot my grandson,” Stinnette said. “We just want justice to be served for both families…we’re all grieving and suffering.”

Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said Monday that Salinas’ murder trial would not be occurring “in the immediate future.”

What happened to Silverio Villegas González

Sat, 13 Sep 2025 14:22:08 GMT

Two ICE agents rendering aid to Silverio Villegas González after shooting him during an alleged traffic stop. Source: witness videos.

Less than one week into President Donald Trump’s surge of deportation arrests in Chicago, an immigration agent shot and killed a man during a traffic stop on a near suburban street Friday morning.

The Department of Homeland Security identified the man as Silverio Villegas González, confirmed by the Mexican consulate as a 38-year-old Mexican citizen from the state of Michoacán. An unidentified ICE agent fatally shot him in the heavily Latine Chicago suburb of Franklin Park during what DHS described as a “vehicle stop,” according to an official statement.

The statement, which was immediately quoted by media outlets, places much of the blame on Villegas González for his own death. The agency also claimed Villegas González drove his car at ICE agents conducting the vehicle stop, resulting in serious injuries.

“He refused to follow law enforcements [sic] commands and drove his car at law enforcement officers,” the statement reads. “One of the ICE officers was hit by the car and dragged a significant distance. Fearing for his own life, the officer fired his weapon.“

Bystander videos and eyewitness accounts, however, tell a different story.

Security footage near the scene in Franklin Park, as reported by CBS, shows two plainclothes agents approaching a silver sedan that had been blocked off by an unmarked SUV.

The sedan eventually reverses from the two agents, and the officer on the passenger side points his firearm at the vehicle.

Surveillance video showing ICE’s traffic stop of Silvero Villegas-Gonzalez on September 12, 2025. Source: CBS News

As Villegas González drives away from the agents—not toward them, as DHS claimed—the agent on the passenger side aims his weapon at the back of Villegas González’s car.

Two gunshots can be heard in a separate security video. The second agent is not visible during the shooting, and it remains unclear which agent fired their weapon.

Other footage that circulated on social media following the shooting, recorded by on-scene witnesses, shows two men in body armor pulling Villegas González out of his vehicle after it crashed into the undercarriage of a semitruck:

Video showing two ICE agents removing Silverio Villegas González from his car after they shot him. Source: witness video

The pair, who appear to be operating alone, are then seen laying his bloodied body on the ground and providing first aid.

One can be heard yelling for bystanders to call 9-1-1. Neither appears seriously injured.

DHS reports the allegedly injured officer is in stable condition.

Two ICE agents render aid to Silverio Villegas González after they shot him. Source: Ismael Cordova-Clough

Villegas González was pronounced dead after being taken to the nearby Loyola Hospital, according to a Friday evening statement from the Village of Franklin Park.

DHS also claims one of their agents was “dragged … a significant distance.”

The distance between the initial stop and where Villegas González’s car was crushed under a truck is roughly 100 feet.

Witness video obtained by Unraveled appears to show no other agents present in the immediate aftermath of the shooting:

Video showing two ICE agents rendering aid to Silverio Villegas González after they shot him. Source: witness video

A search of Cook County court records shows the beloved father and community member was cited for a single moving violation, speeding, in May 2013—over twelve years ago.

Verified ICE sightings around the greater Chicago area in the last week already show a pattern of traffic stops that have led to immigration enforcement arrests. A mix of plainclothes agents and Special Response Team (SRT) members in fully militarized gear have been spotted pulling over drivers:

This “jump out” maneuver has been used for years by the Chicago Police Department’s tactical teams. Police departments in urban areas will often use an unmarked SUV to quickly cut off a target vehicle in traffic, as plainclothes officers jump out and bark orders at the vehicle’s occupants. The tactic is predominantly used to stop Black and Latine drivers, and the stops cause confusion and panic for drivers boxed in their cars, frequently leading to violent police encounters.

A similar maneuver led to the death of Dexter Reed in Chicago in March 2024. Officers involved in Reed’s death have since received suspensions for violating multiple department policies in how they conducted traffic stops.

“He got blood … all over his neck and his head,” said a local witness, who asked not to be identified, of Villegas González’s condition when an ambulance arrived.

She emerged from her apartment building to see plainclothes agents in body armor with no agency lettering wrapping his gunshot wounds in gauze.

ICE agents are rarely seen wearing body cameras, and municipal police department policies do not apply to any of their law enforcement activities. Likewise, federal agencies are not mandated to identify agents who fire their service weapon. There is no set timeframe in which they have to release relevant records via Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) to reporters, and no policy Unraveled is aware of that mandates any time off-duty for a federal agent involved in a shooting.

FBI agents were seen processing the crime scene. At this time, it remains unclear if Illinois State Police or any other local law enforcement will be involved in the investigation into the incident. There is a short history of state police investigating fatal shootings by federal agents—in 2024, Arkansas State Police investigated the shooting death of a local official by ATF agents, and in 2021, Connecticut state police investigated a shooting involving an FBI agent. Prosecutors declined to prosecute either case.

The incident has sparked uproar in the community amid the Trump administration’s targeting of Chicago for heightened immigration enforcement.

“This blood that was spilled today will be a stain on the history of our nation,” said Illinois state senator Karina Villa of Villegas González’s killing at a press conference on Friday afternoon.

Community remains defiant

Members of the Chicago ICE Special Response Team, Broadview police, and Maywood police. Photo: Raven Geary.

Also on Friday, only a few miles south from where Villegas González was killed, protestors demonstrated for more than 12 hours outside the ICE processing facility in the suburb of Broadview.

Their demonstration overlapped with a long-running weekly prayer service for migrants detained inside the facility.

“They are hurting families, and they need to stop,” one protestor at the Broadview facility, who asked not to be named, said of the immigration agents’ activity in the Chicago area. “We don’t want them in Chicago. We don’t want them here in the United States.

The ICE Broadview processing center garage. Credit: Raven Geary.

Protestors armed with handmade signs and sidewalk chalk repeatedly confronted heavily armored federal agents in face coverings as the agents moved vehicles in and out of the facility over the course of the day. These included a transit van with captives banging from the inside.

Immigration rights organizations are unable to provide an accurate estimate of the number of people snatched by federal agents over the last several days, surely in part to the chaotic and dispersed nature of the ICE operation:

“I don’t have a sense of a number except to say that it is certainly higher than what ICE is reporting publicly,” a spokesperson for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said in a statement. “We know ICE’s history of exploiting personal tragedies to conduct broad and unnecessary operations with increasingly aggressive, and now fatal, tactics. We also know that our partners have conducted legal intake for individuals who are not among those on DHS’s press release from earlier this week, and that abductions are still happening into the weekend.”

Before dawn, protesters blocked the main vehicle entrance to the ICE facility. Agents shifted to using a separate garage attached to the building after sunrise, repeatedly sending out teams to guard vehicle transfers. Local police from Broadview and Maywood, who were also on scene, joined with the agents’ line on at least one occasion, and at other times formed a loose line in front of the facility itself.

At multiple points over the course of the day, agents took to the facility’s roof, some armed with long guns and others seemingly recording the crowd with smartphones. One agent also appeared to be piloting a drone over the crowd around 10:30 a.m:

Video captured by witnesses shows the agents becoming more aggressive as the day wore on and the crowd thinned.

Hours after an ICE agent fatally shot Villegas González in Franklin Park, agents with ICE’s Chicago field office Special Response Team deployed projectile chemical munitions on the crowd. These included chemical gas, as well as pepper balls fired at a non-violent protester who was using a mobility aid:

ICE agents in gas masks launch chemical gas at protesters in the Broadview ICE facility driveway.

According to a Sept. 2 statement from Broadview mayor Katrina Thompson, ICE will continue operating out of the Broadview facility as part of a “large scale enforcement campaign”—part of the Trump administration’s so-called “Operation Midway Blitz”—until at least mid-October.

Correction 9/14/2025: CBS News reports Villegas González was cited for three other minor vehicle violations between 2010 and 2019. An attorney who represented him told reporters they were resolved favorably and neither “involved criminal violence.”

Eyes on the heartland

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 13:42:25 GMT

A Flock automated license plate reader in Oak Park, Illinois. Photo: Paul Goyette

For six months, the world had been watching in horror as Israel annihilated the Gaza strip. In the millions, people had marched, rallied, blockaded roads, launched hunger strikes, and damaged weapons factories. A young man set himself on fire and livestreamed his own death. But it would be students at Columbia University, in the heart of New York City, who would open a new front.

Within days of Columbia students setting up a solidarity encampment on campus, schools across the country exploded in protest. Police cracked down at full tilt, beating and jailing thousands of keffiyeh-clad anti-war activists. Some occupied university lawns for weeks before finally facing violent predawn sweeps. Others were immediately met with SWAT teams, clouds of tear gas, and sheriff’s officers on horseback.

During the day, they rallied. At night, they—a generation witness to the horrors of war live, up close, and personal on a level seemingly designed to break a human’s brain, if not a soul—scrolled helplessly through high definition videos of people disemboweled by shrapnel and babies with exploded heads.

At the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, protesters felt optimistic about their chances of camping out on the quad.

“We were firmly in the zone of, we didn’t think this would even have a legal response, because, really?” said Valentina K., a protester who asked we not use her last name. “Students put tents on campus all the time.”

She dropped off supplies and began setting up camp with others in opposition to the war.

University cops treated the action like an existential threat.

“There’s like 100 cops. Every police force in the county was there. There was a sense in the air of, are we gonna get shot? Is this like Kent State? Are they really gonna do this over students putting tents on campus?”

Following an attack by campus police, reinforced by neighboring departments, activists managed to rebuild. They remained there for two weeks until graduation.

But the worst for some was yet to come.

UIUC police scoured social media posts and surveillance footage for anything they could find to help them identify students. According to police reports, they extracted still photos of protesters’ faces from their body-worn camera videos. The photos were sent to the secretary of state’s office, where they used facial recognition technology to find matching drivers’ license photos.

In the end, it was one specific kind of surveillance equipment—an automated license plate reader, or an ALPR—that would be used to link video of Valentina at the encampment to the vehicle she drove there.

Police departments across the nation used surveillance tools to identify Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020. Five years later, the tentacles of state surveillance have unfurled even further.

The cameras have sparked legal and privacy concerns. 404 Media recently revealed a Texas deputy ran a national search of an ALPR database to look for a woman who allegedly self-administered an abortion. Audit logs obtained by anonymous researchers also show how police in and outside Illinois have used the network of one particular ALPR manufacturer, Flock Safety, to assist ICE with immigration investigations. Both of these scenarios are prohibited under Illinois law.

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias has called upon Attorney General Kwame Raoul to investigate these incidents. The AG has not yet publicly commented on the issue.

On its face, all of this dystopian tech wasn’t given to cops to track protesters, abortion seekers, or immigrants.

It was doled out, ostensibly, to battle something else entirely.

Since 2023, Raoul’s office has showered $15 million in state grants on police to fight organized retail crime. More than two-thirds of that money went toward new surveillance technology for cops: license plate readers, GPS launchers, hundreds of new video surveillance cameras, and tools to crack phones, computers, and vehicle infotainment systems.

Millions of this was spent with one primary ALPR vendor, which also happens to be the same one Giannoulias is promising to look into: Flock Safety.

Billing itself as “the first large-scale, public-private collaboration of its kind in Illinois,” the Organized Retail Crime Task Force is a conglomeration of law enforcement agencies and business interests, including big name retailers like Home Depot, Target, and Walgreens. It was created amid an industry-created retail crime panic the National Retail Federation would later admit was overstated .

Viral videos that emerged following the outbreak of COVID-19 contributed to endless media coverage of every level of retail crime from ordinary shoplifting to train car heists. Leaning on the police for store security has been a trend in retail; in 2023, Walmart announced they were building a police substation in one of their Atlanta stores. The irony is: while outsourcing more of their security needs to police, retailers have reduced staff and leaned heavily into self-checkout lanes, both of which have been shown to increase theft.

If the goal was drastically expanding state surveillance, by all means, the program has been a smashing success. ALPRs like the one used to identify Valentina are seemingly popping up everywhere—including 650 new cameras in Illinois cities since 2023, according to contracts and invoices from over 100 police departments reviewed by Unraveled. The true number is likely higher, but not all departments provided invoices.

By comparison, over a six-year span, the Illinois State Police installed 665 ALPR cameras under the Tamara Clayton Expressway Camera Act, a program created with the sole purpose of increasing surveillance on Illinois expressways.

As recently as February, Raoul lobbied Congress to establish a new Organized Retail Crime Coordination Center within the Department of Homeland Security. The proposed legislation would also increase criminal penalties and data sharing between states and federal agencies.

Raoul’s office did not respond to our multiple inquiries for this story.

The dragnet

A Flock automated license plate reader equipped with a solar panel. Photo: Paul Goyette

Two companies dominate the automated license plate reader market: Flock Safety and Motorola Solutions. Both market their ALPRs to police, businesses, and home owner associations.

Flock’s national network includes more than 83,000 ALPRs. The company says it collects 20 billion license plate scans per month. The same metrics aren’t available for Motorola, though they claim to have a database with over 73.5 billion plate scans.

Invented by the British, the first license plate readers were deployed to track members of the Irish Republican Army in the 1990s before quickly making their way to the United States, where Customs & Border Patrol installed them to monitor border traffic. Municipal police departments began adopting the technology in the 2000s.

The inexpensive high-speed cameras capture and process images of passing vehicles. They are usually mounted on utility poles, but can also be attached to vehicles, trailers, or other temporary locations. Early uses focused on comparing license plates against a “hotlist” of vehicles police were looking for, such as those with unpaid tickets, or ones that had been stolen. The cost to install a typical fixed-ALPR camera is about $3,000.

Today’s networked, AI-enabled systems are much more intrusive. Police departments can now share their ALPR network with other agencies both in-state and out. A small number of departments publish so-called “transparency portals” that show who they share with, along with a few basic statistics.

ALPRs come paired with software packages from the vendors, such as FlockOS and Motorola’s Vigilant VehicleManager. These systems create “fingerprints” of vehicles, recording the license plate, make, model, and color of the vehicle—and any other unique characteristics, such as visible damage, a spoiler, or roof rack. They use AI to identify patterns, such as vehicles frequently spotted together, vehicles seen in multiple locations, or if a vehicle is exhibiting “suspicious” behavior.

Like other forms of surveillance, the ALPRs become more powerful when combined into larger networks. Police departments across the U.S. are investing heavily in real-time crime centers (RTCCs), expensive surveillance software platforms that integrate live video from police and businesses, license plate readers, gunshot detection systems, drones, body-worn cameras, police vehicles’ GPS, and other tech into a single view. FlockOS has evolved into an RTCC to compete with dedicated RTCC platforms like Axon’s Fusus.

Advertising from Fusus, a real time crime center platform that promises to integrate a variety of private and public surveillance feeds for police departments. Source: Axon

As the technology has become cheaper, interconnected, and equipped with AI, the insights it can glean about individuals is expanding rapidly. With more than 100,000 ALPRs across the U.S. collecting tens of billions of plate scans per month, the net effect begins to resemble warrantless GPS tracking by an AI Big Brother. The Illinois State Police ALPR network alone captured over 2.2 billion vehicles—200 times the number of registered cars in the state—on interstates and tollways in 2024.

With more police departments buying their own vehicle-mounted ALPR units, even cars parked on streets or in public lots can be vacuumed into the system. If you travel by car anywhere but the most remote areas of the country, there is no question your movements are being tracked. Luigi Mangione’s choice to take a bus into New York City—followed immediately by a bicycle ride and a train ride after allegedly shooting UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson—is likely what enabled him to flee the state and confound police. Had he been in a personal vehicle, the manhunt would’ve been over quickly.

Many municipalities install ALPRs near busy destinations. Some even create a perimeter around their city to track every vehicle coming or going. Evanston’s ALPR locations, mapped by the Evanston RoundTable, illustrate the concept:

In Greers Ferry, Arkansas, the city installed an ALPR directly in front of a private residence, raising Fourth Amendment concerns as the camera took photos of their yard every time a car passed. The family was photographed every time they left or returned home. The not-for-profit law firm Institute for Justice persuaded local officials to relocate the camera.

Flock’s product roadmap continues to slash away at any concept of privacy. Their tagline for a new law enforcement product, Nova, is “Search once. See everything.”

As reported by 404 Media, Nova claims to combine license plate numbers with personal identifying information Flock has accumulated from social media and data aggregators. With only a license plate lookup, police can be served up information like the owner’s relatives, associates, employer, and police records.

“Powerful surveillance tools pose a significant threat to the civil liberties of all people,” Ed Yohnka of ACLU Illinois told us. “Surveillance cameras that utilize facial recognition technology, automated license plate readers and other tools allow government officials to track and snoop into each of our lives with no meaningful or articulable reason. Rather, these tools give the government a broad ability to gather information about where we go, who we visit and how we spend our time.”

Even smaller municipalities collect huge amounts of data. Transparency portals for police departments in Roselle, Champaign, and Oak Park each report recording approximately 400,000 vehicles in the past 30 days alone. But FOIA requests that would illuminate how police are using their license plate databases are routinely denied. Departments cite the state’s FOIA statute, which broadly exempts disclosure of “information gathered or records created from the use of automatic license plate readers.”

The statute as written was intended to protect people’s privacy.

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The ORC

A Flock ALPR in Oak Park, Illinois. Photo: Paul Goyette

After forming the Organized Retail Crime Task Force, Raoul lobbied for the INFORM Consumers Act to define organized retail theft as a new crime, with harsher penalties alongside new powers for prosecutors.

Organized retail crime is defined—by the industry—as a criminal enterprise employing individuals to execute highly coordinated, large-scale thefts of retail merchandise to be sold through fencing operations. The bill defines organized retail theft so loosely that two people working together to shoplift and sell even a small amount of merchandise could be charged more severely.

Raoul partnered with Rob Kerr, president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, to champion the bill in an op-ed.

“Policy makers must address crime that is plaguing significant portions of our state and keeping residents away from downtown streets, neighborhood shopping districts and our city’s magnificent entertainment corridors,” they wrote.

Not everyone supported the bill. Chicago Appleseed, a nonprofit group that advocates for fair courts, described it as “an extreme approach to an imaginary problem.”

The Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence also opposed it, citing concerns about the role coercion can play in crimes like shoplifting and who may be swept up in a broad dragnet.

“If prosecutors understood perhaps how victims were coerced into it, there could hopefully be lesser charges,” they wrote.

At the time, Raoul assured advocates the new law would only apply to “those individuals who were the ‘masterminds’ behind organized crime.”

Governor Pritzker signed the bill into law in May 2022. Since then, the task force has highlighted their arrests on their website.

The task force’s big 2022 bust was Mahdi Alhaw, who was found with $800,000 in stolen merchandise stored in four semi-trailers, some taken from freight trains. Based on court records, Alhaw first came to law enforcement’s attention in August 2020 after he committed a hit and run. Not long after, he was charged with the possession of six stolen vehicles. A year later he was arrested after allegedly threatening to shoot up a night club. A year after that he was nabbed with the stolen merchandise.

Two of the task force’s material cases involved pawn shops. In 2023, police arrested two St. Clair county men who worked at a pawn shop and allegedly purchased and re-sold stolen goods. This year, the task force disrupted an organized retail theft ring run by the owners of Monster Pawn in Sangamon and McLean counties. In total, eight individuals were arrested and charged. In June, they also identified six men allegedly involved in a string of overnight burglaries on area retailers.

The other task force arrests may fit the legal definition of organized retail theft, but don’t appear to be the masterminds behind criminal syndicates. In October 2022, they reported three ORC cases. Four individuals, allegedly masked and armed, were arrested at Gurnee Mills. Three were juveniles. In another case, two women allegedly worked together to steal $3,000 of merchandise from an Apple store at Woodfield Mall. Separately, a man and woman were arrested after allegedly stealing apparel from a Gap store.

The only other reported case involved two women arrested in 2024 for working together to allegedly steal thousands of dollars’ worth of perfume and clothing from several Ulta Beauty and Victoria’s Secret stores. One of them purportedly sold the items through her Instagram account, which landed her an additional charge of managing an organized retail theft enterprise.

The law included one more provision: it created the Organized Retail Crime Enforcement Fund, controlled by the attorney general. Its purpose is to award grants to police and prosecutors throughout the state to “investigate, indict, and prosecute violations of organized retail crime.”

Millions spent on hundreds of new license plate readers

100+ police departments in Illinois spent $5+ million dollars on automated license plate readers. Each Flock ALPR costs approximately $3000 with installation.

Records obtained via FOIA request show over 120 law enforcement agencies have received some portion of the $15 million given out since the ORC fund was created.

According to our analysis, $5.6 million went toward covering the cost of over 900 ALPRs and their software subscriptions. Eighty one percent of all police departments that received grants spent at least a portion on ALPRs. How many additional ALPRs have been purchased via other funding sources is unknown—we only counted license plate cameras purchased with ORC grant money.

$3.1 million was spent on dedicated real-time crime center software like Fusus. The number of local business surveillance cameras integrated into RTCC’s is staggering. For example, Oak Lawn reported in 2019 that they had 16 business cameras integrated with Fusus. By August 2023, their system had grown to include 898 private cameras, and by June 2024 they were up to 1,073.

A slew of new video surveillance cameras—including cameras that can easily be converted to scan license plates—accounted for another $1.2 million. Over $800,000 went toward forensic tools to break into phones, laptops, vehicles, and other electronic devices—and more than $200,000 was spent on GPS trackers.

Oak Brook’s 2023 Grant Award, amended later to include an extra $150,000 for body and car cameras. Source: Oak Brook PD.

Oak Brook Police Department has received more than $1 million from the fund, making them the largest recipient of ORC grants over the past three years. Here’s how the other top spenders measured up:

Oak Brook PD received over a million dollars from the ORC fund, ostensibly to fight thefts at Oakbrook Center, the second largest shopping mall in the Chicago metro.

We have mapped every police department that was awarded a grant. Each point includes the total award by year, along with a summary of how it was spent (where we could determine this with the documents provided):

Other purchases included new vehicles and trailers. Dozens of departments used grant money to pay for officers’ overtime. Several departments noted that they would not have been able to purchase this technology without state assistance. For example, Murphysboro PD received a $126,000 grant in 2023, which is roughly 7% of their annual budget.

Departments used grant money both to pay for Flock ALPRs that were installed pre-ORC funds, and to pay for new devices. Since the creation of the fund, we found the most new license plate readers installed in Wheaton, IL. The crime rate in Wheaton is significantly lower than the national average.

Joliet PD’s Flock PO from 2023, paid for entirely with an ORC grant. The PO includes 61 fixed location ALPRs, 19 of which are new, plus two new “flexible location” ALPRs. Source: Joliet PD.

The Chicago Police Department used almost all of their ORC award to pay for overtime.

According to recent records provided by CPD, the department already owns 1,386 ALPRs, including fixed units, vehicle-mounted units, and other mobile units. This represents a significant increase—WBEZ previously reported 433 active ALPRs being used by the department in 2022.

“Reminiscent of the tactics of the war on drugs”

A Flock ALPR near a gas station in Oak Park, Illinois. Photo: Paul Goyette

According to progress reports submitted by Illinois police departments from 2024, the technology they bought with state money has, perhaps unsurprisingly, led to many arrests for low-level shoplifting. Very few organized criminal syndicates have been disrupted since the program’s inception. And nearly half of all departments that received grants in 2024 failed to submit a progress report to the attorney general.

Gurnee PD was the only to report an organized crime ring disruption, citing the arrest of 11 individuals and the seizure of two vehicles, $27,000 in stolen merchandise, and $6,000 in cash. Separately, they also arrested one of their own detectives for retail theft.

Gurnee PD’s report also highlighted their arrest of an undocumented immigrant outside Gurnee Mills Mall. He stole nothing, but had a paper bag lined with aluminum foil. He was charged with “unlawful possession of a theft detection shielding device,” a misdemeanor. Court records show he failed to appear for his court case and a warrant was issued. His whereabouts are unknown.

Many progress reports said that they had nothing to report or lacked specifics. Skokie PD reported, “The synergy achieved through this collaborative approach has been instrumental in fortifying our defenses and disrupting criminal networks engaged in illicit activities.”

Morton Grove PD thanked the AG for funding overtime for their officers, noting officers “conducted 80 hours of saturated patrols” which resulted in “no arrests or citations.”

The tiny village of Forest View—population 792—was granted $25,600 for several ALPRs. They reported four thefts for the quarter, one of which involved two men stealing four cases of Modelo beer. They reported zero arrests.

In Schaumburg, police received over $346,000 for a range of tools, including a $6,000 faraday box, digital forensic tools from Magnet and Cellebrite, and mobile cameras. Across two quarters, they reported using these tools in 383 cases—16 (4%) of which were “retail related.”

Some counties have organized their own task forces. Last month, in Cook County, State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s ORC Task Force touted its “first-ever national retail crime blitz” involving more than 100 law enforcement agencies across 28 states. One man arrested in this operation allegedly stole an $8 stain remover. Burke’s office did not respond to our questions about the operation.

Illinois has the second lowest threshold for felony shoplifting in the nation at only $300, which is also now the threshold for organized retail theft. Most states have thresholds between $1,000 and $2,500.

The state’s felony threshold for theft from anyone other than a retailer is $500, making it a more serious crime to steal from people than billion dollar corporations. The ACLU of Illinois found that from 2016 to 2018 alone, more than 5,000 people went to prison in Illinois for low-level thefts that would be categorized as misdemeanors in most other states.

Aaron Gottlieb, an associate professor at University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, spoke with us about our findings. His research focuses on the underlying causes of criminal legal involvement and the implications of policy change.

“All incarcerating people for these kinds of things does is fill prisons and jails,” he said. “It’s not actually going to change behavior or actually reduce the incidents of property crime in any meaningful way.”

Gottlieb believes the decision to allocate these funds and resources to police instead of social programs is a backwards way of approaching public safety.

“It’s pretty well established that the best way to reduce property crime is to make sure people have resources and opportunities, because these are often crimes of survival. Punitive approaches tend to be very ineffective at addressing these kinds of crimes. Investing in things like police or prisons or jails instead of things like social services are very likely to have bad outcomes.”

Ed Yohnka agrees.

“Targeting people who engage in more routine shoplifting with inflated penalties in an effort to get them to implicate others is reminiscent of the tactics of the War on Drugs,” he said. “[Those at] the lowest levels of the distribution chain are overwhelmingly the people who are targeted for enforcement and prosecution. Those tactics largely failed in addressing drug trafficking; there is little evidence that they will work in this instance.”

Encounters with the criminal legal system for any reason can have life-altering consequences. Felony charges are often used to compel the accused to take a plea deal, whether they committed the act or not.

Like six others targeted by police for building the Gaza solidarity encampment on UIUC’s campus, Valentina took a plea deal on the misdemeanor charge offered in order to avoid a felony trial. She then lost her health insurance for several months after the school expelled her, and has been unemployed since October.

“I am legally a criminal. Employers don’t really care how not severe it is. I don’t mean it to sound like woe is me, but it did ruin my life in many ways.”

She also says she hasn’t attended any protests in the aftermath.

“I’ve chosen to step back from protesting until my probation is over…and that’s just what they want. We are entering a new era. There is no safe protest…we don’t really have privacy or rights anymore.”

Flock fallout

Trustees in Oak Park voted to cancel the village’s contract with Flock Safety on August 5. Photo: Paul Goyette

In response to the misuses of Flock’s ALPR system, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias demanded the company block out-of-state police departments who entered reasons for conducting searches that potentially violated Illinois law. He also announced an audit of Illinois law enforcement ALPR usage.

And just last week, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking member of the Oversight Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, announced he was opening a Congressional investigation into Flock Safety.

Unlike drones, which have some basic reporting requirements around their usage, ALPRs are not subject to reporting requirements or oversight. Once a law enforcement agency opts to share their network with out-of-state agencies, that data is broadly available to tens of thousands of police officers and federal agents throughout the country.

Flock claims they have blocked the departments who conducted ALPR searches related to immigration enforcement. They also say they rolled out an update that will automatically block searches based on keywords, like “abortion,” or “immigration,” though officers can still enter anything they want.

Protesters blocked immigration enforcement arrests at court in downtown Chicago on June 17. Photo: Steve Held

Asked about the effectiveness of keyword blocking, a Flock spokesperson acknowledged that it’s not a “silver bullet,” and requires active oversight.

“Preventing unlawful searches requires a layered approach by all parties—combining technology, transparent audit trails, and strict policy enforcement by both law enforcement and our elected officials—to make sure protections are both real and enforceable.”

As Unraveled previously reported, police departments also don’t always know who is accessing their own systems. In what could be a violation of state and federal law, a police officer in Palos Heights was caught sharing his Flock database password with DEA agents. One used it to look up license plates potentially belonging to immigrants.

Just this past weekend, Denver announced they would stop sharing ALPR data with Loveland, Colorado when local media revealed they had been sharing information with Customs and Border Patrol.

In the face of all of these flaws, Yohnka has called for all communities to “immediately institute a pause in implementing new surveillance technology” at least until they can “adopt detailed, publicly-transparent policies that protect privacy.”

Some communities are doing just that. In Austin, Texas, the city council voted in June to cancel their contract with Flock Safety. Austin had one of the most restrictive ALPR policies in the nation, and still found it insufficient to ensure privacy protections.

A federal judge recently ruled that a lawsuit filed by the Institute for Justice against Norfolk, Virginia can proceed. The suit alleges the town’s dragnet of more than 170 ALPRs constitutes a Fourth Amendment violation. A similar lawsuit filed in Illinois by the Liberty Justice Center was dismissed by a federal judge in April.

Last week, the Institute for Justice also launched The Plate Privacy Project, with a mission to “propose model legislation in state legislatures to protect against warrantless ALPR surveillance, partner with local grassroots activists to help them resist the use of these cameras in their communities,” and to litigate where necessary.

For years, activists in Oak Park, a suburb on Chicago’s western border, have pushed back against ALPRs. They’ve documented racial disparities in Flock initiated stops and errors that led to unnecessary police interactions. This month they achieved a victory when the Oak Park board of trustees voted to cancel their current Flock contract. Community members and trustees cited concerns about privacy, effectiveness, and a lack of trust with the vendor in safeguarding their data.

Oak Park trustees debate cancelling the village’s contract with Flock Safety. Photo: Paul Goyette

Trustee Brian Straw raised concerns about Flock’s lack of meaningful safeguards to ensure compliance with Illinois law.

“The only reason we know that our data was searched by ICE is because somebody…was dumb enough to put ‘immigration enforcement’ as the purpose for their search,” he said. “If they had instead put anything else in there, we never would have known.”

Federal violence and persecution against the immigrant community has already come to Illinois, as ICE snatches migrants from immigration courts and vehicles, while also assaulting protesters. ICE has already equipped agents with mobile facial recognition tools.

John Slocum, executive director of Refugee Council USA and long-time Oak Park resident, eloquently summarized what is as stake:

“At a time when the federal government is making overreaching attacks on norms, institutions, civil rights, due process and the rule of law, Oak Park should not be spending taxpayer funds on a technology that can easily be abused to advance a universal system of authoritarian style surveillance and control.”

Chibuike Enyia, another trustee who voted to end the contract, said he worried about migrants, people seeking reproductive healthcare, and transgender community members.

“They don’t know when that camera is going to be turned on them,” Enyia said. “And when some form of persecution comes to their doorsteps, I don’t want to be the one that aided in that.”

The Organized Retail Crime Grant Fund received another $5 million for the upcoming year and is currently soliciting applications from police departments.

A Flock ALPR in Oak Park, Illinois. Photo: Paul Goyette

DEA agent used Illinois cop’s Flock license plate reader password for immigration enforcement searches

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 12:47:16 GMT

Palos Heights police officer Todd Hutchinson, also a DEA task force officer, pictured on the far right. Source: Meta

A Palos Heights police officer has been disciplined and retrained after sharing his login information to a massive license plate surveillance database with federal agents, Unraveled has learned.

One agent admitted to using his unauthorized database access to look up license plate data related to immigration enforcement.

Palos Heights Detective Todd Hutchinson works as a task force officer for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), assisting federal agents with narcotics cases and other related criminal investigations. According to a Palos Heights Police Department memo obtained via public records request, Hutchinson has been assigned to DEA Group 22 since May 2023.

Hutchinson was the only member of the group with access to the Flock ALPR system—a database of license plate information collected from tens of thousands of cameras nationwide that automatically scan passing vehicles. The detective stated it was “common” to allow others in the group to use his login for drug investigations, according to the department memo describing the incident.

This May, 404 Media reported on an audit log of Flock searches obtained from the Danville, IL police department. Through Freedom of Information Act requests, anonymous researchers were able to acquire the audit that showed thousands of potential immigration related searches from law enforcement agencies across the country.

Cops with access to the Flock database must enter a search term to describe their queries. According to the log, a federal agent working with Hutchinson used his login to perform 24 searches on January 27 and 28 with the phrase “immigration violation” entered as the reason for investigation.

A screenshot of the Flock ALPR database audit that shows searches made by Todd Hutchinson’s account in January with “immigration violation” entered in the search reason field.

State legislation prohibits Illinois license plate reader data from being used for immigration enforcement purposes.

However, the data collected by researchers showed cops and sheriffs in states like Florida and Texas performing searches of Illinois license plate reader networks. In June, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced his office will work with the Attorney General to investigate the searches, which include one performed by a Texas sheriff looking to locate a woman who allegedly self-administered an abortion.

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On August 7, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi announced a formal investigation into Flock’s data sharing practices. Krishnamoorthi’s letter to Flock’s CEO Garrett Langley also mentions another recent incident out of Richmond, Virginia involving an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms analyst who searched their Flock database for escaped ICE detainees without permission.

Also last week, the village of Oak Park voted to terminate their contract with Flock Safety and shutter eight license plate cameras, citing concerns over privacy and immigrant rights.

“U were so helpful in giving the group access”

Message exchanged between Det. Hutchinson and the unnamed federal agent.

Chat screenshots between Detective Hutchinson and the unidentified DEA agent who performed the searches show the agent again asked for access to the database on May 21.

“What’s the new password? Please,” he wrote.

“Sorry man. Keys had to be taken away,” Hutchinson responded.

One of the provided screenshots appears to be from a group chat including other federal agents on the task force.

Later on May 21, the agent who performed the searches—identified in the group chat by the initials B.K.—wrote, “Dear Todd, I hope you don’t get in trouble cause of my mistake. U were so helpful in giving the group access but now that is gone, gone like dust,……in the wind …”

Message from the unnamed federal agent in a group chat.

Message exchanged between Det. Hutchinson and the unnamed federal agent.

“When I shared my account with the Special Agent, I believed it would only be used for DEA/narcotics related investigations,” Hutchinson wrote in an email to his superiors on June 16.

Deputy Chief John Parnitzke wrote in the memo that Hutchinson changed his password, revoking the federal agent’s access to the ALPR portal once they became aware of the searches. The special agent’s full name, along with a description of what transpired in an interview with him, is redacted in the document provided.

“We did look into the issue and found that our officer had violated our security practices and shared his Flock password with a federal law enforcement partner during an unrelated federal investigation,” Palos Heights police chief Mike Yott wrote in a statement to Unraveled. “The searches that were run were done so by that federal officer. Our officer has been disciplined due to the violation, passwords have been changed, and further security training was performed.”

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Countless police departments nationwide employ officers like Hutchinson assigned to federal task forces.

Dave Maass, director of investigations at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Unraveled “this is not something that is supposed to happen.”

“The fact that PHPD did not know about this until journalists caught it is a sign that this agency as a whole is not acting responsibly with this data,” he added. “To be safe, not a single search that goes through should be unaccounted for.”

ALPR searches do not require any kind of warrant to execute. In his memo to the chief, Deputy Chief Parnitzke writes that they have since disabled sharing ALPR data outside of Illinois, and he believes “there is a need to start a monthly review of our own Flock searches.”

No details are given on how or when that review will commence. The nature of Detective Hutchinson’s discipline in response to the incident is also unknown.

Flock Safety claims it is now collaborating with Giannoulias’s office to ensure agencies searching Illinois license plate reader data are complying with local law, and has since shut off access to 47 out-of-state agencies. The company also claims recent reporting on its network is “clickbait-driven,” accusing reporters of mischaracterizing what the data audit revealed.

“This isn’t clickbait reporting,” Maass said. “This is accountability reporting. This is watchdog reporting. It is absolutely in the public interest to do this kind of journalism and the fact that the [Flock] CEO wants to write this off as clickbait shows he wants to disregard legitimate criticism.”

A spokesperson for the DEA Chicago Division declined to comment on their agent’s alleged misconduct. The Secretary of State’s office and Attorney General did not respond to our inquiries about the incident.

Chicago police, suburban departments seen assisting ICE during chaotic immigration enforcement blitz

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 16:46:57 GMT

ICE agents attack photographers. Photo: Paul Goyette

Scenes of terror played out across the country—and in Chicago—yesterday as ICE ramped up enforcement and removal operations this week.

Activists report around 10 people total were detained at 2245 S. Michigan in the South Loop yesterday afternoon. People came to the location after being sent text messages asking them to check in with ICE, according to witnesses.

The spontaneous check-ins were reportedly part of ISAP (Intensive Supervision Appearance Program), an ICE-led case management initiative designed to provide an alternative to detention for individuals determined to be a low flight risk.

Described by DHS as a “compliance tool,” ISAP employs GPS tracking technology and a smartphone app to monitor immigrants facing deportation proceedings. Considerations for a person’s caregiver or medical status can influence the decision to assign ISAP monitoring.

Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD), an immigrant advocacy organization, identified one woman taken into federal custody yesterday as organizer Gladis Yolanda Chavez Pineda.

Activists are now circulating a petition calling for her release.

Federal agents block photographers from accessing an alley near 2245 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago on Wednesday. Photo: Paul Goyette

Federal agents push into the crowd with batons. Photo: Paul Goyette

Rapid response protesters were joined by elected officials in an attempt at civil disobedience, but were eventually shoved aside by masked ERO/ICE agents in body armor to make way for unmarked white vans.

Agents brandished collapsible batons at the crowd, and one carried what appeared to be a dispenser for less-than-lethal rounds.

On the scene at an ICE Intensive Supervision Appearance Program facility at 2245 S. Michigan in Chicago, where protestors and press have gathered in response to reports of federal agents detaining people at a surprise immigration check-in. Multiple Chicago police here as well.

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— Dave Byrnes (@djbyrnes1.bsky.social) Jun 4, 2025 at 2:51 PM

Journalists recorded Chicago police officers at the scene early on. It’s unclear when and how they first arrived, but a CPD spokesperson claimed it was in response to an “officer assist” call.

Photos and video recorded at the scene, however, clearly show Chicago police officers initially assisting with crowd control and perimeter security. Officers told people to remain off private property, according to a witness on the ground.

Top brass arrived soon after, including First District Commander Harris and Chief of Patrol Jon Hein. They were joined by News Affairs Deputy Director (and former ATF Special Agent) Tom Ahern.

Chicago Police Deputy Chief Joe Bird and Chief of Patrol Jon Hein in discussion with Alderpersons Anthony Quezada and Rosanna Rodriguez-Sanchez. Photo: Paul Goyette

CPD officers stood watch around the property as HSI/ICE agents set up operations. Photo: Paul Goyette

These actions could reasonably be interpreted as a violation of the Illinois TRUST Act, which prohibits police departments statewide from “providing on-site support to federal immigration agents, including by coordinating arrests in public facilities, transporting any individuals or establishing a security or traffic perimeter.”

The Illinois Attorney General’s office has not responded to immediate questions regarding police activity and the TRUST Act.

Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance also prohibits CPD cooperation with ICE.

“Officers arrived without knowledge of immigration enforcement occurring at the location,” a police department spokesperson said. “CPD spoke with individuals inside a building at the location, as well as the large crowd gathered outside. CPD was on-site to ensure the safety of all involved, including those exercising their First Amendment rights.”

According to WBEZ Chicago, 35th Ward Alderperson Anthony Quezada witnessed “Chicago police department officers standing by federal agents as they escorted people out” of the building shortly after rapid responders began arriving.

Chicago police officers around the perimeter of the building. Photo: Paul Goyette

CPD’s deputy director of News Affairs, Tom Ahern. Photo: Paul Goyette

Arrests continue at immigration court

They’ve taken at least two more men. One traveled to court from Fort Wayne. An agent just explained to a friend of one of the men that the guy they detained is being taken to the ICE office at 101 W Ida B Wells for processing & then would be taken to a “staging facility.”
— unraveled (@unraveledpress.com) Jun 4, 2025 at 10:47 AM

As the scene unfolded in the South Loop, Unraveled was inside immigration court yesterday.

The DHS-run court operates on the 15th floor of 55 E. Monroe. Our reporter watched as around a half dozen people were detained after their hearings concluded.

In some instances, DHS dismissed cases before moving for expedited removal.

In other cases, the judge had scheduled future court dates, just moments before ICE agents then swooped in after them.

Second half of immigration court hearings have begun at 55 Monroe in Chicago. We can't film inside or are kicked out. Before lunch, we watched ICE take a half dozen people into custody after DHS dismissed their cases. It's happening in courthouses all over, including NYC at this exact moment.

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— unraveled (@unraveledpress.com) Jun 4, 2025 at 1:37 PM

At one point during the hearings, agents nearly arrested a court interpreter in a case of mistaken identity. They separated a husband from his wife, who is an American citizen. She said he has been living in the United States for over two years, which disqualifies him for expedited removal. ICE also told an attorney who asked to see their warrant and tried to speak with her client she was “interfering with law enforcement.”

We witnessed similar arrests two weeks ago in the same hallway. Those individuals are currently being held in a detention facility in Newkirk, Oklahoma.

Suburban police departments respond at Broadview Service Staging Center

After dark last night, activists gathered outside a DHS operating processing center in Broadview, IL. Detainees from Chicagoland are processed at the secure facility before the next leg of their deportation journey.

Witnesses reported seeing three women in shackles brought to the processing center.

A video shared by the activist group 50501 Chicago shows federal agents picking up and moving a protester blocking a van, presumed to have detainees from the earlier arrests inside.

A federal agent with arm tattoos, brandishing the same pepper ball rifle from earlier in the day in Chicago, is seen telling protesters “not to touch” agents.

“Why don’t you get a real job?” the videographer shouts back.

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A post shared by 50501 Chicago 🚫👑 (@50501chicago)

Local police officers can be seen outside the facility. Activists reported seeing police from Maywood, Bellwood, and Broadview Police Departments.

Unraveled has requested service call records from these departments as well as from Illinois State Police, who were reportedly also spotted by rapid response activists outside the facility earlier in the evening. None have responded for comment so far.

“3000 arrests per day”

The court and check-in arrests represent the latest escalation in President Trump’s calls for expedited removal of undocumented migrants.

People arrive at ICE mandated appointments to make their case as required, but walk into a trap instead. In New York City yesterday, reporters with The City witnessed tearful goodbyes as agents arrested at least 15 people at a Lower Manhattan ICE check-in office.

Top Trump aide Stephen Miller, the architect of the administration’s migrant removal plans, recently set a quota with ICE officials of 3000 arrests per day, according to NBC News.

On Tuesday, 2300 people were arrested nationwide, according to an ICE spokesperson.

Protesters gathered in Minneapolis that day as a massive federal task force of agencies (including even TSA and the Coast Guard), alongside local police departments, descended upon a local taqueria. Federal agents, police from neighboring suburbs, and sheriff’s officers were seen on video recorded by bystanders pushing and throwing community members to the ground.

The 15th floor

Tue, 27 May 2025 09:34:35 GMT

Masked federal agents surround a man and take him down an interior maintenance elevator.

Editorial note: out of an abundance of caution and concern for asylum seekers’ safety, we’ve chosen not to publish names of those detained by ICE in this story. If you are an attorney or family member trying to locate someone, please reach out.

In the latest escalation in the administration’s war on migrants, ICE agents have been dismissing cases, then arresting people at their immigration hearings in cities across the U.S. The Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times both reported on similar arrests here in Chicago on May 22. Attorneys and advocates, already stretched so very thin, are scrambling to update guidance for migrants who have been advised to never miss their court hearings. We are officially in uncharted territory.

I wanted to see for myself what was happening and who ICE was targeting, so I went to Chicago’s immigration court when they opened on Friday, May 23.

I arrived at 55 E. Monroe shortly after 8:00 am.

Like every government office, you have to pass through a security screening. On one side is a set of windows with clerks where people can file their paperwork. On the other side is a small waiting room.

In the waiting room, a panel of screens resembling airline departures rolls through a lengthy list of names, times, and assigned courtroom numbers. I asked security if I could attend hearings in any room. They said I could attend any “master hearing.”

I was not very familiar with the details of this part of the immigration and asylum process, so I expected to see some cases designated as master hearings—but there were none. Next to the screens were paper copies of lists also showing times, names, and courtrooms, but they didn’t match the screens. These also had nothing designated as a master hearing; they were all removal cases.

Adding to the confusion, each courtroom also had a schedule taped up outside the courtroom, which, you guessed it—matched neither of the other lists. After asking a security guard about the courtroom list, he ripped it off the wall and crumpled it up, saying it was yesterday’s.

I decided to try my luck with an attorney there who had been giving information to people arriving for their hearings. She said she’d been informed all the screens were wrong, and people should only look at the printed lists off to the side.

“This is so confusing,” I sighed.

“If you think it’s confusing, imagine how they feel,” she replied, nodding to the chaotic waiting room.

She had a point, and I had a little experience with how confusing immigration and every day life could be for a new arrival.

Through my wife’s volunteer work, I have gotten to know a group of Afghan men who were brought here when the U.S. abandoned Afghanistan. As men who had aided the U.S. military occupation in some way, they went through an expedited process to receive asylum, and eventually, a green card.

That expedited process was confusing, glacially slow, and opaque, so it’s not surprising to see that the normal process is worse on all counts.

It has also been, at times, a comedy of errors. Last summer, during a brutal heat wave, the men lost power (and consequently, air conditioning) in their shared apartment. It turned out that the aid organization we thought was taking care of their utility bills was not, and the bill had not been paid in over a year. Complicating our attempts to get ComEd to restore their power, the men had only lived in the unit for six months. It took several days, but we eventually got it restored.

The entire experience highlighted the heartlessness of the system to me. Several of the Afghan men have families—one has a son he’s never met—who remain at risk of violence from the Taliban, nearly four years after the evacuation. The family reunification process is incredibly difficult to navigate, with no help from the government. Yet somehow, despite all of this, the men believe in a version of America that would make our propagandists proud.

A masked federal agent waits around a corner

Back in the waiting room, mostly in small groups of two or three, I see a room full of people trying to navigate what should be a simple step, to attend a hearing. After a quick online search, I learned that a master calendar hearing is just an early step in the removal process. Basically, this is where a person is advised by the judge of the charges against them and they can admit or deny them.

An individual can have more than one master calendar hearing. In several cases I witnessed, people were at their second master calendar hearing after requesting time to get an attorney in their first.

It’s important to know that these hearings are not where a judge decides that someone should be removed. In a future hearing, the individual should get to present evidence where the immigration judge will decide whether they get relief or if a removal order will be entered.

As I was sorting through this, I noticed a group of at least five men and one woman who stood out from the rest of the crowd, primarily because most of them appeared to be white. All were in casual plain clothes, most of the men and the woman wore baseball caps. None were masked—yet. At least one had a DHS badge on his belt. An attorney confirmed that these were all ICE agents.

The agents checked the schedule on the wall against papers they carried in colored folders.

An older man in a suit conferred with the group, asking for the specific names of people they were looking for. I later learned this was the DHS attorney in the proceedings.

The waiting room cleared out as people figured out where they should be, with most of the hearings slated for 9:00 am. The ICE agents were given a box of surgical masks by one of the security guards. Donning their masks to hide their faces, most of the ICE agents entered courtroom number three. Two lingered in the hallway for a while. Later, I would learn why.

Only one man and woman remained in the waiting room. They appeared to be making several anxious phone calls. From what I gathered, they had expected an attorney to meet them, but he wasn’t there. Eventually, they headed into courtroom three without counsel. At the time I didn’t connect the dots, but shortly after that, the ICE agents in the hallway were gone.

Inside the courtroom, Judge Brendan Curran was presiding. The entire team of ICE agents was seated in the back row by the door.

The first case I witnessed involved a man from Venezuela. His first master calendar hearing was last summer. He said he had entered the country to appear at a scheduled appointment at the border to apply for asylum, and then remained. Despite that, the government argued that he didn’t have a visa, so he still entered the country illegally. Curran concurred.

After a few more questions, Curran advised the man to get an attorney, and scheduled another hearing to weigh the merits of his asylum case in July 2026.

The next few cases proceeded along similar lines.

Then the judge called the case for a man from Jordan, dialing in an Arabic interpreter. This was the man who lingered in the lobby, waiting for an attorney who never arrived. He appeared to be about the same age as our Afghan friends. I couldn’t stop thinking about them as the hearing continued.

Based on the looks exchanged between the lead ICE agent and the DHS attorney as he was called, it was clear this was not going to go like the earlier cases.

As in the earlier cases, the man had previously appeared before a judge last summer. With no attorney present, the judge said he had planned to reset the case for a date in January to allow more time for him to retain counsel.

DHS had other plans, however. They motioned to dismiss the case.

Masked federal agents move in to detain a man as volunteers quickly try to explain what is happening.

The judge informed the man that he had ten days to respond to the government’s motion to dismiss. Then, seeing the ICE agents standing in the back, the judge added that while he still had ten days to respond, it was possible that ICE would take him into custody immediately—which of course is what happened.

I followed him and the woman who was with him, who he described as his uncle’s wife, out into the hallway. Volunteers with the National Immigration Justice Center and DePaul tried to quickly counsel his aunt, who was fluent in English, on what was about to happen and resources that she could use to try to find help.

After a few minutes, the ICE agents swiftly moved in, and informed him he was being detained. It was clear that it had not occurred to him or his aunt that he might be snatched by federal agents today—after all, he was following the rules, and had attended his hearing as required. His aunt was visibly shaken and upset.

Agents took the man down a long hallway to a set of internal elevators. I rushed down to the lobby and the parking garage, but I never saw where they went.

When I returned to the 15th floor, it wasn’t long before the ICE agents returned for their next target. This time, I loitered in the hallway, so I did not hear the specifics of the case. Soon after, a lone man exited the courtroom where agents were waiting. Unlike most people that day, he did not appear to have a friend or family with him.

Agents closed in around him, looked through his papers, and disappeared down the same elevator.

Suspensions issued to cops who killed Dexter Reed over pattern of violating constitutional rights

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 12:35:44 GMT

CPD officers Alexandra Giampapa and Aubrey Webb on March 21, 2024 following the killing of Dexter Reed. Source: COPA

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) has concluded investigations into four additional traffic stops involving the same Chicago police officers who fired 96 shots at Dexter Reed in March 2024.

The findings were published on the same day the Chicago Police Department released their draft of a new traffic stop policy.

Police found no contraband and issued no citations as a result of any of the four traffic stops in question. Civilian investigators reached a litany of sustained findings, concluding officers repeatedly violated people’s constitutional rights and neglected to document their investigatory stops as required by department policy.

CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling concurred across the board with disciplinary recommendations for the involved officers.

The officers who stopped and killed Dexter Reed received the following suspensions for their roles in the stops: Aubrey Webb, 60 days; Thomas Spanos, 22 days; Victor Pacheco, 15 days; and Gregory Saint Louis, 9 days.

Alexandra Giampapa resigned from the department in November 2024 to join a police department in Ohio, avoiding discipline in these investigations and any that may stem from her role in killing Dexter Reed.

The investigation into Dexter Reed’s killing is still ongoing, and a final report has not been issued yet.

The other officers involved in the stops received the following suspensions: Dexter Calhoun, 15 days; Krisada Daorerk, 15 days; Tyler Alexander, 10 days; Sean Phelan, 7 days; Ivan Robles, 3 days; Pablo Cartagena, 3 days; Demetrius Robinson-Stanford, 2 days.

The investigations stem from complaints received prior to the killing of 26-year-old Reed. Following Reed’s death, COPA opened new investigations into dozens of previously unreported stops and searches by the 11th District tactical officers. Those investigations remain open. Two of the investigations involved stops that happened just weeks prior to Reed’s killing.

On March 6, 2024, the team who killed Reed pulled over a man driving a black Maserati on the 3800 block of West Jackson Boulevard. Officer Ivan Robles, who was not involved in the killing of Dexter Reed, was also present.

As they did in their encounter with Reed, officers claimed the stop was over a seatbelt violation. Investigators say they are skeptical that officers could have seen the driver’s seatbelt through the vehicle’s tinted windows, however.

During the stop itself, officers gave multiple and inconsistent reasons for pulling the driver over, including that he was “flying,” eating, that his windows were too tinted, and that he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. According to the report, however, when the driver is first seen on body-worn camera (BWC) footage, he is wearing a seatbelt, and investigators estimated that the driver was not likely speeding when he was pulled over.

Investigators also concluded that officers improperly detained and searched the man’s vehicle, failed to provide him with an Investigatory Stop Receipt, and failed to accurately document the circumstances around the stop in a Traffic Stop Statistical Study-Driver Information Card.

Two cops, Giampapa and Robles, also violated department policy by making unprofessional statements and threatening the driver with arrest when he requested that a supervisor be called to the scene.

According to the report, Robles threatened, “If a sergeant comes, you’re gonna get arrested for obstruction, all right?”

Giampapa added, “There’s no reason for you to be doing all this stupid ass shit. We’re not playing these stupid ass games with you. I’m not playing these stupid ass games with you.”

Giampapa told investigators that her use of such language “was almost like a de-escalation tactic for me.”

Giampapa was also found to have conducted an improper patdown and search of the driver when she lifted his sweatshirt to inspect a “bulge,” which she claimed to see, but investigators said was never apparent on BWC video. Department policy indicates that police should only do same-gender patdowns whenever possible.

The complainant’s vehicle (at far right) is being prevented from driving away by the positioning of an unmarked CPD vehicle with its emergency equipment activated, on March 1, 2024. Source: COPA

Just days before the stop of the Maserati, on March 1, 2024, 11th District officers blocked in a vehicle that was stopped along the side of the road near 3900 West Van Buren Street. In conducting this stop, officers Pacheco, Saint Louis, Spanos, and Webb, were joined by officers Sean Phelan and Pablo Cartagena.

This time, they claimed the stop was due to the fact the car was stopped with its lights on—something investigators point out is not a valid reason to detain and search someone.

Investigators determined the stop and search was unjustified, that officers failed to properly document the stop, and they violated policy by turning off their BWCs before the stop concluded. Pacheco and Spanos were also found to have violated policy when they failed to identify themselves when asked by the driver.

Nearly a year earlier, on June 29, 2023, Officer Aubrey Webb, along with five other 11th District tactical officers, used three unmarked police vehicles to stop a man turning out of an alley onto Kedzie Avenue near West Fulton Boulevard over a purported seatbelt violation.

Officer Dexter Calhoun ordered a search of the vehicle when the man could not immediately locate his proof of insurance card. Calhoun claimed the search was justified because, “Him reaching around, like I said, I just didn’t [feel] comfortable.”

Investigators concluded that a driver needing a minute to find an insurance card was not sufficient justification to search the vehicle. Police again violated department policy by failing to provide the driver with an Investigatory Stop Receipt. Officer Demetrius Robinson-Stanford also failed to activate his BWC during the stop.

June 29, 2023, 11th District tactical officers blocking a car at Kedzie Avenue near West Fulton Boulevard. Source: COPA

In the fourth investigation, Officer Thomas Spanos was found to have conducted an improper stop and search on August 31, 2023 around 600 South Cicero Avenue. Spanos said he stopped the man because he was “driving erratically,” and after the stop he could see a case of beer in the back. The driver offered to take a breathalyzer, which officers did not perform.

Spanos claimed the presence of the case of beer justified a search of the car. No contraband was found, and despite Spanos’ stated concerns that the driver was intoxicated, no citations were written. Spanos and his partner, Officer Anthony Doyle, also failed to complete an Investigatory Stop Report for the vehicle’s passenger.

Spanos, who fired more than 50 times at Dexter Reed, is one of the youngest and least experienced members of any CPD tactical team.

Superintendent Snelling had been critical of COPA’s then-Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten over the office’s investigation into the killing of Dexter Reed. Kersten resigned as head of COPA earlier this year.

Mayor Brandon Johnson has appointed LaKenya White, who served as the agency’s director of investigations, to lead COPA in her place as the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability is charged with finding a permanent replacement.

Officers Curtis Alequin and Anthony Doyle received reprimands for their role in the four traffic stops. Snelling also said that officers would receive additional training on department policies and the Fourth Amendment.

The superintendent ignored Kersten’s request to strip all of the officers involved in Reed’s death of their police powers. According to police attendance records, the four officers remaining on the force have been on administrative duties or medical leave since the killing.

City Council’s Finance Committee voted earlier this month to reject a $1.25 million settlement with Dexter Reed’s family.

Exposed: White nationalist group responsible for hate spree across Chicagoland

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 13:54:29 GMT

Content warning/editorial note: Hate speech, racist and antisemitic imagery. Hate symbols have been censored and the group’s logo has been published for recognition purposes.

“Scary Nazis” in tie dye in a photo and video taken from their social media.

Three members of a local white nationalist group have been identified thanks to the work of anonymous antifascist infiltrators.

Using license plates from their vehicles and personal details shared in a private vetting chat, an activist who gained access to their inner circle identified the men behind the group as James Hammans (37), Džiugas Dirzys (22), and Arkadiusz Kowalczyk (38). Unraveled has verified the information collected and confirmed the identities of the three men.

The Windy City Active Club (WCAC) is responsible for numerous white supremacist propaganda incidents across Chicago and the west suburbs, some of which caught the attention of local media and police departments. This includes a vast amount of stickering, leaving flyers on vehicles, displaying banners over highways, and demonstrations at holiday events.

Left to right: Arkadiusz Kowalczyk, James Hammans, and Džiugas Dirzys meet at West DuPage Woods in Winfield, IL. Source: Provided.

The group’s tagline on social media “Chicago’s resident dissidents fighting for the 14 in 312” references “the 14 words,” a catchphrase used by white nationalists to identify each other.

Since 2023, the group has been organizing and promoting themselves on Telegram, a low moderation social media platform and chat app popular with white supremacists. Much of their activity has been recorded in videos, with faces blurred. With a heavy focus on branding and brotherhood intended to obscure racist, anti-immigrant, and antisemitic messaging, the videos are set to music and often forwarded to other hate groups.

The club is part of a dispersed nationwide network founded by aesthetics-obsessed white nationalist Robert Rundo. They operate autonomously, with no formal leadership structure, and researchers have linked some chapters to acts of violence and harassment.

According to public databases, none of the men identified have current Chicago addresses. Hammans resides in Somonauk, IL, and Dirzys and Kowalczyk in Naperville and West Dundee, respectively. Kowalczyk only recently moved out of Chicago. He previously lived on the northwest side in the city’s Dunning neighborhood.

Left to right: Arkadiusz Kowalczyk AKA “Džekson,” Džiugas Dirzys AKA “Baconator 5000,” and James Hammans AKA “Wolfman88.”

The three men are identified by anonymous handles on Telegram. James Hammans writes under the name “Wolfman88” (the number 88 is neo-Nazi shorthand for “Heil Hitler”). Arkadiusz Kowalczyk goes by “Džekson,” a Polish spelling of the name Jackson, and Džiugas Dirzys authors his messages as “Baconator 5000.”

Unraveled attempted to contact Hammans, Dirzys, and Kowalczyk via phone and email. Hammans and Kowalczyk did not respond.

We spoke briefly with Dirzys, who denied any knowledge of Windy City Active Club. Shortly after our call with him, both Telegram channels belonging to the group tightened their privacy settings and are no longer accessible to the public. Social media profiles belonging to Dirzys and Kowalczyk were also immediately deactivated or deleted.

Campaign of hate

In leaked phone call audio obtained from an antifascist activist who was vetted into the group’s inner circle, Hammans described the group’s “activism” as essentially stickering, leaving flyers on cars, and parading around banners with messages of bigotry at holiday events and over expressways.

Videos posted by the group show them putting up stickers with branded hate messages on light poles and other fixtures downtown, in city neighborhoods, and across the suburbs over the span of at least 18 months. Antifascist researchers believe they are responsible for many (though likely not all) incidents in DuPage County specifically over the last two years.

Social media post highlighting WCAC’s stickering activity. Source: Telegram

In chat messages, the group discusses how Dirzys is able to sticker downtown Chicago because he works part time in the city. A LinkedIn profile belonging to Dirzys identifies him as a financial analyst at Walsh Trading. Unraveled confirmed his employment. He graduated as an Illinois State Scholar from Naperville North High School.

According to a database of state employees, Hammans work for the United States Postal Service at their Ottawa facility. A USPS spokesperson did not respond to our request confirming Hammans’ employment status.

On November 4, 2023, Elmhurst police shared they had received “several calls” about antisemitic flyers that had been distributed overnight. Similar flyers had also been found in LaGrange Park. The following day, U.S. Congressman Chuy Garcia posted a statement denouncing the antisemitic propaganda distributed in his district.

The day the flyers were found, the group posted a photo of the Elmhurst PD statement along with photos of their flyers, which were branded with the group’s logo and URL.

WCAC post about their antisemitic flyers in Elmhurst which was reported to local police. Source: Telegram

More antisemitic signs written on cardboard were found in Jefferson Park just eleven days later. While the group has not taken credit for these signs, both sets of hate literature included a URL linking to the Goyim Defense League, another antisemitic hate group.

Similar messages written on cardboard were distributed in the first half of 2024 in Bucktown, Lincoln Park, and West Ridge.

On July 9, 2023, the group displayed a “White nations are being invaded” banner over the Edens Expressway from the entrance to LaBagh Woods. In August they put up a “Dieversity [sic] is white genocide” banner over I-90 from the Des Plaines River Trail bridge, and in November 2023, the group flew a drone over I-355 to record an antisemitic banner displayed on the Great Western Trail bridge.

Some videos show the men performing Nazi salutes.

Screenshot of video posted by WCAC showing a banner drop. Source: Telegram

Screenshot of video posted by WCAC showing an antisemitic banner drop. Source: Telegram

On Columbus Day, 2023, three WCAC members recorded a video in Chicago’s Arrigo Park, carrying a branded banner reading “White History Matters.” A man wearing the same face mask that Hammans has been seen wearing, whose voice also matches his in audio messages, gives a nearly three-minute speech complaining about the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue, shouting “They tore down the statue because they hate white people!”

WCAC demonstrating at Arrigo Park. Source: Telegram

On St. Patrick’s Day weekend, in 2024, the three men traveled around areas of the city, hiding their identities behind masks, with a banner reading, “Keep Ireland Irish.” They left flyers with the same message and the group’s URL on nearby vehicles. One of their stops included the Irish American Heritage Center on the Northwest Side.

WCAC demonstrating on St. Patrick’s Day outside the Irish American Heritage Center at 4626 N Knox Ave. in Chicago. Source: Telegram

“It gives the appearance to our enemies that there’s more of us than there actually are”

In recorded audio, James Hammans asserts himself as the ringleader of the small crew—and also appears hungry for new members.

James Hammans featured in a WCAC post. Source: Telegram

In between his casual use of racist and homophobic slurs and disparaging remarks about Jewish people, Hammans explains his interest in potentially keeping some of his activism under the White Lives Matter Illinois banner. He and Dirzys are both members of the group, yet another assortment of loosely associated neo-Nazis who spread propaganda and have harassed LGBTQ+ Pride and drag events.

White Lives Matter Illinois demonstrating with an anti-LGBTQ+ banner. Source: Telegram

“Also it gives the appearance to our enemies that there’s more of us than there actually are,” he says. “You know, it’s like oh shit, there’s guys over here and there’s guys over here? But they don’t know that it’s necessarily the same guys.”

This tactic is also evident in the maintenance of two Telegram channels—one for the current active club configuration, and another chat for “Windy City Nationalists.” The WCN channel was started first. After the channel was app banned (meaning the chat can’t be accessed through the Telegram app, only web browsers) the Windy City Active Club chat sprung up, but both continued to cross-post the same content.

In additional voice messages between Hammans and Kowalczyk, Hammans describes the experience his “lady friend” had demonstrating for White Lives Matter at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. She and another purple-haired agitator, identified then as Rachel Siegel, were photographed displaying a white supremacist banner at a protest outside Ogilvie Transportation Center on August 20.

Hammans calls his girlfriend a “dumb woman” for hanging out with Siegel and Kowalczyk criticizes Siegel for throwing a Nazi salute with the wrong hand.

Social media posts captured from Hammans’ family members identify his girlfriend’s first name as Lucy.

Connections to other groups

The club has networked extensively with other white supremacist groups across the Midwest.

This past Labor Day, Dirzys and Hammans attended an Oktoberfest themed gathering hosted by The Midwest Network, a loose association of members of other neo-Nazi organizations. Greg Conte, a former ally of alt right darling Richard Spencer, was a featured speaker at the retreat. According to organizers, it was hosted somewhere in the Chicago area. The group shared meals together and even had a white power arts and crafts station for screenprinting shirts.

A November 2024 Telegram post shows Windy City Active Club training in the woods of Northern Michigan alongside members of the Great Lakes Active Club, Wisconsin Active Club, and Patriot Front, another white nationalist group who has made headlines traveling around the U.S. in U-Haul vans and marching through city centers. In chat messages, WCAC also mentions meeting up with an Indiana based active club.

Photos of the group training with other active club members and Patriot Front. Source: Telegram

Kowalczyk is apparently affiliated with several other European based hate organizations.

He has shared photos of himself to a Telegram channel associated with a Polish nationalist group called Barykada (English translation “barricade”) dedicated to Polish diaspora. The group’s social media feeds are rife with virulently racist content. He and Dirzys displayed a banner promoting Barykada at a recent Constitution Day Parade in Chicago.

He also shares videos he has made with logos from National Radical Camp, a prominent fascist group in Poland that helps organize the country’s annual Independence March in Warsaw. The far-right gathering attracts neo-Nazis from around the globe and has, at times, erupted in violence. In captured chat messages discussing upcoming scheduling, Kowalczyk shares a screenshot of a flight reservation for a trip to Poland in November 2024 that aligns with the yearly meetup.

Kowalczyk and Dirzys posing for a photo with the group’s logo in a Chicago parking garage.

James Hammans also mentions his friendship with a former Identity Europa member who hosted a “cookout” in Chicago.

Identity Europa is a now-defunct white nationalist organization that began in 2016. Its members, many of whom participated in the violent 2017 Unite the Right rally, were heavily surveilled and outed by activists and researchers before the group rebranded as the American Identity Movement and eventually collapsed.

At least one former IE/AIM member is known to still reside in Chicago. Jason Finney, who was identified by local antifascists in 2020, briefly served as GOP Committeeman for Chicago’s 43rd Ward before purchasing a home on the city’s far northwest side in the 41st Ward. A Republican campaign website set up for his political ambitions after his time as Committeeman remains incomplete.

Cop who shot and killed Dexter Reed quits amid investigations

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 11:54:07 GMT

Chicago police officer Alexandra Giampapa. Source: CPD.

Updated Jan 29, 2025 at 3:18pm to reflect Giampapa’s new employment as a police officer in Tipp City, Ohio.

Officer Alexandra Giampapa, who played a lead role in the deadly traffic stop that killed Dexter Reed, Jr. last year, has resigned from the department as investigations into past misconduct mount. She was one of four CPD officers who fired at the 26-year-old during a traffic stop on March 21, 2024.

Police records obtained via Freedom of Information Act request show the five-year veteran resigned from the department on November 17. Her resignation comes months after the Civilian Office of Police Accountability opened new investigations into a pattern of dozens of other potentially unlawful investigatory stops conducted by Giampapa and her team.

Two weeks after her resignation, city lawyers tentatively reached an undisclosed settlement with Reed’s family. According to a Facebook post, Giampapa is now a police officer in Tipp City, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton.

Reed was driving in the 3800 block of West Ferdinand Street when five plainclothes tactical officers in an unmarked vehicle sped toward his car and curbed it, then jumped out and surrounded him.

Giampapa was the first to reach Reed’s vehicle. The stop began with her shouting commands while pulling the car’s door handle. Within seconds, the chaotic scene escalated into gunfire. Video appears to show Reed fire a shot through his car window, wounding a police officer in the arm. The four officers then fired 96 shots, striking Reed 13 times.

Chicago police officer Alexandra Giampapa pointing her gun at Dexter Reed moments before he was shot and killed by police. Source: CPD.

Reed reportedly struggled with schizophrenia and other mental health issues, as well as physical limitations to his mobility

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Giampapa warned the other officers, “Don’t say anything. Do you hear me? Be quiet.”

The day before, Giampapa gave the same warning after police shot and killed a dog during another potentially unlawful stop.

Police claimed they stopped Reed due to a seat belt violation, but COPA’s Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten quickly called the officers’ justification into question.

In a letter to CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling, Kersten wrote, “COPA is uncertain how the officers could have seen this seat belt violation given their location relative to [Reed’s] vehicle and the dark tints on [his] vehicle windows. This evidence raises serious concerns about the validity of the traffic stop.”

Police video shows that it would have been impossible for the officers to see Reed’s seat belt. Lawyers for the officers later changed their story, claiming the stop was due to his car’s tinted windows.

The probe into Reed’s death quickly turned up past potential misconduct by the five tactical officers.

COPA is currently investigating dozens of prior traffic stops conducted by Giampapa and the other four officers. According to data obtained via public records requests, the agency has preliminarily found Giampapa violated department policy by failing to submit required reports for at least two traffic stops.

According to a CPD spokesperson, the other four officers involved remain on administrative duty as investigations continue.

Protest organizers outside Chicago Police Department Headquarters, April 18, 2024.

Following the shooting, concerned community members held protests and packed meetings of the Police Board and Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) calling for CPD to end their use of tactical teams, halt pretextual stops, and fire the involved officers.

Pretextual traffic stops like this one have been criticized as a new discriminatory police tactic to replace “stop-and-frisk.” A 2024 study found that 80% of traffic stops by CPD involved Black or Latino drivers, with nearly a quarter of all stops occurring on the West Side. Just 0.5% of stops recovered firearms, and 0.3% led to drug discoveries, raising questions about the practice’s effectiveness and fairness.

Not only is the practice discriminatory, but an investigation from Bolts Magazine and Injustice Watch found that CPD made at least 200,000 traffic stops in 2023 that they failed to report to state regulators.

As part of an effort to address CPD’s misuse of traffic stops, the CCPSA has launched a series of community ”listening sessions” across the city. The agency is also gathering online feedback from residents, encouraging them to share their personal experiences and perspectives on traffic stops.

STRIPPED: The Chicago cops who lost their badges in 2024

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 12:19:24 GMT

Content warning: domestic abuse, police violence

Mugshots and other photos of some of the cops stripped of their badge in 2024

At least 80 Chicago police officers were relieved of their police powers for some period of time between January 1 and November 17, 2024. Most officers were benched as a result of drug or alcohol abuse, domestic violence, making false statements, or other criminal charges.

The summaries of available details that led to each cop losing their badge are categorized by the major area of misconduct. The summaries were compiled by analyzing hundreds of records, including police forms, reports, arrest records, court documents, investigative files from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) and CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs (BIA), and news sources.

Most of the officers are currently collecting a paycheck in the Alternate Response Section (ARS), a unit primarily staffed by officers with disciplinary and medical issues who answer non-emergency phone calls. Officers slated to be fired may spend years in ARS as they await final court decisions in the FOP’s fight to allow officers to have their cases heard in secret arbitration proceedings.

While dozens on this list were arrested and charged, many others were stripped of their badge for non-criminal misconduct. Those who have been charged are presumed innocent while awaiting trial. A few officers have already been reinstated. The current assignment listed for each officer is as of December 2024.

Officers designated with “PPO” titles were Probationary Police Officers. Officers are probationary for the first 18 months after entering the academy and are not shielded from discipline under the police union contract.

Browse the entire list of stripped cops or skip to a category:

Driving under the influence
Intoxication on duty
Failed drug screen
Domestic violence
Sexual misconduct/harassment
Shootings/excessive force
False reports/lack of credibility
Pursuits
Other criminal misconduct
Neglect of duty/other

Driving Under the Influence

Det. Horacio Herrera #21162, 49 years old
🏆Hall of Shame Award Winner

Current status: Medical leave
Last assignment: Area 3 Detective
Tenure: 25 years

Detective Horacio Herrera was on medical leave when he was stripped of his police powers after being arrested in April for driving under the influence outside a Northwest Side McDonald’s. According to the police report, he attempted—but did not succeed—to make an order in the drive-through lane, then crashed his car into a planter outside the business.

The manager of the McDonald’s removed his keys from the ignition and called police. Responding officers reported witnessing Herrera, who had also visibly urinated on himself, unzip his pants to urinate on the planter. When asked to provide his driver’s license, he repeatedly offered his credit cards. He was also found to be driving while uninsured. He was arrested and taken to the 19th District for processing. His court case is still ongoing.

Sgt. Rasah Daily #2369, 47 years old
Hall of Shame Runner-Up

Current status: Medical leave
Last assignment: 4th District
Tenure: 23 years

Sgt. Rasah Daily was arrested and charged with driving under the influence, fleeing the scene, and following too closely in September after she rear-ended a CTA bus on Lake Shore Drive and fled the scene on foot. As was the case with several other officers arrested in 2024, the drink of choice found in her vehicle was Cutwater mixed tequila. According to the police report of the incident, no passengers on the bus were injured. In early January 2025 she was sentenced to one year of supervision and must complete a traffic safety course.

Sgt. Ronald Rewers #884, 52 years old

Current status: Reinstated, 8th District
Last assignment: 8th District
Tenure: 26 years

Sgt. Ronald Rewers was stripped of his badge after Georgia state troopers arrested him for driving under the influence at a checkpoint outside a country music festival in May. He was issued a 25-day suspension and reinstated in October. Rewers is also named in a federal civil lawsuit involving corrupt Det. Reynaldo Guevara. The complaint alleges Rewers knowingly approved false reports which led to Edwin Ortiz’s wrongful conviction and 21-year imprisonment.

PO Lorenzo Thompson #15922, 25 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 3rd District
Tenure: 2 years

Lorenzo Thompson was arrested and cited for driving under the influence after he hit another vehicle in August. Responding officers reported he was in possession of a bottle of tequila behind the wheel. He pleaded guilty in November and was sentenced to a year of probation.

Sgt. Ivan Ramos #2338, 42 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 14th District
Tenure: 18 years

Sgt. Ivan Ramos was stripped of his powers in August after being arrested out of state in Sevier County, Tennessee. He was cited for DUI and carrying a weapon while under the influence. The police report for the incident also indicates he had allegedly covered up his vehicle tag.

PO Francisco Galvan #4235, 30 years old

Current status: Unpaid leave
Last assignment: Area 1
Tenure: 6 years

Francisco Galvan was stripped of his police powers in August after an arrest outside the 7th District. Several other police officers intervened as he was reportedly attacking his girlfriend, also a CPD officer, in the parking lot. Open containers of alcohol were found in his vehicle. Arresting officers reported he had one live round chambered in a gun found on his person.

While he was cited for both driving under the influence and domestic battery, the Cook County State’s Attorney dropped all charges against him in September. He has since petitioned to have records of the charges expunged. A judge reinstated his driver’s license, citing a “lack of due process.”

PO Hasan Al-Amin #9144, 52 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 19th District
Tenure: 29 years

Hasan Al-Amin was stripped of his powers twice in 2024. In January, he was found to be impaired on duty. Then, in October, he was found off duty in his car flipped on its passenger side after crashing into two other vehicles. Responding officers observed him drop an unsealed bottle of Crown Royal in a bush after he climbed out of his car, and he was cited for driving under the influence.

Sgt. David Blyskal #1120, 58 years old

Current status: Medical leave
Last assignment: Tactical Review and Evaluation Division
Tenure: 34 years

Sgt. David Blyskal was arrested for driving under the influence out of state in San Diego County in September.

PPO Hever Valenzuela-Mejia #17014, 28 years old

Current status: No longer with CPD
Last assignment: 25th District
Tenure: 2 years

Hever Valenzuela-Meija was arrested and cited for driving under the influence in Kandiyohi County, Minnesota. After leaving CPD (given his status as a probationary officer, it is unclear if he was terminated or quit willingly), he was then hired for a part-time position as a police officer in Bridgeview, IL.

Sgt. Aaron Carranza #1140, 44 years old

Source: openoversight.com

Current status: Medical leave
Last assignment: Mounted Unit
Tenure: 20 years

Sgt. Aaron Carranza was cited for driving under the influence in August. He was stripped of his powers and has been on medical leave since the arrest.

PPO Vanessa Nolan, 32 years old

Current status: Discharged
Last assignment: Recruit Training Section
Tenure: 1 years

Vanessa Nolan was discharged from CPD after she was arrested for driving under the influence.

Intoxication on Duty

PO Nicholas Abramson #13605, 33 years old

Source: openoversight.com

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: Alternate Response Section
Tenure: 8 years

Nicholas Abramson was stripped of his police powers in September while already on assignment in ARS after he was found to be impaired on drugs while on duty. This was his second time being relieved of his badge. Abramson was initially assigned to ARS after COPA investigators found he lied about a brutal excessive force incident in 2020. He and his partner viciously slammed a man to the ground, and were captured on body worn camera laughing about the attack afterward.

In 2023, the Police Board agreed with COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten that he should be separated from CPD.

PO Ronald Cavanaugh #3274, 54 years old

Current status: Reinstated, 5th District
Last assignment: 5th District
Tenure: 28 years

Ronald Cavanaugh has been the subject of dozens of complaints over the years, and has served multiple suspensions for misconduct including sustained allegations of excessive force. He was stripped of his police powers in March after being found to be intoxicated on duty, then reinstated in July. He served a 25-day suspension in October. Police records show he previously was cited for driving under the influence in 2009.

PO Khalilah Muhammad #18502, 31 years old

Current status: Reinstated, 3rd District
Last assignment: Office of Community Policing
Tenure: 6 years

Khalilah Muhammad was stripped of his police powers after a drug and alcohol screen revealed he was impaired on duty. He was issued a 15-day suspension, and then reinstated on October 26, 2024.

PO Aramis Williams #13906, 28 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: Alternate Response Section
Tenure: 6 years

Aramis Williams was cited for battery and driving under the influence in 2023 when a woman called police alleging he grabbed her from behind and fondled her at a party. He was stopped by CPD shortly after. According to the incident report, he had open containers of alcohol in his vehicle as well as two firearms. Williams was stripped of his police powers and reassigned to ARS. Then, he was caught intoxicated on duty while assigned to ARS.

PO Qwon Spencer #14568, 52 years old

Current status: Retired
Last assignment: Alternate Response Section
Tenure: 29 years

Qwon Spencer was found to be intoxicated on duty in April 2024, and he retired several days later. He had already been stripped of his powers and assigned to ARS in June 2023 for intoxication on duty—one day after COPA was notified of his involvement in a bizarre off-duty alley shooting where investigators said it was unclear if he fired first. During his tenure, he served at least five suspensions.

FTO Binyamin Jones #8910, 39 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 5th District
Tenure: 14 years

Binyamin Jones was stripped of his powers in April after being found to be intoxicated on duty. He still holds the title of Field Training Officer as he sits in ARS.

PO James Gildea #17466, 50 years old

Current status: Reinstated, 12th District
Last assignment: 12th District
Tenure: 26 years

James Gildea was found to be impaired on duty in April 2024. He was reinstated to his position in September.

Sgt. James Printz #1064, 61 years old

Current status: Reinstated, 15th District
Last assignment: 15th District
Tenure: 25 years

Sgt. James Printz was issued a 15-day suspension, yet to be served, for impairment on duty. He was stripped of his police powers in March and assigned to ARS, then went on medical leave. He was then reinstated to his position in August. In 2022 and 2023, he faced sustained allegations of neglect of duty and conduct unbecoming.

PO Erik Konior #4532, 45 years old

Current status: Medical leave
Last assignment: 25th District
Tenure: 21 years

Erik Konior was found to be intoxicated on duty in May 2024. He was stripped of his powers and has been on leave since.

PO David Andrich #4314, 42 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: Alternate Response Section
Tenure: 18 years

David Andrich was already assigned to ARS when he was found to be intoxicated on duty in July. He was subsequently stripped but then had his badge reinstated in September. Andrich is still assigned to ARS.

PO Renee Beamon #19155, 49 years old

Current status: Reinstated, Police Documents Section
Last assignment: Police Documents Section
Tenure: 20 years

Renee Beamon was stripped of her police powers in July and issued a 25-day suspension for impairment on duty. She was previously suspended in 2022 for losing her service weapon.

Failed drug screen

PO Theresa Depietro #6530, 38 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 11th District
Tenure: 7 years

Theresa Depietro was stripped of her police powers at the start of 2024, after she allegedly refused to take a drug and alcohol screening. Depietro worked for the Illinois Department of Corrections until 2017 before joining CPD.

PO Gino Garcia #17854, 31 years old

Current status: Resigned
Last assignment: 8th District
Tenure: 8 years

Gino Garcia was stripped of his powers in July after he failed a drug screen and issued a summary punishment of 10 days without pay. Over his tenure, he has been suspended at least 14 times for various issues, including unpermitted absences and medical roll violations. In 2019, Garcia was U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski’s guest at the State of the Union. Garcia resigned from the department in August.

PO Sean Flisk #9708, 50 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section/Medical leave
Last assignment: Narcotics Division
Tenure: 20 years

Sean Flisk failed a drug screen in February. While he’s currently assigned to ARS, he’s been on the medical roll since June.

PO Nicole Fouch #19279, 53 years old

Current status: Retired
Last assignment: 5th District
Tenure: 28 years

Nicole Fouch was stripped of her powers in April and retired one month later in May to avoid separation after failing a drug screen.

PO George Donald #18857, 37 years old

Current status: Leave of absence
Last assignment: 5th District
Tenure: 5 years

George Donald failed a drug screen in May while on medical leave. He’s been on leave since June.

PO Catherine Pacheco #6238, 34 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: Tactical Review and Evaluation Division
Tenure: 7 years

Catherine Pacheco was stripped of her police powers in September after failing a drug screen.

Domestic Violence

PO Macario Chavez #9084, 42 years old

Current status: Unpaid leave
Last assignment: Narcotics
Tenure: 18 years

Macario Chavez was arrested in March for domestic battery. Chavez allegedly repeatedly kissed his 19-year-old cousin (by marriage) on her face and lips without her consent. Criminal charges against Chavez were dropped after he agreed to an order prohibiting contact with the cousin. The order, in effect until August 31, 2026, stipulates that no law enforcement agency should be notified about the existence of the order and Chavez will retain his FOID card.

In 2019, COPA recommended that Chavez be permanently stripped of his police powers after he demonstrated a “reckless disregard for human life” in the 2011 police killing of 19-year-old Calvin Cross. Chavez fired from his carbine rifle until it was empty—28 shots—in a residential neighborhood and followed up with more shots from his pistol. The city settled a subsequent lawsuit for $2 million.

PO Walter Davis #3010, 33 years old

Current status: Unpaid leave
Last assignment: 6th District
Tenure: 2 years

Walter Davis has been put on restricted duty twice. Davis was first relieved of his badge in June, citing two domestic violence complaints. He was written up again in October for a separate conduct unbecoming violation.

In December 2023, Davis went on a date with a woman he met on Facebook. After the date, as she walked home, Davis texted to say he was in front of her apartment. She alleges Davis was angry because she did not want to have sex, complaining, “You’re not going to give me no pussy.” A physical altercation took place, leaving her with scratches and bite marks on her shoulder. Davis reportedly fled the scene before police arrived, taking the woman’s phone and purse with him.

In April 2024, COPA received another report from a woman alleging in November 2023 Davis threatened her at her residence by trying to break a window and displaying his service weapon. Both domestic violence investigations remain open. BIA would not provide additional details for the separate conduct unbecoming complaint.

Det. Marco Torres #21344, 40 years old

Current status: Unpaid leave
Last assignment: Alternate Response Section
Tenure: 15 years

Marco Torres was arrested in March and charged with domestic battery and assault. As we previously reported, Torres was found guilty of assault on November 26. He was sentenced to 12 months of supervision on electronic monitoring. Torres is also the subject of a whistleblower lawsuit against the City of Chicago that alleges the police department failed to address his “history of violence and misconduct directed toward female colleagues.”

PO Jose Rodriguez #5512, 34 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 16th District
Tenure: 2 years

In February, COPA opened an investigation into allegations received from a woman who had been dating Jose Rodriguez. She alleged that he showed up at her home intoxicated, kicked his way through the back door, smashed objects, vomited on her couch, and ripped the door off of the microwave. CPD allowed Rodriguez to continue to work his beat in the 16th District for another eight months. On July 19, COPA sent a memo to Supt. Larry Snelling recommending Rodriguez be relieved of his police powers. He was not stripped of his badge until October 29.

PO Jason Rodriguez #13226, 29 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 3rd District
Tenure: 5 years

Jason Rodriguez, a tactical officer, was arrested in October on a domestic battery charge. Rodriguez’s sister reported that she was awoken by Rodriguez yelling at her. Then, he allegedly choked her, dragged her down the stairs by her hair, and pressed his knee on her neck. The incident was witnessed by a nephew. Prosecutors dropped the charges with the option to reinstate.

PO Arefes Everette #16421, 31 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 9th District
Tenure: 2 years

Arefes Everette was arrested in March in Louisville, Kentucky on a domestic battery complaint. Everette allegedly punched the mother of their child in the face, pushed her, and threw a drink in her face. When local police were called, Everette fled the scene. He was previously accused of domestic battery in November 2023.

PO Manuel Perez, Jr. #8531, 38 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 10th District
Tenure: 3 years

A woman who had been dating Manuel Perez, Jr., reported multiple instances of domestic violence to police in October 2023. The woman later provided details to COPA about other instances of physical and verbal abuse, including hitting and kicking her, and taking away her phone to prevent her from calling 911. On October 25, 2024, COPA Chief Administrator Kersten sent a memo to Supt. Snelling recommending Perez be relieved of his police powers, which CPD did on October 31.

PO Dexavier Langham #7872, 31 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 6th District
Tenure: 7 years

Dexavier Langham was arrested in March for domestic battery. Police responded to a call from Langham’s girlfriend where she reported that he “hit her with an open hand about the face, pulled her hair, and choked her slamming her into the wall.” In July, a judge found Langham not guilty.

PO Jermaine Townsend #19758, 44 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 4th District
Tenure: 4 years

Jermaine Townsend was stripped of his badge in June, citing a domestic battery complaint received on May 11. CPD has refused to provide any additional reports regarding the incident claiming it would interfere with an open investigation.

PO Todd Akande #8009, 35 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 11th District
Tenure: 3 years

Todd Akande was arrested in Hammond, Indiana on a complaint of domestic battery in July. Hammond police responded to a disturbance in a restaurant parking lot where they reported finding a woman crying, shaking, and bleeding from both legs with abrasions on her arm after Akande shoved her to the ground. The two had been exchanging custody of their child.

PPO Matthew Gonzalez #13959, 38 years old

Current status: Discharged
Last assignment: 24th District
Tenure: 2 years

Matthew Gonzalez was arrested in January on two complaints of domestic violence. His wife alleged that on July 4th, 2023, Gonzalez was intoxicated and threw her against a door. In another incident in November 2023, she said he grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her against a dresser. On May 21, 2024, a judge found Gonzalez not guilty on both counts. CPD discharged Gonzalez in February 2024.

PO Jason Lenski #10213, 45 years old

Current status: Unpaid leave
Last assignment: Traffic Section
Tenure: 18 years

Jason Lenski was relieved of duty in September following his arrest in West Chicago on two counts of domestic battery. His next court date is January 30. While working an anti-Trump protest in 2016, Lenski was quoted by the Tribune saying, “You know this is why Trump won. Because people are sick of liberals,” in response to a protester asking where his KKK hood was.

PPO Lindsley Griffin #10827, 28 years old

Current status: Discharged
Last assignment: 25th District
Tenure: 1 year

Lindsley Griffin was arrested in April on complaints of domestic battery and criminal damage to property. A police officer who had been in a relationship with Griffin reported that while she was out, she saw Griffin “removing her outdoor cameras,” at her apartment. When she returned home, Griffin was not there, but her bedroom door had been broken into. Her service weapon, her off-duty weapon, and her badge were missing. When Griffin returned, he allegedly shoved her to the ground. He was discharged from CPD within three days of the incident. In June, criminal charges were dropped with the ability to refile them at a later date.

PPO Adrian Hernandez #15687, 24 years old

Current status: Discharged
Last assignment: 6th District
Tenure: 2 years

Adrian Hernandez was arrested in May on a domestic battery charge. Allegedly, Hernandez was out at a restaurant when he saw an ex-girlfriend talking to another man. She reported that he “grabbed her by the arm,” and yanked her away. She left and went to the police station to file a report. CPD discharged Hernandez within ten days of his arrest. A judge found him not guilty in November.

Sexual Misconduct / Harassment

PO Stephan Shaw #19824, 32 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 18th District
Tenure: 2 years

Stephan Shaw has been charged with eight felonies, including aggravated criminal sexual assault and custodial sexual misconduct after he allegedly groped a woman, forced her to touch his genitals, and made sexually suggestive remarks while in his custody. The victim filed a civil lawsuit against the city in July 2023. CPD stripped Shaw of his badge in April 2024, despite being made aware of the allegations in May 2023 while he was still a probationary officer.

PO Damian Viveros #15104, 29 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 10th District
Tenure: 2 years

Damian Viveros was arrested outside of Cook County in June on a sexual misconduct complaint. Additional details were not available at publication time.

PO Robert Carrillo #11813, 49 years old

Current status: Reinstated, 20th District
Last assignment: 20th District
Tenure: 25 years

Robert Carrillo was the subject of an Equal Opportunity Employment (EEO) sexual harassment investigation earlier this year, and relieved of his police powers from Feb 29 through May 26. Investigators sustained allegations that he inappropriately contacted the woman after he learned she had filed a complaint and that he called her from an unknown number after she blocked his number. They did not sustain the remaining allegations.

Shootings / Excessive Force

PO Emile Domer #17294, 38 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section/Medical Leave
Last assignment: 3rd District
Tenure: 11 years

Emile Domer was stripped of his badge in April citing the COPA investigation into the police shooting of Shaquille Parker on August 5, 2023. COPA’s completed report is not yet available, but according to data obtained from COPA via a public records request, their preliminary finding was that the shooting by tactical officers was justified. They sustained other allegations against Domer including “excessive force, not involving a weapon, resulting in serious bodily injury,” and “verbal abuse, allegations of bias.” Additional details were not available pending the finalization of COPA’s report.

PO Michael Donnelly #13784, 36 years old

Current status: 18th District
Last assignment: 18th District
Tenure: 11 years

Michael Donnelly was stripped of his police powers days after he was captured on video in River North beating a man in the face, pushing the barrel of his gun against the man’s head while several officers held him down, and yelling, “I’m gonna fucking shoot you. You’re gonna get fucking shot.” Donnelly was previously involved in at least two wrong raids, including the home of Anjanette Young. As of July, Donnelly was the subject of 19 open misconduct investigations. His current duties in the 18th District are unclear.

PO Alberto Covarrubias #18769, 48 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: Evidence and Recovered Property Section
Tenure: 11 years

Alberto Covarrubias was finally stripped of his badge in February after COPA recommended that he be fired for his fatal shooting of Michael Craig in October 2021. Police had been called to help Craig, who was being stabbed by his wife with a knife. As soon as Covarrubias entered the apartment, he opened fire on Craig. After Covarrubias shot Craig, he never attempted to render medical aid. The city settled the case with Craig’s family in 2023 for $8.75 million.

Former Supt. Eddie Johnson had asked for Covarrubias to be fired in 2018 after he threatened to assault a police officer and stole police documents during a drunken domestic disturbance. Covarrubias was saved by the Police Board, who unanimously disagreed, concluding, “the Board agrees that [Covarrubias] can still honorably contribute to the mission and the goals of the Chicago Police Department.”

Det. Phillip Schorsch #20781, 44 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section/Medical Leave
Last assignment: Area 4
Tenure: 8 years

Det. Phillip Schorsch was stripped following COPA Chief Administrator Kersten’s recommendation to fire him related to a 2020 incident where officers were fired upon while investigating conducting a drug investigation and returned fire. COPA’s final report detailing the investigation is not yet public.

PO Roberto Gomez #11353, 50 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section/Medical leave
Last assignment: 10th District
Tenure: 12 years

Roberto Gomez, a 10th district tactical officer, shot and killed 25-year-old Marc Navarez in October 2020. Navarez was shot in the back as he fled from police. Gomez was finally stripped of his badge following the Police Board’s decision to allow proceedings to continue to determine whether the officer should be fired, as COPA had recommended in March 2023.

PO Heather Fedrick #3012, 33 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section/Medical leave
Last assignment: 18th District
Tenure: 2 years

Heather Fedrick lost her badge after she opened fire on a fleeing vehicle in October. Police were responding to a call from a woman inside the car who reported she didn’t feel safe and men in the car had firearms. Multiple police units, including tactical officers, surrounded the car parked in a parking lot, but they still failed to prevent it from easily evading them. Police later found the car abandoned.

PO Angela Jacobs #19013, 26 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 8th District
Tenure: 5 years

Angela Jacobs lost her badge after she was caught on video wildly waving her firearm out the window of her police vehicle at people involved in a street takeover.

False Reports / Lack of Credibility

FTO Delilah Garcia #8225, 41 years old

Source: LinkedIn

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 6th District
Tenure: 8 years

After a day of drinking with friends and family to celebrate her birthday, Delilah Garcia accidentally discharged a rifle on her front porch, triggering a ShotSpotter alert. As police arrived, Garcia hid the rifle under her bed, then lied to responding officers, denying any shots had been fired. COPA recommended that she be fired. CPD disagreed. In June, the Police Board ruled that the process to separate Garcia should proceed. Garcia was stripped of her badge shortly thereafter.

In July, Garcia was found to be in violation of policy when she was caught working a second job at a car dealership while out on medical leave, earning her a 30-day suspension. Her LinkedIn profile says she is CEO of Pioneer Wheels, LLC a used car dealer.

PO Brian Bolton #15903, 49yo

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: Special Investigations Unit
Tenure: 26 years

PO Manuel Leano #4303, 54yo

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 2nd District
Tenure: 23 years

Det. Douglas Nichols #21406, 47yo

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: Area 4
Tenure: 21 years

PO Robert Gonzalez #12162, 49yo

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 2nd District
Tenure: 26 years

Officers Brian Bolton, Manuel Leano, Robert Gonzalez and Detective Douglas Nichols were all stripped of their badges at the start of 2024, shortly after the Police Board revealed they should move forward with COPA’s recommendation to fire the four officers for going along with corrupt former Sgt. Ronald Watts’ bogus drug arrests.

Sgt. Matthew Purches #2610, 53 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 2nd District
Tenure: 26 years

Sgt. Matthew Purches blew up a decades-long career after he ignored a subpoena from COPA and lied to their investigators about his dog biting a man outside his home. COPA recommended he be fired and Supt. Snelling concurred.

PO John Kaporis #18741, 59 years old

Current status: Medical leave/Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: Field Services Section (previously 17th District)
Tenure: 29 years

Officer John Kaporis was relieved of his powers in April 2024 in the wake of an investigation into a strange prank involving him and his brother, Detective Christopher Kaporis. COPA found he made a false officer distress call to prompt a faster police response. This wasn’t his first time he was found making false statements; he did the same in 2001 and 2004, according to public records.

Supt. Snelling agreed with COPA Chief Administrator Kersten’s final recommendation to separate John Kaporis from the department, and issued his brother Christopher a 180-day suspension for aiming his gun at an innocent U-Haul mover.

PO Alain Dillon #16145, 36 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 5th District
Tenure: 6 years

Alain Dillion, a 5th District tactical officer, was stripped in August for “misuse of department equipment.” Additional details were not immediately available. In July, Dillon was added to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s “do not call” list of officers who had compromised their credibility and could not be called to testify. Dillon is the subject of at least eight COPA and BIA investigations including criminal misconduct, domestic violence, and civil rights violations.

Lt. Christine Blaul #727, 54 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 25th District
Tenure: 28 years

Lt. Christine Blaul was relieved of police powers in February, citing an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General started in 2022. Few details are available other than that the investigation involved “failure to follow department rules in the course of an investigation,” and “false reports.”

Pursuits

Sgt. Eric Acevedo #876, 46 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 18th District
Tenure: 10 years

Sgt. Eric Acevedo, an 18th district tactical team sergeant, was relieved of his police powers in April, citing a 2020 high-speed pursuit that left one man dead and two others seriously injured. Acevedo was promoted to the rank of sergeant just months after the accident.

PO Michael Spilotro III #17487, 29 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 11th District
Tenure: 5 years

Michael Spilotro III, an 11th district tactical officer, was stripped of his badge in September, after COPA Chief Administrator Kersten and Supt. Snelling agreed he should be fired for his role in initiating a high-speed pursuit that led to the death of an innocent motorist. As we previously reported, Spilotro and his rookie partner broke multiple polices when they initiated a high-speed pursuit without telling dispatch, with no lights and sirens, and they failed to activate their body cameras. Their actions led to the 15-year-old driver crashing into four other cars, killing 25-year-old Venezuelan migrant Angel Eduardo Alvarez Montesinos.

FTO Sabrina Hall #4709, 31 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 5th District
Tenure: 6 years

Field Training Officer Sabrina Hall was relieved of her police powers in August citing an investigation into a January 2023 police pursuit which resulted in serious bodily injuries.

Other Criminal Misconduct

PO Erik Jalakas #5871, 51 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 19th District
Tenure: 25 years

Erik Jalakas was arrested in May after he allegedly grabbed a neighbor’s child by the neck with both hands, damaged the child’s phone, and said, “I’ll twist your fucking head off.” The boy had been playing basketball with others in the alley. Prosecutors dropped the charges with the ability to reinstate them later.

PO Jealissa Presswood #13262, 25 years old

Current status: Unpaid leave
Last assignment: 6th District
Tenure: 2 years

Jealissa Presswood was arrested in October and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon stemming from an incident outside an apartment building in August. Allegedly, while referring to a crowd in the parking lot, Presswood displayed a firearm and said, “Those motherfucking kids better not be by my car.” Prosecutors have since dropped the charges.

PO Mohammad Khan #7202, 36 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 19th District
Tenure: 7 years

Mohammad Khan was arrested in March after he was caught on video ripping off both side-view mirrors from the car of his neighbor’s visiting grandfather who had wrongfully parked in a designated disabled parking spot on their street. Later, the neighbors identified Khan when he parked in the same disabled parking spot. Prosecutors dropped charges after Khan fulfilled 40 hours of community service.

PO Romello Washington #3549, 26 years old

Current status: Reinstated, 4th District
Last assignment: 4th District
Tenure: 2 years

Romello Washington was arrested in June after he was found to have damaged a Blue Island golf club’s parking lot—on two separate occasions—by doing donuts in the parking lot. Washington was reinstated in September.

PO Jacob Gies #18021, 26 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 25th District
Tenure: 5 years

Capt. Roberto Nieves #70, 54 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: Area 5 Deputy Chief
Tenure: 29 years

Capt. Roberto Nieves and Officer Jacob Gies were arrested in September after Nieves was allegedly caught on video, in uniform, slashing the tires of one or more vehicles. Charges have since been dropped against Gies, though he still hasn’t been reinstated. Nieves was demoted to the rank of captain and the criminal case against him is still active.

PO Dana Hillard #10880, 44 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 2nd District
Tenure: 18 years

Dana Hillard is the subject of a Bureau of Internal Affairs investigation categorized as “Criminal Misconduct-Theft.”

PO Thomas Norberg #13402, 60 years old

Current status: Retired
Last assignment: 2nd District
Tenure: 29 years

Thomas Norberg is the subject of a Bureau of Internal Affairs investigation categorized as “Criminal Misconduct-Theft.” Norberg retired from the department just weeks after he was stripped of his badge. BIA has said that despite Norberg’s retirement, their investigation is ongoing.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Norberg had been arrested.

PO Jalen Woods #11058, 31 years old

Current status: Reinstated, Training and Support Group
Last assignment: Training and Support Group
Tenure: 7 years

Jalen Woods’ brief time without his badge was fast and furious. Woods was arrested in Tempe, Arizona in what he says was a case of racial profiling. Woods was charged with “Exhibition of Speed” after he allegedly squealed the tires of his rented orange Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye. Prosecutors dropped the charges and Woods was reinstated within a month.

Neglect of Duty/Other

PO Kristen Daniels #13675, 37 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: Tactical Review and Evaluation Division
Tenure: 8 years

COPA sustained multiple allegations against Kristen Daniels stemming from a 2019 traffic stop involving a family. While conducting a search of the vehicle, Daniels took a child in a car seat out of a car, set it on the ground, never ensured the child was safe or monitored, and ultimately left the scene without returning the child to the car. Investigators found she used frequent profanity, made threats, tried to provoke an altercation with the driver, and attempted to swat the phone out of the driver’s hand while he was recording. COPA recommended a range of discipline from a six-month suspension up to separation. Supt. Snelling recommended she be fired.

PO Chavon Trammell #14696, 31 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 14th District
Tenure: 8 years

Chavon Trammell, a 14th District tactical officer, was stripped of his badge for a neglect of duty allegation. BIA refused to provide more detail citing an open investigation.

PO Marc Mack #10398, 33 years old

Current status: Alternate Response Section
Last assignment: 4th District
Tenure: 2 years

Marc Mack lost his badge in September citing an ongoing BIA investigation into verbal abuse and profanity. Additional details were not available.

Chicago cop faces firing over vehicle pursuit that led to death of innocent motorist

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 08:28:43 GMT

Image of vehicle crash from @mylifeinthechi Instagram account video of the scene at Roosevelt Road and Independence Boulevard.

A Chicago police officer found to be driving “without due regard for the safety of others” could now be fired over a crash that killed a man in the Homan Square neighborhood in June 2023.

Officer Michael Spilotro III and his partner Erik Arroyo were on patrol in the 11th District when they responded to a call of a silver Hyundai speeding through alleys. Investigators with the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) found the two cops failed to notify the Office of Emergency Management (OEMC) of their pursuit, activate their body-worn cameras (BWC), or activate vehicle lights and sirens as they sped through Friday rush hour traffic on Roosevelt Road. Spilotro was behind the wheel.

“His actions posed a substantial risk to the safety of others, as demonstrated by the fatal multi-vehicle collision that ended the pursuit,” wrote COPA in their final summary report, obtained through a public records request.

In September 2024, Chicago Police Superintendent Snelling agreed with their findings and disciplinary recommendations.

Investigators found Officer Spilotro, without lights or sirens, “ran four stop signs and one red light, reached speeds of up to 61 mph (in a 30 mph zone), crossed the double yellow lines into the opposite direction of travel three times, and cut off traffic when he turned right onto Roosevelt Rd. from the left turn lane on Homan Ave.”

A video reel of the immediate scene post-crash was posted to the @mylifeinthechi Instagram account. The silver Hyundai collided with oncoming traffic and hit four other vehicles.

25-year-old Angel Eduardo Alvarez Montesinos was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital shortly after.

Another driver involved in the fatal crash was also treated for minor injuries.

“Here, the officers’ decision to pursue the Hyundai did not merely violate CPD policy; it set in motion a chain of events that ended when the Hyundai caused a multi-vehicle collision, killing an innocent motorist,” wrote investigators. “In addition, the officers’ failure to activate their vehicle’s lights and/or siren deprived other motorists of notice of the pursuit and increased the risk involved in an already dangerous situation. The officers compounded this problem by failing to notify OEMC, creating confusion and a delay in reporting the facts of the pursuit.”

An initial 911 call reporting multiple armed occupants inside the Hyundai also turned out to be incorrect.

The driver, identified only as an unarmed 15-year-old boy, was arrested at the scene. According to COPA’s report, he was charged with reckless homicide and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Because state law protects the privacy of minor suspects, we are unable to confirm the status of court proceedings in that case at this time.

Venezuela-based news site Carora TV initially identified Angel Montesinos following the incident. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed his identity.

Reportedly, Montesinos had recently arrived in the U.S. from Carora, Venezuela, a town of 250,000 people. He came to Chicago “like many Venezuelans in search of a better future,” Carora TV wrote.

Spilotro has been relieved of his police powers, but is collecting a paycheck on assignment in the Alternate Response Section. Whether he next faces a disciplinary hearing at the hands of the Chicago Police Board or chooses arbitration to decide the fate of his employment with CPD depends on the outcome of an ongoing legal battle over the new FOP contract.

In the time between the crash and the conclusion of the investigation into the incident, Spilotro reportedly caused at least one other preventable accident on duty.

COPA noted his “pattern of reckless driving while on duty,” adding it was also “highly concerning that Officer Spilotro had a history of two preventable accidents before this incident.”

Officer Arroyo had been an officer for only one year at the time of the crash. He was issued a 30-day suspension for his involvement. He will also undergo retraining on CPD’s vehicle pursuit and BWC policies.

Abusive cop named in whistleblower suit convicted of assault

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 14:55:08 GMT

Content warning: domestic abuse, police violence

Editorial note: Detective Marco Torres is accused of abusing and stalking multiple intimate partners, not all of them police officers, over the course of several years. Court records indicate this pattern is ongoing. Every effort has been made to protect his victims’ safety. This includes balancing clarity in reporting with anonymizing language. As a consequence of his recent assault conviction, Torres has been ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device with GPS until November 25, 2025.

Chicago police detective Marco Torres’ mugshot March 14, 2024.

A Chicago cop recently found guilty of assault is also the subject of a whistleblower lawsuit against the City of Chicago that alleges the police department failed to address his “history of violence and misconduct directed toward female colleagues.”

According to an October 2023 complaint filed by an anonymous Jane Doe, first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times last year, Chicago police officer Marco Torres became intimately involved with the complainant, a fellow CPD detective, in 2022. His behavior quickly escalated to multiple instances of “aggravated assault, aggravated battery, stalking, intimidation, and criminal sexual assault,” according to attorneys representing Doe.

Torres was arrested March 14 of this year on domestic battery and assault charges.

On November 26, he was found guilty of assault. He was sentenced to 12 months of probation on electronic monitoring. He is also forbidden from contacting the victim of the assault, who currently has an active order of protection against him.

Despite providing the Chief of the Bureau of Internal Affairs (BIA), Yolanda Talley, with copies of threatening messages and emails from Torres, the complainant in the 2023 suit alleges BIA never conducted a proper investigation. Instead, she says, the department retaliated against her by pressuring her to give up her position on the homicide team and move to a different unit.

Two years later, that investigation remains open, and representatives for BIA refuse to respond to questions about the investigation.

Detective Doe initially gave a formal statement to both BIA and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) in 2022. She allowed investigators to photograph injuries resulting from an attack by Torres, providing evidence thought to be sufficient for BIA to pursue criminal charges against her fellow detective. Both accountability agencies have yet to complete their investigations into Torres’ alleged stalking and abuse.

“The City’s actions in protecting Torres, including by refusing to bring criminal charges against him, are part of its long-standing adherence to the Chicago Police Department’s Code of Silence,” the suit alleges. “Jane Doe has been significantly harmed, and continues to be harmed, by the City of Chicago, its police department, and its lawyers who act together to give cover to violent police officers, at the expense of victims, citizens, and taxpayers.”

Court records allege Torres threatened to kill her if she ever left him, detailing his plan to shoot her with her own gun “in order to make her murder look like a suicide.”

On one occasion, according to the complaint filed, these threats were even sent from his official Chicago Police Department email address.

“The City protected and shielded Torres from any consequence,” attorneys claim in the filing. “The City did not remove him from his unit of assignment, did not send him for a fitness for duty evaluation, did not impose any discipline on him, did not bring criminal charges against him, and even allowed him to retain his city issued firearm, notwithstanding his threats to kill Jane Doe.”

The complaint also describes how Detective Doe was pressured to move to a different unit after reporting Torres’ behavior. BIA allegedly “told her not to cite a hostile work environment as the reason, warning her that doing so would upset the department.”

She says she even reported Torres’ behavior to others outside of BIA.

“The Chief of Internal Affairs, the Chief of Constitutional Policing and Reform, and several lawyers from the City of Chicago’s Law Department were all made aware of (and shown) Torres’ threats, but took no action to impose any consequence whatsoever on Torres, or to prevent him from engaging in further harm,” attorneys wrote in the complaint.

Torres was required to surrender his FOID card under the conditions of the Order of Protection against him. According to a police spokesperson, Torres is currently on no-pay status with the department. This is department policy for officers unable to carry a firearm.

Torres has a complex disciplinary history. He was stripped of his police powers in March, as is policy when an officer is criminally charged.

But records show Torres had already been relieved of his police powers once before, in July 2023, and it does not appear they were ever re-instated. CPD declined to explain what prompted this—though a week before he was stripped, internal affairs opened an investigation into allegations of neglect of duty. Our attempts to obtain police records detailing that incident were denied.

It is also unclear if the department has any intent to fire Torres in response to his November 26 conviction.

In a court filing related to the whistleblower suit, another woman who had a relationship with Torres said she too was the victim of abuse and threats. She alleges he offered to pay her for false testimony in court as a witness on his behalf. When she refused, she says he smashed her phone in retaliation and physically attacked her.

Records also show a third woman who recently dated Torres petitioned for an order of protection this year.

Cook County Judge Anthony Swanagan has yet to rule on a motion by city lawyers attempting to have the Jane Doe case dismissed.

CPD Often Retains Perpetrators of Domestic Violence

The investigations into Torres by COPA and BIA remain open. In domestic violence cases, the two agencies often run parallel investigations. BIA alone wields the authority to bring criminal charges against officers, while COPA investigates whether departmental rules were violated and issues administrative discipline recommendations.

The Superintendent could move to fire Torres at any time. When asked if the department planned to separate him, a CPD spokesperson pointed to the open COPA investigation as a reason not to comment. Historically, officers often have not faced severe discipline for domestic abuse.

In their complaint, attorneys for Jane Doe cite a domestic violence investigation where the Office of the Inspector General recommended the police department fire Officer Tri Tran. Investigators concluded there was ample evidence he threatened to kill his girlfriend and her entire family. Instead, the Superintendent chose a two-month suspension as punishment.

Tran has since served his suspension, and he is now working as a Community Policing Officer in the 1st District.

Of seven other officers COPA has recommended be fired, four resigned before the department took action and three are still awaiting action from the Superintendent.

Often, these investigations take years to complete.

In another instance, COPA recommended a six-to-twelve month suspension for Enrique Delgado Fernandez, an officer with a history of violence. The agency’s investigation into him abusing and kidnapping an ex-partner took nearly five years to complete. In the end, Superintendent Snelling issued a suspension of six months, and Fernandez continues to work in CPD’s Asset Forfeiture Section.

Setting an example for the department, the president of the police union, John Catanzara, received only a 30-day suspension after stalking a woman, breaking into her home, and violating an order of protection.

Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara.

Costly Code of Silence

In recent years, CPD’s pattern of retaliation against whistleblowers has cost Chicago taxpayers more than $13 million. If the Detective Doe suit is permitted to proceed, that sum could grow.

In 2012, Officers Shannon Spalding and Daniel Echeverria worked with the FBI to ultimately bring down the cop crew run by the corrupt Sergeant Ronald Watts. For their work, they were reassigned and told other officers wouldn’t have their back on the streets. In 2019, the city settled with the two for $2 million.

Lorenzo Davis, a former cop turned investigator with the Independent Police Review Authority, which predated COPA, was fired in 2015 after he refused to change his findings about a wrongful police shooting. He sued and a jury awarded him $1.1 million in 2021.

Detective supervisor Isaac Lambert was demoted after he refused to alter reports to cover for Sergeant Khalil Muhammed, who shot and wounded an 18-year old with autism. A jury awarded Lambert nearly $1 million in 2022.

Chicago detective Beth Svec was assigned to conduct follow-up investigations on gun possession arrests in 2015. She uncovered evidence proving two officers lied about a gun arrest. In return, she was told she could no longer investigate gun possession cases, and was reassigned to work the midnight shift in the Englewood district. In July 2022, a jury awarded her more than $4.3 million.

During the altercation, Zala shouted, “You are nothing, you are a stupid bitch, you don’t know how to be the police, I am the police, I am the real police.”

Chicago’s massive DNC cop city included over 135 outside police departments

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 19:32:19 GMT

Anti-war protesters march past the United Center on August 19.

The Chicago Police Department brought in more than 1200 police officers from over 135 police departments across the state this summer to police the Democratic National Convention.

Chicago police overtime also topped 379,000 hours during the week of the convention—30% more than their monthly average, according to our analysis. By the end of June, CPD had already logged nearly 30% more overtime than budgeted for the entire year.

Legal agreements between CPD and the other agencies show the department was supplemented by nearly 700 police officers from the Illinois State Police, as well as 200 officers from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, nearly 300 from 134 departments throughout the state, and 76 from the Milwaukee Police Department in Wisconsin. Attendance and assignment records also reveal CPD relied heavily on tactical officers pulled from police districts across the city to form their protest arrest teams.

Little information has been released confirming the federal agencies who assisted CPD that week, but an assortment were seen around town, including Secret Service officers, U.S. Marshals, and U.S. Capitol Police.

In July, Chicago sent 75 officers to Milwaukee to support the Republican National Convention as part of an agreement between the two cities.

On the second day of that convention, police officers from Columbus, Ohio shot and killed 43-year-old Samuel Sharpe, Jr., also known as Jehovah. The police killing immediately sparked protests, and raised alarm over how the DNC would play out one month later in Chicago—as well as questions about which departments would work alongside CPD during the convention.

Protesters gather after Columbus police officers shot and killed a Black man not far from the 2024 Republican National Convention on July 16.

A Chicago Police helicopter flies over the opening protest of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

The statewide officers assigned to the DNC were contracted as part of the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS), a network of police departments that describes itself as a “mutual aid” system formed in response to the September 11 attacks.

Funded primarily by Department of Homeland Security grants, ILEAS operates a multimillion dollar training center in Urbana. The agency also works closely with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) to coordinate policing between departments during emergency response operations.

Officers sent to Chicago as part of the ILEAS agreement were allegedly highly vetted and evaluated. Each was required to have been a licensed officer for at least two years and “in good standing” with their department.

The contract also stipulates that no police officer sent to assist with the DNC can have “been sued in an individual capacity in the last three (3) years” or have “any sustained complaints for the use of excessive, unreasonable or unnecessary force within the last five (5) years.”

Preliminary research reveals at least several have indeed been named in significant police misconduct cases falling outside that time period, such as Rockford police officer Jonathan Hedges, who had been fired by the department over multiple misconduct allegations, only to be later reinstated. Special Agent David Juergensen appears on the list submitted by the Illinois State Police. He made headlines last week after a judge tossed a criminal case against the Waukegan City Clerk, ruling that the indictment was based solely on false testimony provided by Juergensen.

The top five departments represented include Springfield Police Department, Joliet Police Department, Wheaton Police Department, Rockford Police Department, and Naperville Police Department. Most other departments, including several county sheriff’s offices and even a few forest preserve districts, only sent 1-2 officers each.

Police lined up outside the United Center on August 19. A handful of protesters were arrested after they briefly broke through the outer perimeter of the convention security zone fence on this day.

While the majority of DNC demonstrations were nonviolent, CPD’s response to a protest outside the Israeli consulate on August 20 was not.

Several journalists were arrested alongside dozens of protesters that evening. New York City based photojournalist Josh Pacheco, who was charged with disorderly conduct after being repeatedly kettled by CPD, has already had their charges dropped in court.

Protesters reported injuries and long wait times outside the court building at Belmont and Western operating as a temporary mass arrest processing center. A 2021 OIG report on CPD’s response to the 2020 George Floyd protests noted concerns about arrestees left unattended in transport wagons, including one incident where someone was denied medication and experienced a seizure.

One activist, speaking anonymously, said others arrested alongside them had to kick at the wagon’s doors demanding water after a very long wait in an increasingly hot vehicle.

At one point, they said they could hear the song “Police Truck” by the punk band Dead Kennedys playing. It’s a first person POV track from the perspective of a roving gang of violent cops. Police officers then refused to remove protesters’ handcuffs and poured water into their mouths, with some declining because it “looked too much like waterboarding.”

Once inside, evidence collection chaos ensued. Protesters told us they were fingerprinted multiple times, and had to return to chase down belongings. Several photographers arrested also reported damaged equipment.

CPD also relied heavily on their tactical units for crowd control, visibly operating as arrest teams dressed in all black the evening of the Israeli consulate protest.

Officers on these often violent tactical teams have frequently made headlines and faced firing for misconduct. A large number are also responsible for the department’s pattern of unlawful or undocumented investigatory stops.

An analysis of police duty assignment records showed that tactical units were not pulled evenly from police districts. Each day, approximately 400 tactical officers were assigned to the DNC. Most districts had 15 to 30 tactical officers detailed to the DNC each day.

Districts 1, 4, 8, and 9 had the most tactical officers covering the DNC, with 20 to 32 reassigned each day. Districts 2 and 16 contributed the fewest, with only one tactical officer each at the DNC. District 2’s contribution was Jerald Williams, an officer with a notorious history of violence.

READ THE DOCUMENTS:

Agreement with Illinois State Police

Agreement with ILEAS

Agreement with Milwaukee PD

Agreement with CCSO

Department\Officer Extract from PDFs (Google Sheet)

We ain’t dead yet

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 20:14:24 GMT

Every ending is a new beginning.

Welcome to the end of a week that has lasted a thousand years.

Still feeling like you’ve passed through a door into bizarro world? Us too.

One thing we’re not going to do on the other side of the threshold, however, is indulge too long in despair. Unlike the people of Gaza, we don’t have bombs falling on our heads right now.

While we are perhaps facing some of the darkest years of our lives (though we would add: a lot remains to be determined there, and as many others have echoed, we will never cede ground preemptively), we are still here.

And as long as we’re still here: we will continue to throw stones at evil billionaires. We will continue to resist. We will continue to organize. The only antidote to the Bad Feelings is action. If you have to drag yourself kicking and screaming to it, that’s fine. Kick and scream. But you do have to fight. It’s your birthright.

On a long enough timeline, none of us will survive this era. Our little lives last but a fraction of a second on a cosmic scale. Your options are: falling into nihilism, or embracing the magic of being alive at precisely this time, and doing whatever you can to be good.

Is this motivational enough? Maybe, maybe not. If fighting sounds like too much, we do ask that you hang in there. The world has need of you, even if you can’t see how yet.

“The world has need of you,” poem by Ellen Bass

“The resistance” has never stopped.

Every day, you are invited to join it.

Under the current administration, we’ve watched a burgeoning anti-war movement on campuses viciously maligned by a corporate, Democratic party-aligned media apparatus pushing false narratives of antisemitic attacks. We’ve seen police violently raid student protest encampments in the middle of the night, and assault college professors. Climate activists in Atlanta have faced souped-up RICO charges for their organizing, and one was even shot and killed.

Many fresh horrors await us. We sincerely hope Trump’s second election hammers home for folks the importance of defending dissent even when the blue team is in power. Activists arrested this past spring and summer (in a blue city! in a blue state!) are still facing potential jail time. Our newly elected Cook County state’s attorney, Eileen O’Neill Burke, will likely pursue charges against protesters even more aggressively. In August, Mayor Brandon Johnson celebrated the absolutely massive police state success that was the DNC. He congratulated CPD for arresting Chicagoans trying to stop a U.S.-funded genocide—all while party delegates literally plugged their ears.

Then, they lost anyway.

Tremendous numbers of Democrat voters sat this one out. If that’s not an indictment of the institutions that have led us to this point—and an example of how necessary it is to stand up to power even when it’s uncomfortable—we don’t know what is.

DNC attendees cover their ears as the names of dead Palestinian children are read as they leave the convention pic.twitter.com/9bueCbFeEr
— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) August 22, 2024

A struggle over access to the public sidewalk.

CPD pile on top of someone, detain and cuff them.

People in line are crying, filming it in horror.

Just watched several leave the line and walk away.

One woman says, "this is not right, this is not right." pic.twitter.com/E44xJHyd29
— unraveled (formerly Jinx Press) (@UnraveledPress) August 23, 2024

With or without Donald Trump in office, Chicago’s mayors have also continued to boost police funding. Mayor Johnson’s proposed 2025 budget represents a 17% increase in CPD’s budget from five years ago. While Chicago’s own “cop city” remains under construction, these urban warfare training facilities continue to proliferate across the country. The militarization of the police has only swelled during the Biden administration, and both parties are responsible for prioritizing law enforcement budgets over everything else.

If confronting all of this feels overwhelming, congratulations, you’re human.

None of us can change everything all at once, but we can pick somewhere to start. We can focus on what’s needed most in our communities.

If you’re feeling helpless and looking for a way to plug in locally, we’d like to take this opportunity to highlight one group doing crucial on-the-ground mutual aid work: Chicago Community Jail Support.

Every day, people released from Cook County Jail are sent out into the cold without adequate clothing, their possessions, and money to get home. Jail support volunteers work tirelessly to help them locate their belongings, give them coats, and provide rides. The group is in dire need of more volunteers, and especially people with vehicles. If you can’t volunteer in person, they could surely use financial support.

You can read more about their efforts and contact them here.

The Chicago Community Jail Support project began in 2020, and has provided an invaluable community service ever since.

As journalists, we also have our own organizing to do now.

This includes gearing up for a long-needed fight over the media credentialing process in Chicago.

CPD have been in charge of press credential applications for decades. Why? Because no one has cared to challenge them over it. News Affairs staff are increasingly weaponizing this control to dictate how we can report on dissent and protest. Additionally, access to City Hall has been a mess since Mayor Johnson has taken office. Reporters have been stopped and questioned by police while doing their jobs, and have had their ability to carry gear inside City Council chambers curtailed.

We and other local journalists are working with advocates at Freedom of the Press Foundation to formulate a plan to change all of this. After watching independent reporters and freelancers assaulted, arrested, and criminally charged during the DNC, we have grave concerns about press freedom here on the ground. Watch for coming opportunities to push your alderpeople to draft and support legislation that permanently removes press credentialing powers from the police. Cops have no business deciding who counts as a reporter, and we all have the same first amendment rights to document police activities in public.

And now: the money beg.

We and the other independent outlets in Chicago desperately need consistent funding to continue reporting.

It’s no secret that right-wing media is flush with cash while community publications doing the real work in the trenches continue to struggle. Ostensibly “leftist” philanthropy is floundering for a multitude of reasons, and barriers to access for those who aren’t well-connected remain borderline insurmountable. This is doubly true if people choose to operate outside of the non-profit foundation fundraising model.

We eventually hope to become entirely reader supported, but we are a long way from that goal. To everyone who has already graciously contributed—thank you! Your support means the world to us.

If you have not yet signed up to make a recurring donation, please consider it. In addition to ongoing labor costs, we still have broken camera gear from covering the RNC and DNC to replace.

That’s it from us for now. We’ll see you in the streets.

Cop who killed Anthony Alvarez training new recruits

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 14:39:10 GMT

Alvarez’s family joined protests calling for Solano’s firing on May 2, 2021.

Content warning: graphic mentions of police violence

A Chicago police officer previously recommended for firing after a deadly foot pursuit is on the job again—and this time, he’s training rookies.

Officer Evan Solano, who faced termination little more than two years ago after shooting and killing 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez, was promoted to the position of Field Training Officer (FTO) this past April. He has been training probationary police officers in the Northwest Side 16th District for the past six months, according to records obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request.

Videos of the police killing sparked outrage and protests in the spring of 2021, calling for Solano and his partner, Officer Sammy Encarnacion, to be fired.

Investigators with the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) also recommended separation for the two tactical officers—but then-superintendent David Brown disagreed. In the end, COPA’s recommendation to fire Solano was overridden by the superintendent and police board, landing him a suspension of only twenty days. Alvarez’s family would later file a federal civil rights suit against the city.

Officer Solano was stripped of his badge between June 2021 and October 2022. During that time, he was detailed to the Alternate Response Section, a landing pad for cops with serious misconduct issues under investigation.

In total, Solano spent most of the past three years on desk duty, pending the investigation and disciplinary proceedings. Less than four months after finally returning to his beat in the 16th District, he was promoted to his new training role.

His partner Encarnacion would eventually resign in 2023 after COPA recommended separation following two other unrelated investigations. He was found to have violated several department policies, including a pattern of intoxication off-duty, domestic violence, and another incident where he opened fire on people running away.

Timeline: Solano’s assignment history following the killing of Anthony Alvarez. Solano spent 2.5 years on desk duty between the Alternate Response Section and the Strategic Decision Support Center, a CPD surveillance hub, before returning to his beat.

Solano has also faced other investigations. Just two months after killing Alvarez, he made headlines following a road rage incident in Logan Square. Witness video showed him in the street, brandishing a firearm, and arguing with another driver.

CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs closed their investigation into that incident, citing the lack of a sworn affidavit.

Solano and Encarnacion were also investigated for their role in an alcohol-fueled fight in a Northwest Side Irish bar that left both officers bloodied in September 2020. It is unclear whether BIA has ever completed the investigation.

“Why are you shooting me?”

Protesters calling for accountability for the killing of Anthony Alvarez on May 2, 2021.

Solano and Encarnacion told investigators they were previously familiar with Alvarez, though their past encounters with him were not violent.

One day before Solano shot Alvarez, they said, they recognized him in a parked car. They then ran a search on his license plate, which showed he was driving on a suspended license.

Alvarez drove away from the officers that night. The two cops said they chose not to pursue him since they knew who he was and where he lived. They made no report about any attempt to pull Alvarez over for an investigatory stop or about the suspended license, but they would use this as justification for chasing him the following evening.

It was just after midnight on March 31, 2021 when Solano and Encarnacion spotted Anthony Alvarez at a gas station, carrying a bag of food and a drink in a styrofoam cup.

They immediately turned on the emergency lights in their unmarked SUV, and accelerated toward him in the dark.

Alvarez, seemingly taken by surprise, dropped the items he was carrying, and ran from the oncoming vehicle.

Solano jumped out of the car, rounded a corner, and shot Alvarez in the back as he fled.

The entire foot chase lasted one minute.

Video shows a police SUV speed toward Anthony Alvarez in a gas station lot late at night.

“Why are you shooting me?” Alvarez asked as he slumped to the ground.

Nearly two minutes passed before officers began rendering aid. The gruesome scene was captured on a neighbor’s camera, pointed toward their front lawn.

Solano later told investigators he thought Alvarez was turning to shoot at him.

The police board ultimately concluded that video shows Alvarez stumbling, and he “was attempting to regain his footing—not positioning himself to take a shot at the officers.”

The board also ruled, however, that the officers’ decision to chase Alvarez and shoot him under these circumstances was “reasonable,” and consistent with department policy. Solano and Encarnacion were disciplined not for the killing, but because they both violated other policies during the encounter, such as delaying the activation of their body worn cameras.

Alvarez suffered two gunshot wounds—one to the back, and one to his left leg. In video of the incident, Officer Solano is seen applying chest compressions while his partner applied a tourniquet to Alvarez’s uninjured right leg.

He was taken to the hospital where he died a short time later.

While COPA determined the police officers violated the department’s foot pursuit training, Superintendent Brown argued it was “debatable” whether the department’s training bulletin “qualifies as training.”

It was no secret that Chicago needed a new foot pursuit policy. In 2017, the Department of Justice issued a report following a comprehensive investigation into CPD after an officer murdered Laquan McDonald. Regarding foot pursuits, the DOJ said, “officers engage in tactically unsound and unnecessary foot pursuits, and that these foot pursuits too often end with officers unreasonably shooting someone.”

On March 29, just two days before Alvarez was killed, Officer Eric Stillman chased, shot, and killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo. More than a year after the deaths of Toledo and Alvarez, the department finally issued a new policy.

The new policy creates more reporting requirements following foot pursuits, but still leaves much up to the discretion of officers.

Since January 2019, the department has been operating under a federal consent decree. The oversight process, coordinated by both a federal judge and an independent monitor, promises to restore community trust in the department and speed police reform. According to the independent monitor, from March of 2020 until the beginning of 2021, CPD engaged in 1,300 police foot pursuits, with 382 of those ending with the use of force.

On October 17, the police board decided, in agreement with COPA, to vote on the dismissal of Officer Fernando Ruiz, who fatally shot 24-year-old Reginald Clay Jr. after chasing him into an gangway in Garfield Park. The actual fate of Ruiz’s employment remains unknown, as a court battle that could potentially give cops the right to decide upon arbitration instead of a police board hearing continues.

“Guiding behavior and shaping attitudes”

Protesters calling for accountability for the police killing of Anthony Alvarez on May 2, 2021.

CPD holds their field training officers in high regard. Their duties include “driving the Department’s culture by guiding the behavior and shaping attitudes of Probationary Police Officers (PPOs) in the field.”

FTOs qualify for the position if their disciplinary history meets certain minimum requirements. They also must pass a specialized exam. Once promoted, they train and evaluate probationary officers on topics such as department policies, use of force, and de-escalation techniques.

Department policy defines an “acceptable” disciplinary history for consideration for an FTO role as no more than a seven day suspension in the previous twelve months. Police officers seeking the role must also not have been suspended more than three times in the past five years.

Despite his history and lack of recent field experience, Solano appears to meet CPD’s requirements for the promotion.

A spokesperson for CPD confirmed Solano’s current assignment, but did not respond to other questions.

According to police records obtained via FOIA, there were 375 FTOs working in the department in September. Eight of them have been stripped of their powers and currently take non-emergency calls in the Alternate Response Section.

FTOs have also faced serious allegations in recent years.

Officer Daniel Otero was accused of sexual assault after he responded to a burglary at a 22-year-old woman’s residence in 2016. Both COPA and Superintendent Brown recommended termination for Otero, but in June 2023, the police board overruled them, settling on a nine month suspension instead.

This past August, 2nd District FTO David Ross was stripped of his police powers after body worn camera video showed him choking a handcuffed boy experiencing a mental health crisis.

COPA described the video as showing the child “making gurgling sounds, clawing at the officer’s fist and gasping for air.”

“I can’t breathe,” he said.

Read the documents:
COPA’s Final Summary Report
Superintendent’s Non-Concurrence
COPA’s Request for Police Board Review
Police Board Member Review

Welcome to the reconfiguration

Thu, 24 Oct 2024 15:00:45 GMT

The next chapter

Welcome to Unraveled.

We’ll be bringing you the same independent investigative journalism you’ve come to know from Jinx Press and People’s Fabric. Our stories at other publications have shed light on overlooked police misconduct, inspired grassroots activism, exposed bigotry, and led to officers being immediately stripped of their powers. You can read more about our mission here. We’ve also updated our editorial policies.

We are also asking for reader support as we dedicate ourselves full time to this endeavor during a time of supreme media chaos.

All of our content will remain free to access, and nothing will ever be paywalled. Your dollars will go directly to journalist-owned independent media.

We believe it’s possible to do data-driven and fact-based journalism without subscribing to the false ideal of the naive and detached observer. We also believe in the legacy of the dogged independent reporter, motivated by a strong sense of justice—and an unwavering commitment to uncovering the bad guys.

You’ll notice our name and icon on socials has been updated. The only change you need to know about there is a new Instagram account for Unraveled—please follow us there. With the app that shall not be mentioned in a full-on Nazi disinfo death spiral, we are also asking readers to please give us a follow over on bluesky.

Now, let’s get to work.

“SheepdogCPD” Detective Shawn Popow faces termination

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 21:42:16 GMT

Detective (then officer) Shawn Popow (right) and his partner at the time, Officer Ricardo Ocampo (left). Source: Twitter/X

A Chicago Police officer under investigation for a trove of bigoted and racist social media content is set to be dismissed from the department.

People’s Fabric and Jinx Press first reported on Officer Shawn Popow’s social media posts in November 2023.

The South Side Chicago Police detective with more than twenty years on the force should be fired over dozens of social media posts disparaging “African Americans, migrants, Muslims, the LGBTQ+ community, and people who are disabled,” wrote investigators with the Civilian Office of Police Accountability in their full summary report.

“Through his use of social media, Det. Popow has demonstrated that he is unable to treat all Chicago citizens with fairness and equity. His misconduct is particularly egregious for a detective whose written reports and testimony are relied upon by the State to prosecute crimes,” they added.

The full report from civilian investigators, which was obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, can be read here. Investigators determined that Popow violated six CPD rules.

Excerpt of rule violations from the final investigative report. Source: COPA

Investigators first received an anonymous complaint on November 1, 2023 detailing some of Detective Popow’s social media posts on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Facebook accounts where he clearly identified himself as a CPD officer—including a tweet directed at pop star Ariana Grande. They then “located hundreds of racist, xenophobic, transphobic, and other offensive posts, dating as far back as 2018.”

On November 16, 2023, at COPA’s request, CPD relieved Popow of his police powers pending their investigation.

“Det. Popow is unfit to continue serving as a member of the Chicago Police department,” COPA investigators wrote in their final report. On September 3, Superintendent Snelling responded with a short concurrence memo in agreement with their conclusion.

Popow was found to be operating a Twitter account where he used the screenname Südliche Polizei, translated directly from German as “Southern Police.” His handle, @SheepdogCPD, references a common policing trope wherein cops are the “sheepdogs” protecting sheep (citizens) from wolves. He admitted to investigators that he owned both accounts and had made the racist and transphobic posts.

When asked why he made specific posts, Popow often referenced “significant memory problems” that he had experienced in recent years.

When asked about an image he posted several times reading “Stupid Ass N**** Award”, Popow explained that the “N-word” ending with an “a” was “a term of endearment,” comparable to words like “buddy” or “pal.”

COPA investigators questioned Popow’s explanation, “So it’s a term of endearment but… ‘stupid ass’ and then a term of endearment?” to which Popow answered “Correct.”

Racist images tweeted by Detective Shawn Popow; Source: X

Another image included a frame from American History X in which a white supremacist kills a black man by “curb stomping” his head. Popow included the caption “I bet yo mama could press your face into dough and make gorilla cookies,” with a laughing emoji.

Popow acknowledged he was familiar with the movie and what was depicted in this scene, but he claimed the post was his “attempt at humor” because his added text came from an episode of Sanford and Sons.

Violent image from American History X depicting white supremacist violence; Source: X

For other posts referenced in the report, Popow had no explanation, and claimed that due to his memory issues, he could not recall why he made the posts. One such example is a “chimpout” meme Popow posted in response to posts showing Black teens twerking or fighting.

Popow referred to the behavior as a “chimpout,” sharing an Urban Dictionary definition of “an aggressive and violent outburst by a black person, such as tantrums of chimpanzees or baboons straight out of National Geographic’s nature shows. O.J. really did chimp out with Nicole by slashing her throat.”

Racist term posted by Detective Shawn Popow; Source: X

The report also references content that disparaged trans and gender nonconforming individuals. Popow shared some of this content from other sources, but also admitted to making some transphobic memes himself. He added the word “not” to an image that read “Repeat after us: trans women are women.”

An anti-trans image created and posted by Detective Shawn Popow; Source: X

In another post about International Women’s Day, Popow added the caption “not you” over the image of a trans woman. He explained, “by my definition I would say I recognize female to be anyone with the XX chromosome with a — born having a vagina,” and that four out of five people depicted “qualify by my definition.”

Another anti-trans image created and posted by Detective Shawn Popow; Source: X

While both COPA and the Superintendent are in agreement on removing Detective Popow from the force for good, a final decision on the matter could rest in the hands of an arbitrator.

In March, a Cook County judge ruled that police officers accused of serious misconduct have the right to ask an arbitrator to review their case instead of the Chicago Police Board. The FOP is currently appealing part of the ruling mandating the arbitration process hearings take place in public, however.

“Somewhere nobody would find her”

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 17:34:45 GMT

Chicago Police officer Enrique Delgado Fernandez punching Damien Stewart.

Content warning: mentions of domestic abuse, police violence

A Chicago Police officer with an extraordinarily lengthy history of misconduct—including a vicious jail beating captured on video—was recently handed the minimum disciplinary recommendation as a result of a domestic violence incident dating back to 2018. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) investigation into the allegations took five years to complete.

Officer Enrique Delgado Fernandez has been on the force nearly 12 years. Since 2016, he has been the subject of over one hundred misconduct allegations, and the city has paid approximately $625,000 to resolve lawsuits naming Fernandez.

Investigators found credible allegations that Fernandez “physically and emotionally abused [his ex-girlfriend].”

“This physical abuse included pushing her to control her movement and emotionally abusing in the form of harassment and stalking,” investigators added.

COPA sustained a dozen specific abuse allegations made by the victim. In her statement, she described how Officer Fernandez threatened her life, stole her phone several times, threatened to send intimate images to her bosses at work, physically blocked and intimidated her, and continued to contact her via both email and text message against her wishes on multiple occasions between 2018 and 2019.

The most significant allegation includes an occasion where Officer Fernandez coerced her into his police vehicle in September 2018. He physically blocked her from escaping, threatened to “cause a scene,” and hopped on the highway toward Wisconsin.

When she asked him where he was driving her, he told her, “somewhere nobody would find her.”

He then kept her captive in the car with him for nearly two hours, causing her to miss her shift at work. Her boss began calling her cell phone, and Fernandez gave it back to her, instructing her to answer and respond that she was okay. Instead, she said she was being held against her will.

“He’s taking me out of the city, and I don’t know where he’s taking me,” she told her boss.

Some of the allegations COPA sustained against Fernandez in January 2024.

The victim filed her initial complaint in February 2019, after Officer Fernandez harassed and stalked her on multiple occasions, leading her to briefly move in with her mother due to safety concerns.

During this timeframe, he allegedly contacted the victim’s sister despite her never providing him her sister’s information. She reported seeing Fernandez outside her residence, sitting in her building lobby or parking out front.

By March 2019, she had obtained an order of protection against Fernandez. He failed to report the order to CPD, as required. According to COPA, the order was then vacated after Fernandez was ordered to pay the victim for the loss of her phone, and both parties agreed to no further contact.

“Domestic violence, in all forms, is a serious offense,” wrote COPA in their final summary report about the allegations. “Police officers committing domestic violence seriously undermines public trust in the Department. This level of behavior warrants significant consequences. Thus, COPA recommends a 180-day suspension up to 365 days.”

Investigators reported that Fernandez gave conflicting accounts of the incidents “throughout his entire statement at COPA,” finding the victim more credible than Fernandez. Records also show that during the investigation, Fernandez took medical leave several times—totaling nearly a year off work.

“There are multiple factors that can affect the length of a Special Victims investigation, including pending litigation, victim cooperation and officer availability,” COPA director for News Affairs Jennifer Rottner said in a statement.

Superintendent Snelling’s concurrence with the report’s findings directed Fernandez to serve only the minimum recommended suspension of 180 days. CPD did not respond to a request for comment on the decision.

Fernandez was also recently accused of sexual misconduct at a traffic stop in June 2022.

The victim claims that while she was handcuffed and detained for four hours at the Ninth District station, Fernandez made inappropriate comments toward her. According to the complaint, he offered to be her “side boyfriend,” and asked her to cook for him. The victim also stated the officer put his phone number in her phone.

While COPA’s report is pending final review and their disciplinary recommendation has not been issued yet, records reflect that some of the allegations have been preliminarily sustained by investigators.

Source: COPA

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Fernandez has been named in a number of lawsuits filed against the city as a result of his conduct on duty over the years, according to public records. In total, Jinx Press estimates the settlements paid out by the city to victims in those suits amounts to at least $625,000.

He was one of seventeen officers who took part in a highly publicized wrongful raid on a child’s birthday party. Named officers in that case, all believed to be members of the Area South Gang Enforcement Unit, were accused of terrorizing 4-year old Terrence Jackson (TJ) and his family on February 10, 2019. They handcuffed adults present at the party, pointed weapons at children, and maliciously damaged birthday presents and possessions.

According to victims (officers involved did not activate their body-worn cameras), CPD “broke drawers and other furniture,” “flipped mattresses over,” and broke a television during the wrongful raid.

They “spitefully poured” vodka and hydrogen peroxide over clothing, mattresses and birthday gifts for TJ and his aunt who shares the same birthday. They also smashed the four-year old’s birthday cake on the floor before laughing their way out of the apartment.

TJ and his then seven-year old sister Samari suffered significant symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after the incident, including nightmares. The city settled damages with the family to the tune of $350,000.

One of Fernandez’s frequent colleagues, Officer Jerald Williams, obtained the search warrant for the raid—but it was for an alleged gang member and drug dealer who had not lived at that address in five years. Court documents allege that Williams failed to verify the current residence of the intended target of the raid with a simple address search using tools at CPD’s disposal.

The 2019 birthday raid isn’t the only case both Fernandez and Williams are named in, however.

Three months later, on May 18, 2019, both officers were captured together brutally beating Damien Stewart in a holding cell. Officer Fernandez served a ten day suspension for the excessive force complaint.

A brief timeline of some of Fernandez’s conduct from 2019-2024.

The video itself was brought to light in January 2023. Williams, who moonlights as an MMA fighter by the name of “Bacon and Eggs,” can be seen holding Damien Stewart while Fernandez punches him repeatedly in the head, delivering nearly two dozen blows. The city paid a $75,000 settlement in this case.

Notably, the city also paid out $850,000 to another victim Williams body-slammed several months later, in November 2019. A bystander recorded Williams throwing the man, who family says suffers from schizophrenia, to the pavement. The victim was knocked unconscious before an ambulance was called for assistance.

Williams was promoted to Sergeant in December 2022. A recent data analysis by WTTW showed the city has paid nearly $1.4 million to resolve suits he is named in as a result of his conduct on duty.

Fernandez was working as a beat cop in the Ninth District in late 2023 before he was reassigned to the Asset Forfeiture Section in February 2024.

The documents with COPA’s findings and the Superintendent’s concurrence can be found on COPA’s Case Portal.

“Y’all jump out on us every day” — Tactical team that killed Dexter Reed was involved in a shooting 24 hours earlier

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 10:00:09 GMT

Officers Michael Ambrose and Pablo Cartagena pointing weapons at a dog shot and killed by Ambrose, who fired multiple rounds. Source: COPA

CONTENT WARNING: Police violence and animal death.

Videos released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) this week show the Chicago Police officers who shot and killed Dexter Reed were involved in another shooting just one day prior.

As reported previously by People’s Fabric, COPA is currently investigating a pattern of at least 28 potentially unlawful stops and searches conducted by the same tactical team.

The new videos from March 20 show the squad who killed Reed rolling through the same West Side neighborhood with another unmarked police SUV. Nine plainclothes tactical officers stop and hop out of their vehicle to search a man sitting in a chair on the sidewalk, citing a “large bulge” in his waistband on their investigatory stop report. Cops ultimately found nothing.

Within seconds, however, the encounter turned fatal—not for a human, but somebody’s pet. Body-worn camera videos activated after the fact capture, without audio, officer Michael Ambrose pumping multiple rounds into a gray pit bull who approached him excitedly.

The group of men at the scene, clearly distraught, are captured telling police they were trying to put the dog away in the yard to secure it, but simply weren’t given enough time to do so.

The next day, about a mile away, five of those same officers would perform another “jump-out” maneuver at Ferdinand and Avers, surrounding Dexter Reed’s vehicle. Reed appeared to fire one shot at police after they drew their weapons on him. Police unleashed nearly 100 rounds in return, continuing their barrage after he scrambled out of his vehicle unarmed and fell to the ground.

A majority of those rounds were discharged by fresh-faced rookie Thomas Spanos. 23-year-old Spanos’ assignment to the team in January aligns with the general trend of CPD sending its most inexperienced cops to work in the 11th District.

By design, the body-worn cameras donned by CPD include two minutes of soundless video prior to officers’ manual activation.

This means police failed to activate their cameras as required by policy when frisking the young man, but turned them on only after Ambrose opened fire.

What the footage does capture is two officers, Aubrey Webb and Gregory Saint Louis, exiting their car and approaching the man on the 4000 west block of Wilcox Street. He appears to be socializing with others standing nearby.

Chicago police officer Aubrey Webb’s body-worn camera conducting a search currently under investigation by COPA. Source: COPA

Saint Louis holds the man as Webb searches his pants, poking at his fly and pulling his waistband out to peer down the front of his pants. Simultaneously, officers Michael Ambrose and Pablo Cartagena draw their weapons on a dog running in their direction. Ambrose fires multiple times, killing the dog immediately.

Ambrose claims that he had previously been bitten by a dog on the same block in December 2023. Records indicate Ambrose did not take any medical leave after the alleged incident. A Freedom of Information Act request has been filed to gather more information.

Once the audio recording kicks in, bystanders can be heard shouting at officers, and explaining they weren’t given adequate time to put the dog away before police jumped out at them.

“I told y’all I was gonna put the fuckin’ dog in the yard. What the fuck?” yells one man. “Y’all jump out on us every day. I was gonna put the dog in the yard. Nobody’s running or nothing.”

Officer Alexandra Giampapa responds, “The dog’s not supposed to be out at all, so you can’t blame us.”

“I just said, don’t jump out. I’m not going nowhere, I’m puttin’ the dog away.”

Giampapa shrugs, “The dog shouldn’t have been out to begin with.”

Another man interjects: “It only takes one shot, though.”

The group appears to be very familiar with CPD’s search tactics in the neighborhood, mentioning previous encounters with police.

“Every day we just stand there. We get stopped and frisked and everything,” one man shouts.

“We don’t got no guns or nothin’. I just said, I’m puttin’ the dog in the yard.”

Chicago police officer Thomas Spanos’ body-worn camera following a police shooting of a dog. Source: COPA

Officers Victor Pacheco and Thomas Spanos were also on the scene. After shots were fired, Spanos, who is visibly shaken, can be heard asking, “What do we say?” before telling dispatch that a dog had been shot.

Giampapa immediately warns the team, “don’t say anything.”

The next day, she would issue the same warning after Dexter Reed was killed: “Don’t say anything. Do you hear me? Be quiet.”

Department policy requires a minimum 30-day period of administrative duties after an officer discharges their firearm, but the policy exempts shootings “solely for the destruction/deterrence of an animal.” Also, no policy mandates officers take time away from their interactions with the public if they are merely present when another officer discharges their firearm.

Excerpt from General Order G03-02-03.

The next day, Giampapa, Spanos, Pacheco, Webb, and Saint Louis returned to work as usual. The evening sun can be seen low on the horizon in videos of their killing of Dexter Reed—it is almost precisely the same time of day.

Officers on scene moments after shooting the dog on March 20. Source: COPA

Police attendance records indicate Ambrose did not work his beat for nine days after killing the dog, and a COPA investigation determined the shooting was “within policy.”

Tactical team who killed Dexter Reed under investigation for over two dozen unjustified stops and searches

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 08:00:17 GMT

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) has opened two new investigations into the five 11th District tactical officers who shot and killed Dexter Reed during a traffic stop in March. The scope of the investigations includes at least 28 previous stops and searches conducted by the same team.

Public records obtained by People’s Fabric show that COPA opened the additional investigations in May and June—and new video from a police observational camera shows what appears to be an improper stop of another car by the same officers immediately before they stopped Reed.

In one complaint, a man described “a pattern of harassment and intimidation” by 11th District tactical officers outside of his residence, including multiple stops and searches. In the other complaint, COPA lists 28 locations where “the accused officers allegedly engaged in a series of unjustified traffic stops and searches in the 11th District.”

Map of 28 additional suspected improper stops and searches by the 11th District tactical team involved in Dexter Reed’s death.

On March 21, five plainclothes tactical officers driving an unmarked police vehicle pulled over Reed’s SUV, ostensibly in response to a seat belt violation.

COPA’s Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten, however, called that claim into question in a letter sent to Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling.

“COPA is uncertain how the officers could have seen this seat belt violation given their location relative to [Reed’s] vehicle and the dark tints on [his] vehicle windows,” Kersten wrote. “This evidence raises serious concerns about the validity of the traffic stop.”

During the encounter, which lasted about a minute, Reed appears to have shot one of the officers in the arm. In return, police fired nearly 100 shots at Reed. An autopsy showed he was struck and killed by 13 bullets in the barrage. Video of the killing shows Reed exiting his vehicle unarmed in an attempt to flee for his life as he is hit by additional gunfire from Thomas Spanos, a tactical team officer with fewer than 12 weeks on the team and only two years on the job.

Spanos, who reloaded his gun twice during the shooting, was assigned to the team despite not meeting CPD’s official requirements. He fired more bullets at Reed than the other four officers involved combined. Spanos—alongside officers Aubrey Webb, Alexandra Giampapa, Victor Pacheco, and Gregory Saint Louis—remains on administrative duties since the shooting.

Reed was previously shot in a 2021 incident involving another family member. He suffered from PTSD and physical symptoms as a result of that previous shooting, which left him comatose. According to court documents, he was also battling schizophrenia and other mental health issues.

POD video at Lake & Hamlin shows the 11th district tactical team pulling over another vehicle just minutes before they stopped Dexter Reed. Source: COPA

Video from a police camera located at Hamlin and Lake shows the team pulling over a vehicle in the same manner they stopped Dexter Reed immediately prior to the shooting. After engaging with the driver of that car for one minute, the team is seen climbing back into their SUV. While police are required to complete an Investigatory Stop Report (ISR) after an encounter like this, records show no report was ever filed by officers.

One minute after this stop, officers pulled Reed over. One minute after that, he was dead.

Map depicting where the 11th District tactical team engaged in a prior stop, then intercepted Dexter Reed immediately after.

At the start of the police body-worn camera video released after Dexter Reed’s shooting, officers are seen piling into their SUV from this earlier stop next to Garfield Park. They then take off at a high speed from Hamlin and Lake toward Hamlin and Ferdinand Ave—a distance of roughly a quarter of a mile. This is where they intercept Reed’s white SUV with tinted windows. Within seconds, they curb his car at the intersection of Ferdinand and Avers Ave.

Body-worn camera and POD video show police leaving a previous stop and intercepting Dexter Reed. The video from blocks away shows the number of bystanders in the area as police fired nearly 100 shots.
Content Warning: While this video does not show the shooting, it does contain audio of the shooting.

A study released earlier this year found that 80% of traffic stops by CPD involved Black or Latino drivers, with 22% of all stops occurring in the 10th and 11th districts. According to the report, the practice of using traffic stops to fish for evidence of other crimes has “little to no public or traffic safety benefits.” Just 0.5% of traffic stops resulted in the recovery of a firearm, and 0.3% of stops resulted in the discovery of narcotics.

The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) is holding a rally Thursday calling for the end of pretextual stops and use of tactical teams. The group is urging members of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) to hold a “community-driven” hearing on CPD’s broad use of traffic stops.

14th District Oath Keeper cop interfered with DCFS investigation, removed from SWAT for unknown incident

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 14:14:55 GMT

Social media posts from a Facebook account belonging to Chicago Police officer Michael Nowacki.

A Chicago Police officer on the widely publicized Oath Keepers list appears to have a misconduct record lengthier than previously described.

Sergeant Michael Nowacki, new to the Northwest Side police district as of August 2023, was also previously removed from the CPD SWAT team—for what he describes in a 2020 social media post as an alcohol-related incident.

The Oath Keepers played an instrumental role in executing former President Donald Trump’s attempt to halt the counting of electoral votes certifying the 2020 presidential election.

Birthed in the right-wing milieu of racist conspiracy theories following President Barack Obama’s election, the organization believes “the government is secretly planning, along with foreign countries and the United Nations, to impose martial law, seize all Americans’ guns, force resisters into concentration camps and install a one-world totalitarian government known as the ‘New World Order.’”

Members of the group, whose leaders heavily recruit from veterans and law enforcement, were seen using military style tactics to breach the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

A report released Tuesday by Chicago’s watchdog agency, the Office of Inspector General (OIG), found the police department’s internal investigation into the accused officers’ Oath Keeper ties insufficient. The Bureau of Internal Affairs (BIA) probe conducted by CPD consisted solely of short interviews with the individual cops. Assisted by legal counsel, the officers denied any influence by the group’s ideology or associations with known members.

A 2023 Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ investigation outlines a sprawling web of allegations against the CPD officers who joined an official membership roll for the Oath Keepers. The leaked list, which includes personal identifying info like full names and credit card numbers, includes police across Illinois from additional law enforcement agencies. A number of firefighters also signed up to join the organization. Three remain on active duty with the Chicago Fire Department.

Chicago Police officer Michael Nowacki in a photo posted to social media.

As detailed in that investigation, Sergeant Nowacki was suspended for three days in 2008 after sending insulting, racially charged emails to a Black community member in Englewood who was soliciting donations for area families. Rather than serve the suspension, Nowacki forfeited three days of banked compensatory time.

Records detailing a December 2020 incident, however, also illustrate his disturbing animosity on duty toward a Department of Child and Family Services worker. The worker, identified as a Black male, filed a complaint after a well-being check where Nowacki was belligerent.

The social services worker had called police for help with temporarily removing two toddlers from a home after parents became uncooperative. An ongoing DCFS investigation pointed to signs of neglect or abuse. According to the complaint, Nowacki began hassling him immediately upon arrival. He demanded and ran his driver’s license before ordering other police officers to stand down and not assist DCFS without a court order.

State law does not mandate a court order be in place to take children into temporary custody.

In his interview with investigators, Nowacki claimed he “could not recall” the incident.

A recording of the encounter captured a voice—likely Nowacki’s—saying, “I have been doing this for twenty years, I am not stupid.”

BIA sustained allegations of neglect of duty and operation/personnel violations against Nowacki for his encounter with DCFS. It is unclear what disciplinary action he faced as a consequence, if any.

Like other right-wing anti-government groups, Oath Keepers members have some history of clashing with child protective services (CPS). Wild notions about government plots to steal kids from their parents colored the childhood of Oath Keeper founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes’ family. Rhodes’ son Dakota Adams told The Guardian he and his siblings “had to conceal educational and medical neglect.” According to his father, CPS was “the tool of the new world order that would be used to retaliate against Stewart for defying them.”

Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the January 6 putsch.

In 2010, the Oath Keepers protested outside a child custody hearing in New Hampshire involving one of their members.

Police officers and veterans in the organization authored a letter to the state demanding their organization name be removed from court documents. They describe CPS as having “great latitude and power,” and accuse the New Hampshire Division of Children, Youth and Family (NHDCYF) of politicizing child abuse.

In that letter, Oath Keepers members also insisted they are not, as described by NHDCYF, a militia.

Sergeant Nowacki has faced investigation for a number of other incidents over the years.

Most recently, BIA sustained a 2022 complaint received from a civilian alleging Nowacki and another officer failed to respond to her 911 calls about being stalked. Jinx Press has not yet received an update on possible disciplinary recommendations.

He was suspended for five days in 2023 after BIA sustained allegations of abusive social media comments directed at other officers. According to police records, it appears he may have again forfeited time off in lieu of serving a suspension. Previously, in March 2021, internal investigators also sustained allegations of other derogatory social media comments about department members.

Jinx Press verified screenshots of additional social media posts from a Facebook account belonging to Nowacki.

One post, authored on November 14, 2020, describes being fired from his assignment as a SWAT Sergeant.

“Of course, 2020 sucked for everyone…but in addition to that, on May 26th, my alcoholism and poor decision-making led to me being removed from the SWAT Team, a group of the finest men I have ever served with.” Nowacki wrote. “[…] On June 23rd, alcohol got the better of me, I hit rock-bottom, and I went to rehab at St. Michael’s House.”

November 14, 2020 screenshot taken from Michael Nowacki’s Facebook account.

St. Michael’s House is a specialized addiction detox and treatment center dedicated to law enforcement. The AMITA Health-operated rehab is named after the patron saint of police officers. A short drive from O’Hare Airport, the center serves police officers with substance abuse disorders from across the country.

Nowacki does not describe further what the May 26 incident entailed, and no complaints were logged with either BIA or the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA). Jinx Press has filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with CPD in an attempt to gather more information. Police attendance records show Nowacki went on medical leave May 27.

In another comment chain from the same time period, before COVID-19 vaccines were available, Nowacki wrote that he wasn’t wearing a mask in public because he was “trying to get the Rona.”

Screenshot taken from Michael Nowacki’s Facebook account in 2020.

One other investigation into Nowacki remains open: a 2021 BIA probe initiated by a district accountability sergeant that alleges he kicked in a woman’s door, allowing another individual to enter.

CPD, who also previously declined to fire Proud Boy cop Robert Bakker despite the OIG’s urging, has refused to pursue further investigation into the active duty officers on the Oath Keepers membership list. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson reiterated his administration’s commitment to rooting out extremism within CPD this week in the wake of the OIG report release, but has seemingly rejected their recommendation for convening a specialized task force to do so.

Nine Chicago Police officers were initially investigated for signing up with the Oath Keepers. Officer Phillip Singto retired in April. In addition to Sergeant Nowacki, seven others remain on duty. Their current assignments are as follows:

Detective Anthony Keany (Financial Crimes Section), Alberto Retamozo (17th District, Community Policing Sergeant), Matthew Bracken (15th District, Strategic Decision Support Officer), Bienvenido Acevedo (24th District, Beat Officer), Dennis Mack (Public Transportation Officer, O’Hare), Detective Alexander Kim (Area 3, Violent Crimes), and John Nicezyporuk (Training and Support Group).

Four crooked cops caught unlawfully seizing guns and lying about it now face termination

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 10:32:00 GMT

5th District tactical team officers Daniel Fair, Jeffery Morrow, Rupert Collins, and Kevin Taylor face separation from the department following a COPA investigation into unlawful gun seizures and false reports. Source: Chicago Police Department

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling has agreed with the Civilian Office of Police Accountability’s (COPA) recommendation to terminate four tactical officers who engaged in a scheme to unlawfully seize firearms from residents and then filed false reports to conceal how the guns were obtained.

COPA’s investigation sustained 108 combined allegations against the four officers, citing “substantial and irrefutable” evidence that the officers engaged in or had knowledge of “a pattern of creating false reports to conceal the fact firearms were seized under false pretenses.”

Two of the officers, Daniel Fair and Jeffery Morrow, admitted to Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agents that they had engaged in “a pattern of seizing firearms and completing false reports.”

In a particularly troubling incident, the FBI found that these two officers had unwittingly taken the murder weapon from a wanted murderer—but they were so focused on their scheme, they failed to ask for his name and released him.

COPA uncovered another instance where it appears Fair took a “significant amount” of money and cannabis from a vehicle, then drove the contraband directly to his house without reporting the seizure.

Officer Kevin Taylor, also implicated in this scheme, admitted to investigators that he was aware of the misconduct.

The fourth officer, Rupert Collins—the most experienced member of the team—denied any knowledge of the false reports. COPA has cast doubts on Collins’ credibility, noting inconsistencies in his statements and finding it “implausible” that he claimed to investigators that he was unable to hear only the portions of body-worn camera audio that suggested he was aware of the scheme.

According to COPA’s final report, one of the officers said the motive behind the pattern of civil rights violations was an attempt to improve firearm seizure statistics for commanders.

Snelling’s agreement to fire all four officers comes after his recent criticism of the oversight agency and heightened scrutiny of CPD’s use of tactical teams.

View Superintendent Snelling's letters recommending termination

In February, Snelling criticized COPA for recommending the termination of 28 officers in the first two months of this year—including the four in this report—and he accused COPA investigators of basing conclusions on “personal opinions and speculation.”

More recently, Snelling has criticized COPA Chief Andrea Kersten over the agency’s handling of its investigation into the police killing of Dexter Reed after questioning officers’ credibility. The tactical officers who killed Reed claimed they stopped him over a seatbelt violation, which video evidence contradicts.

Since March 2023, Officers Fair, Morrow, Taylor, and Collins have been stripped of their police powers and assigned to the Alternate Response Section (ARS), a unit primarily staffed by officers with disciplinary and medical issues where they answer non-emergency phone calls while still receiving a pay check and earning time toward their pensions.

Last year, all four officers were also placed on the Cook County State’s Attorney’s list of officers not to call as witnesses.

Two of the implicated officers had relatively short tenures with the department at the time of the illegal seizures. Fair became a member of the force in 2017, followed by Morrow in 2018. Taylor started in 2015, while Collins, the most seasoned member, joined the department in 2006.

Additionally, officers Fair, Morrow, Taylor, and Collins face 37, 37, 13, and 26 other allegations, respectively, including improper searches and seizures, neglect of duty, and improper arrest.” It is unclear how many of those allegations may have been folded into this investigation.

Fair is the sole officer facing criminal charges stemming from this investigation. He is charged with felony counts of obstruction of justice and official misconduct for allegedly lying in court about the circumstances leading to a man’s 2020 arrest and conviction. Fair has pleaded not guilty.

In December 2023, People’s Fabric reported on dozens of documents and videos obtained from COPA via Freedom of Information Act requests, which are now summarized in COPA’s newly released final report, also obtained through a public records request.

Read COPA's Final Summary Report detailing findings and disciplinary recommendations.

The complaint that sparked the investigation

Just two days after celebrating her 37th birthday, Lakisha German, accompanied by a friend and her two teenagers, was returning home from a birthday gathering at her father’s house. The group made their way to 120th Street and Michigan Avenue to catch a northbound #34 bus, carrying helium balloons and a gift bag. It was October 2021.

As they waited, an SUV drove past, U-turned at the next intersection, and pulled over at the bus stop.

The driver rolled down the window. Two uniformed police officers, Fair and Morrow, sat inside the unmarked vehicle, shining a flashlight on the family.

German greeted them, asking, “Hello officers, how are you? What’s going on?”

One of the officers inquired, “Anybody have a gun or firearm?”

German, who prides herself on being an honest person, replied, “Yes, sir, I do.”

She informed the officers that she had a gun zipped inside her fanny pack—a distinctive purple and black .38 caliber Ruger.

Morrow got out of the car, opened her fanny pack, removed the firearm, unloaded it, and stuck the gun in his vest.

After questioning German’s children and her male friend about firearms—they all said they had none—the two officers searched the males regardless. The men started to search her daughter, but stopped when they saw she was carrying her pet boa constrictor, Milo.

Before driving off, one of the officers said, “This never happened,” leaving German without any documentation of the stop or gun seizure—a gun she had legally purchased.

A police overhead camera catches Chicago police officers Daniel Fair and Jeffery Morrow conducting an unlawful search and seizure on October 5, 2021; Source: COPA

Fair and Morrow returned to the 5th District station, inventoried the gun, and lied about where they found it.

Using a ShotSpotter alert of 11 shots fired a mile away from German’s location as the pretext, the officers claimed to have found the .38 caliber Ruger laying on the ground at that scene, falsely attributing its discovery to the ShotSpotter alert.

To this day, police data incorrectly shows this as a successful gun recovery attributed to ShotSpotter.

Feeling the uneasy about the encounter, and worried about how the officers’ potential misuse of her gun, German went to the 5th District police station the following morning to report the incident. Two days later, she was interviewed by COPA investigators.

CPD’s GPS logs and video pointed investigators to Fair and Morrow as the officers involved, and provided the first proof that the officers were lying in official reports.

Morrow later told investigators that he considered this to be “a positive interaction,” in-line with former Superintendent David Brown’s emphasis on positive community interactions.

German’s report kicked off this sprawling investigation which eventually implicated Officers Taylor and Collins as COPA investigators and the FBI re-examined their past stops.

According to COPA’s report, they “determined there were at least twenty cases with COPA bearing similar complaint patterns that involved Officers Fair and Morrow.”

Asked if this experience has changed her perception of police, German said, “No. I don’t think all cops are bad. I don’t have anything against anybody. But I’m supposed to feel safe, not fear you.”

“It’s not fair that they use their job to serve and protect, and their badge and shield, to do dirty work. You have to be an honorable person.”

German added, “I’m glad my little ol’ complaint helped get some people off the street who shouldn’t be there.”

A murderer in their grasp

On June 20, 2021, officers Fair and Morrow rolled up in front of a home where four men were sitting in the front yard.

After instructing the men to turn their music down, Fair said, “Give me a gun right now, you know what I’m saying, and go about your day.”

The officers claimed they had previously seen a gun in the pants of one of the men, a man in a red shirt.

Morrow told the man to put up one of his hands, adding, “You can keep your blunt though. Gimme your other hand,” as he grabbed the man’s arm.

Fair asked how old he is. “Nineteen,” the man responded.

Fair and Morrow took the man’s gun, and Morrow says, “Go smoke your blunt, alright?” just before turning off his camera.

Chicago PO Jeffrey Morrow’s body-worn camera shows himself and PO Daniel Fair seizing a gun from a man who investigators later learned was wanted for murder. Source: COPA

The officers filed a false report, claiming an unknown man had flagged them down and stated he had “found a firearm in his yard” and wanted to turn it in because “firearms scared him.”

Later, the FBI pieced together that the man Fair and Morrow briefly detained was Khalil Griffin, 20, who was wanted for a murder committed in Kentucky ten days prior. The gun they seized and lied about was the murder weapon.

Griffin returned to Kentucky and turned himself in to local police on June 25—five days after the encounter with Fair and Morrow. He pleaded guilty to murder and he was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

When asked whether he understood the harm in failing to investigate Griffin, Morrow replied, “Yeah, hurts me.” He added that the reason for recovering guns in this manner was to improve Compstat gun retrieval numbers for commanders.

Missing cash and drugs

On June 15, 2021, officers Fair and Taylor, detained and searched a man and a woman who had been sitting in a parked car. The officers claimed they had run the vehicle’s license plate and it did not “come back,” as pretext for the stop.

COPA found no record that the officers had run the plate.

Taylor had his body-worn camera activated during the stop. Fair did not.

The man told officers that he had been a former parolee. The officers handcuffed both of them as Fair searched the car.

During his search, Fair held up a stack of cash he’d found and asked the occupants about a large bag of cannabis.

Chicago PO Kevin Taylor’s body-worn camera shows PO Daniel Fair holding a stack of cash while conducting an unlawful seizure on June 15, 2021. Source: COPA

While Fair continued his search, Taylor ran a check on the man’s name and informed Fair that the system reported the man was supposed to be in Illinois Department of Corrections custody. The man disputed that, saying his parole had ended.

Fair asked the man, “What’s gonna be the verdict, man? You can’t have that much cannabis. Manufacturing, delivery, with the money and all the other proceeds. Whose bag is it?”

The man replied, “What ya’ll on bro?”

Fair answered, “We do what the fuck we always do.”

Fair appeared to drop the stack of cash back into the bag with cannabis, then tossed the bag and all its contents into his police vehicle. Shortly after, Taylor deactivated his camera.

GPS records show that less than three minutes after Taylor’s camera was turned off, their police vehicle was on the move. They drove straight to Fair’s house, about five minutes away, where it stopped for a few minutes before the officers continued on their way.

There is no other record of this stop—no incident report, no investigatory stop report, no arrest report, no drugs nor cash were inventoried by Fair or Taylor that day.

“Yay or nay? Before I fuckin’ do whatever?”

In early July 2021, shortly after 8:00 PM, a 22-year old man was walking home from buying a soda at a nearby convenience mart when Fair, Morrow, and Taylor pulled up behind him in their unmarked SUV.

Taylor’s camera was rolling. Officers gave no reason for the stop and immediately asked if he had a gun. He said yes, he had a gun in the bag strapped across his chest, and he had a FOID card. He acknowledged he did not have a license to conceal carry.

Morrow handcuffed him, as Taylor unzipped the bag and took the gun.

Chicago PO Kevin Taylor’s body-worn camera shows himself, PO Jeffrey Morrow, and PO Daniel Fair making an apparent unlawful search and seizure. Source: COPA

The officers walked him back to the SUV to have Fair run his name through the system.

Fair said, “Hold on, hold on. Yay or nay? Before I fuckin do whatever?”

“F/P is fine,” Morrow replied before looking at Taylor, “Fine with you? That’s OK?”

Taylor seemed to acknowledge, then turned off his camera.

According to COPA, “F/P” is understood to be the group’s code for “Found Property,” the designation used on their false reports claiming to find firearms lying around.

Like the other stops, Morrow inventoried the gun under a false “found property” report.

“You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?”

In the middle of July 2021, Fair, Taylor, and Collins, stopped three young males in a car. The officers said they made the stop because their headlights weren’t on. The men explained they had just pulled out from their home and hadn’t turned them on yet.

The officers collected IDs from the group and handcuffed them, but never ran their names. Fair searched the car’s trunk and found a loaded firearm buried in a bag. The 20-year-old driver said it was his father’s gun. He explained that he sells shoes out of the trunk of his car and carries cash, so he had the gun for protection.

Chicago PO Daniel Fair’s body-worn camera shows himself and PO’s Rupert Collins and Kevin Taylor seizing a gun which was later inventoried under a false report. Source: COPA

Fair unloaded the gun and stuck it in his vest or pocket, then walked the driver over to their squad car. As Fair walked past Collins, Collins said, “He’s got a stash of money in his front pocket.”

In the car, the man said something like “Y’all can take the gun, I don’t care,” which prompted Fair to loudly say, “Hey hey, chill chill,” in an apparent attempt to drown out the audio. Fair then immediately turned off his camera.

Collins, with his camera still rolling, walked up behind Fair to hand him the group’s driver’s licenses. Fair appeared to dismissively wave the IDs away. Collins covered his camera, at which point Fair asked, “Are you thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’ here?”

“Yeah,” answered Collins, as he quickly walked back to the where the two other men and Taylor were standing. Collins then turned off his camera. Taylor can be heard saying “F/P” just before turning off his own camera.

Chicago PO Rupert Collins’ body-worn camera shows himself and PO’s Daniel Fair and Kevin Taylor seizing a gun which was later inventoried under a false report. Source: COPA

Collins later claimed he couldn’t hear “F/P” on Taylor’s audio and that he didn’t know what “found property” meant.

Fair filed a false report later that evening claiming the gun was retrieved when he and the other officers were “waived down by a citizen who…had found a firearm laying in a grassy area.”

Tactical teams under scrutiny

Chicago’s tactical teams often referred to as “jump-out boys,” have a lengthy history of abuses and employing overly aggressive tactics.

In March, an 11th District tactical team pulled over Dexter Reed for an alleged seatbelt violation. Officers rapidly escalated the situation before Reed appeared to fire at least one shot, shattering one of the officers’ wrists. Police responded by firing 96 shots at Reed, fatally wounding him with 13 bullets.

The real reason behind the stop is still unknown. Video shows it would have been impossible for officers to have seen Reed’s seatbelt prior to the stop, calling their credibility into question.

Police often use minor violations a pretext to stop and search vehicles. This tactic has been shown to disproportionately impact Black and Latino drivers. The practice is now facing renewed scrutiny and may soon fall under the scope of the Chicago Police Department’s federal consent decree.

Notably, all the individuals targeted by officers implicated in this scheme were Black.

After a judge’s recent ruling, an arbitrator will likely eventually decide the fate of Fair, Morrow, Taylor, and Collins. As of now, arbitration proceedings involving separation are to be made public, though the Fraternal Order of Police is appealing that ruling in an attempt to force major disciplinary decisions behind closed doors.

CPD ShotSpotter “Lives Saved” list includes at least one dead man, other misleading wins

Mon, 20 May 2024 16:26:00 GMT

A ShotSpotter sensor atop the Mobil gas station at Cicero & Elston on Chicago’s Northwest Side; Credit: People’s Fabric

A list of cases that meet the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) criteria for life-saving ShotSpotter events includes a number of deceptively framed incidents—everything from gunshot victims walking into police stations on their own to cases where police were already on scene.

As the gunshot detection technology nears its supposed November expiration date in Chicago, proponents have focused on two points in their last-ditch effort to keep the microphones listening: the system’s purported track record of saving lives, and a claim that residents rarely call 911 about gunfire.

People’s Fabric analyzed emergency dispatch audio, Office of Emergency Management Center (OEMC) event logs, ShotSpotter data, and incident reports for 115 events on the list.

In many instances, 911 calls in fact came in before ShotSpotter detections. In others, the technology did accurately detect gunfire, but responding officers were never aware of it. In two cases reviewed, no one was even shot—and in another, the shooting victim died, yet is still listed.

When ShotSpotter rebranded to SoundThinking last year, their sales pitch pivoted from debunked claims about preventing gun violence to an emotional appeal about its life-saving history, including a narrative that neighbors do not call for help. Of the 115 events reviewed, which covers a four-year span, only eight (7%) had no corresponding call.

“The real measure of ShotSpotter’s value is in the stories of lives saved,” wrote SoundThinking CEO Ralph Clark in January.

“ShotSpotter has led police to locate hundreds of gunshot wound victims where there was no corresponding call to 911 [emphasis Clark’s]. Those are victims who would not have received aid but for ShotSpotter.”

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling expressed a similar sentiment in a January Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) hearing on the West Side, telling the crowd, “We have over 150 incidents where officers arrived on the scene of a shot detection alert and applied life saving techniques and saved lives.”

A 2022 report from CPD to City Council explains their criteria: “Totals are provided for incidents resulting in a Life-Saving Award associated with a ShotSpotter alert. Awards with a status of FINAL or PENDING APPROVAL are counted.”

This means that any incident in which police determine life-saving aid was rendered, and ShotSpotter happened to have detected gunfire, then ShotSpotter is credited with saving that person’s life—even if ShotSpotter was never a factor in sending police to the scene.

Each of the stories below are among CPD’s “150 lives saved by ShotSpotter.”

A dead man on the “lives saved” list

At 11:36 PM on July 9, 2023, ShotSpotter detected gunfire on the 9200 block of South Brandon Avenue. Approximately a minute and a half later, a call of shots fired was received for the same block. More than 18 minutes after the ShotSpotter alert, police arrived at the scene and found Denard L. Morris, 45, of East Chicago, IN in the alley.

According to the police report, they found Morris “covered in blood, on his knees with his hands tied behind his back with white duct tape.”

When asked what happened, Morris said, “Bitch ass Gary Indiana police took me and dumped me.”

Police report narrative describing finding a gunshot wound victim at the scene. The man, Denard Morris, died that night at the hospital. Source: CPD

Morris died shortly after arriving at the hospital.

It’s unclear how many other victims on this list may have been fatally wounded since victim names are redacted. In this case, People’s Fabric was able to identify Morris because officers said his name over the radio the night he was killed.

A missed ShotSpotter alert

In the middle of the day on October 23, 2020, several 911 calls were received about a person shot outside the Jewel at 95th and Stony Island. Within one minute of the calls, an officer and ambulance were dispatched to the Jewel. Two minutes after the calls, OEMC asked the Strategic Decision Support Center (SDSC) if they had any ShotSpotter detections in the area. SDSC said no.

Nearly three minutes after the emergency calls were received, SDSC reported ShotSpotter had detected one noise from that location, but it had been classified as “other.” Officers arrived at the scene just a few seconds later.

Listen to late, misclassified ShotSpotter detection. Source: OEMC

In this instance, if not for the calls alerting police to the gunshot, SDSC would not have dug deeper in ShotSpotter’s data to find the misclassified gunshot. No aid would have been sent. To this day, this ShotSpotter alert does not appear on the City of Chicago ShotSpotter data portal, yet the system is credited with saving this life.

Gunshot victims who walked into police stations

In three cases, while officers were responding to ShotSpotter alerts, the victims found their own way to police districts to receive help.

Police report narrative describing victim walking into police station to receive aid following a shooting incident detected by ShotSpotter. Source: CPD

On February 22, 2020, two men approached a couple in a parked car. A verbal altercation ensued. When the two men displayed firearms, the couple fled in their car. The two men then gave chase in their own vehicle, firing shots at the man and woman.

One bullet struck the man in the throat. ShotSpotter detected the gunfire—and 10 residents dialed 911 to report shots fired.

The woman continued to drive to the 25th District station, nearly a mile and a half from where police headed in response to the gunfire, and told police her boyfriend in the car was wounded. Officers at the station provided aid, and the couple was transported to the hospital by ambulance.

On May 9, 2020, ShotSpotter alerted police to a shooting on the 7900 block of South Halsted. As officers responded to the alert, at least one 911 caller reported shots fired at the same location. Minutes later, a man with a gunshot wound to the abdomen walked up to the 6th District station. Officers at the station applied aid and he was taken by ambulance to the hospital. The incident report states, “Later R/O’s [responding officers] would learn this was connected to a SST [ShotSpotter] alert.”

Police report narrative noting officers only learned later the walk-in gunshot victim was connect to an earlier ShotSpotter alert. Source: CPD

On January 19, 2022, this happened again when a man arrived at the 15th District station with several gunshot wounds. Officers later determined he had been shot over a half mile away, where ShotSpotter had previously detected gunfire.

No one shot but an aggressive dog

In two cases on the list, no one was even shot.

On November 28, 2023, 3rd District officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert reporting gunfire around the corner from the Parkway Gardens housing complex, also known as O-Block. When police arrived, a security guard said someone had fired shots at some loose dogs.

The officers found two dogs. One was bleeding, suffering from a gunshot wound. With the help of neighbors, they found the owner and returned the dogs to her apartment.

Moments later, officers heard screams coming from the unit. They re-entered the apartment to find the wounded dog mauling the owner’s leg. Unable to get the dog to stop, one of the officers fired two shots, killing the dog.

The woman was transported by ambulance to a hospital in stable condition with bite marks on one of her legs.

Police report narrative of an incident in which no one suffered from a gunshot would and police killed an aggressive dog. Source: CPD

On November 17, 2021, multiple ShotSpotter alerts and calls were received about gunfire in the 2nd district—but there’s no record of anyone being shot. The police report, which was closed noting “unlawful use of a weapon,” does not mention that anyone was shot. Dispatch audio also does not indicate anyone was shot, and neither does the city data portal.

Police already on the scene

On the same block where police killed the wounded dog, four people were wounded in a shooting on May 3, 2023. A 16-year-old boy was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Three other victims went to the hospital in good condition.

An officer already on the scene put out a “10-1” call over police radio indicating an officer needs emergency help. While ShotSpotter detected the gunshots, no ShotSpotter call ever went out over police radio. There was no need, officers were already there, with more on the way.

A similar scenario unfolded two years earlier on the 3300 block of West Polk. Officers pulled over a suspect. He shot and wounded two officers. Officers called in a “10-1” and were able to give their location for help. ShotSpotter detected the shots, but had no part in dispatching aid.

On June 5, 2020, officers witnessed a shooting, engaged in a foot chase, and called in shots fired. Help was already on the way when a minute and a half later, a ShotSpotter alert was relayed to OEMC.

On August 12, 2020, officers on foot heard the sound of broken glass. As officers ran to a nearby storefront to investigate, they heard gunshots from the same direction. They radioed in a call of shots fired. More than a minute later, SDSC confirmed ShotSpotter picked up the same shots. Officers already running to the scene found and rendered aid to an Uber driver with a gunshot wound.

Several other events included officers who reported seeing or hearing shots well before ShotSpotter alerts were relayed over the radio.

Other findings

There were instances in which no 911 call was received, or calls came in after police were already on the scene. There were 22 events on this list in which victims received emergency aid from officers when there was no call or a call came in more than two minutes after the ShotSpotter alert.

Once ShotSpotter sensors detect a noise, it can take several minutes for SoundThinking personnel to review audio, determine if legitimate gunfire has been detected, then report to SDSC, which then relays to OEMC.

Callers reported gunfire or shooting victims before or at the exact same time that the ShotSpotter alert was received by OEMC in 47 (41%) of these cases. In 17 instances, the ShotSpotter alert came more than a minute later than emergency calls to OEMC.

Data Source: CPD and OEMC

Of the 60 events in which ShotSpotter alerts were received before emergency calls, 35 (58%) of the calls came within one minute of the ShotSpotter detection. In many cases, the calls came in while police were en route or before they were dispatched. Calls for a person shot generally provided more precise location information to first responders than ShotSpotter alone, as victims often moved from a shooting scene to seek safety or help.

Claims that “80% to 90% of gunfire goes unreported” were also previously debunked after analyzing CPD data. When people are wounded, records show someone called emergency services 98.2% of the time.

CPD did not respond to a request for comment.

ShotSpotter has faced criticism for the over-policing of Black and Latino neighborhoods where the technology is primarily deployed. In February this year, police fired shots at a child after ShotSpotter misidentified fireworks as gunshots.

The MacArthur Justice Center has also filed a class action lawsuit alleging ShotSpotter has been used to justify illegal searches and false charges. Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has said ShotSpotter has little impact on prosecuting gun violence cases, while a recent academic study shows ShotSpotter has no measurable effect on increasing arrests or decreasing gun violence.

On Wednesday, May 22nd, City Council is expected to consider a largely symbolic order demanding that the mayor retain ShotSpotter on a ward-by-ward basis. The order was initially drafted for alderpeople by ShotSpotter’s lobbyists, as reported by the Reader.

CPD sends error-ridden ShotSpotter report to City Council

Thu, 16 May 2024 11:42:00 GMT

A ShotSpotter sensor atop the Gladstone Park Fieldhouse on Chicago’s Northwest Side; Credit: People’s Fabric

Chicago Police Department (CPD) recently sent a report of ShotSpotter statistics to City Council members that is skewed by inaccurate and missing response time data, a People’s Fabric analysis confirms. Other data behind the report sheds new light on how often residents call 911 about shootings—and it’s far more often than claimed by SoundThinking, the vendor behind ShotSpotter.

The report, obtained by South Side Weekly, was intended to help City Council members bolster their efforts to retain ShotSpotter. But experts interviewed by the Weekly cast doubt on the accuracy of the data and the use of misleading statistics.

People’s Fabric obtained the raw data used to generate the report via Freedom of Information Act request and has confirmed many of the suspicions voiced by those experts.

When CPD provided the data, they included a note stating an error had been discovered in the report they had provided to City Council members. A “typographical error” in their query left out a full year’s worth of data used to calculate response times to ShotSpotter alerts and calls of shots fired.

It’s unclear whether CPD has provided a corrected report to City Council members, or if similar errors apply to other portions of the report.

The cover page provided by CPD with the response time dataset, noting known data quality issues and an error in the original report.

In CPD’s revised analysis, all of the average response times increased, but the relative differences between them were similar. The averages inaccurately suggest officers take two minutes longer to respond to ShotSpotter alerts when they are accompanied by a 911 call.

CPD also noted that response times are self-reported by responding officers and data is skewed by officers who delayed marking themselves as “on-scene.”

Despite acknowledging the data is inaccurate in such a way that it would skew averages, CPD provided only averages in their report.

As Robert Vargas, the deputy dean of social sciences and director of the Justice Project at the University of Chicago, told South Side Weekly, “The average can be misleading. It’s really puzzling to me why anyone would put so much weight on a single report based on a single statistic.”

In the most extreme case, one officer marked “on-scene” 16 hours after the event. Over 4,200 (2.4%) of these events, all of which involve reported gunfire, show officers taking more than an hour to mark their arrival.

The data also includes calls with negative response times and more than 12,000 (7%) calls that were responded to in zero seconds—either indicating bad data or the possession of teleportation and time travel devices.

People’s Fabric was able to replicate CPD’s average statistics exactly when including all of the obviously erroneous data.

For reasons that are unclear, officers disproportionately delayed marking themselves on-scene more often when an event had an associated call compared to when officers were solely responding to alert. While all of the averages were skewed by bad data, this had the effect of skewing the average time to respond to “ShotSpotter with call” events more than ShotSpotter alone.

Just as an analysis of average household incomes tends to focus on the median—because averages would be skewed by people like Jeff Bezos— looking at median response times provides a better point of comparison.

Table: Comparison of Average and Media Response Times to events initiated by ShotSpotter alone, ShotSpotter events that had corresponding 911 calls, and calls of shots fired that had no ShotSpotter event.

The median response time when ShotSpotter is accompanied by a call is 4.53 minutes. This is effectively the same as ShotSpotter events with no call, which is 4.83 minutes. The perception from the report that police are slower to respond when people call is a result of the skewed data and bad statistical analysis, not reality.

The report also included details about arrests and evidence collection associated with ShotSpotter, though a recent study has shown in aggregate ShotSpotter does not lead to more arrests or reduce gun violence.

CPD did not respond to our request to speak with anyone involved in the production of the report.

911 calls reporting gunfire

To conduct a deeper analysis, People’s Fabric combined this new dataset with another dataset previously obtained from the Office of Emergency Management & Communications (OEMC).

The OEMC dataset spans 2020 through 2023 and shows how officers closed out each call. This includes identifying whether it was a homicide, aggravated battery with a firearm (someone was shot), reckless discharge, or whether they found nothing.

CPD provided information about 105,847 ShotSpotter alerts, 44,727 (42%) of which they categorized as having corresponding calls.

The number of related 911 calls significantly increases when looking at those that involved confirmed gunfire or wounded victims.

In cases where a person was shot and the gunfire was detected by ShotSpotter, 98.2% of those alerts are identified as having corresponding 911 calls. This is compared to SoundThinking CEO Ralph Clark’s claim that “80% to 90% of gunfire goes unreported.”

Conversely, only 29% of ShotSpotter calls closed as “Miscellaneous” had a corresponding call. This is typically how cases are closed when officers find no evidence of gunfire at a ShotSpotter location.

A whopping 93% of ShotSpotter alerts that had no corresponding call are classified as “Miscellaneous.” SoundThinking says this is evidence that people do not call about gunfire. An alternative interpretation of the data is that a significant number of ShotSpotter alerts may not be gunfire.

A previous study found 83% of all ShotSpotter alerts, regardless of whether there was a corresponding call, ended in no evidence of a crime. The Chicago Office of the Inspector General similarly found that over 90% of ShotSpotter alerts result in no evidence of a gun crime. This works out to as many as 15,000 to 20,000 high-priority dead-end runs by police every year.

The data strongly suggests that when someone has been shot, it’s very rare that someone does not call 911. In cases where People’s Fabric has analyzed the detailed OEMC call logs, ShotSpotter alerts involving shooting victims were often accompanied by several calls, sometimes as many as a dozen.

Chicago’s current agreement to retain ShotSpotter expires in November.

“No, it’s just fireworks!” Chicago cop opens fire on child with fireworks after ShotSpotter gunshot alert

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 17:58:48 GMT

Ring camera footage of the child with a basketball fired upon by Chicago Police.

A Chicago Police officer responding to a ShotSpotter alert fired shots at a child who was playing with fireworks—that’s the conclusion from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability in a statement released today.

“COPA can confirm that a firearm was not used against the officers,” said COPA First Deputy Chief Administrator, Ephraim Eaddy.

CPD initially identified the child as a man, claiming he had opened fire first.

They also reported seeing “flashes of light.”

“When officers arrived in the area, they observed an individual, who has now been identified as a juvenile, standing near a residence. As one officer exited the vehicle, they heard a loud bang, which was later determined to be fireworks. The officer who exited the vehicle discharged their firearm in the direction of the juvenile, who was not struck by gunfire,” investigators state in the press release about the incident.

Body-worn camera footage from the three officers responding to the ShotSpotter alert appears to show one officer immediately fire his gun after hearing a loud bang.

He then yells, “Shots fired! Shots fired!” as another officer radios in a “10-1,” indicating officers are in need of urgent assistance.

Video of the incident provided by COPA.

After the incident, police filed a case report stating an aggravated assault on an officer with a handgun had occurred.

Video obtained from security cameras around the residence shows a child with a ball lighting fireworks in the driveway.

After the police officer fires, the child runs towards police, shouting, “No, it’s just fireworks! It’s just fireworks!”

Video of the incident provided by COPA.

This report verifies preliminary dispatch audio from that evening published by Jinx Press.

At 11:26pm, officers confirm to dispatchers none of them have been injured. They do not report an officer firing his own weapon until 11:36pm.

Because of SoundThinking (formerly ShotSpotter)’s refusal to share internal data with outside researchers, no independent study has ever tested whether ShotSpotter audio devices can reliably distinguish between fireworks and gunfire—both rapid-fire sounds that also measure closely on the decibel (dB) scale used to indicate sound level.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson recently committed to canceling the city’s contract with SoundThinking. The city will be paying $8.6 million to extend the surveillance giant’s contract for another nine months.

COPA has posted additional video and audio from the incident on their website.

Study: ShotSpotter has “no effect” on Chicago’s fatal shootings or arrest rates

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 11:21:00 GMT

A new study has found that ShotSpotter, a gunfire detection technology (GDT), does not live up to the benefits touted by the vendor and law enforcement.

Among the study’s findings, ShotSpotter “did not translate to any meaningful improvements to crime control outcomes.”

Initially marketed as a crime reduction system, ShotSpotter, now rebranded as SoundThinking, has shifted its sales pitch to emphasize the potential for saving lives by enabling quicker police responses to shooting incidents.

But researchers found while police response times are faster in some circumstances, ShotSpotter’s deployment in Chicago “was associated with significantly higher levels of fatal shootings, non-fatal shootings, and gun assaults and robberies [emphasis added].”

While the analysis shows ShotSpotter does not statistically improve the number of shootings, fatalities, or arrests, Chicago spends $8 to $10 million per year on the technology.

The study, described as the “largest research project on gunshot detection technology (GDT) to date,” was funded by the National Institute of Justice, a federal government agency, and conducted with the cooperation of Chicago and Kansas City’s police departments.

Chicago

When responding to a shots-fired call detected by ShotSpotter, Chicago police officers, upon nearing the scene within 500 meters (equivalent to three to four city blocks), arrived approximately ten seconds faster on average compared to responding to a 9-1-1 call. Additionally, officers stopped their vehicles about 13 feet closer to the location indicated by ShotSpotter alerts.

However, the study found that officers were, on average, three seconds slower to respond to fatal shootings when alerted by ShotSpotter as opposed to a 9-1-1 call.

When there was no shooting victim, Chicago police never stopped their car at the location of 26% of ShotSpotter alerts. Chicago’s Office of the Inspector General found that 91% of ShotSpotter alerts do not result in any evidence of a gun-related crime.

It’s important to note that the study did not analyze the total response time from alert or call receipt to officer arrival. Factors such as police call prioritization, 9-1-1 call backlogs, and other factors that could influence dispatch timing were not factored into the response times.

For instance, consider the case of police officer Areanah Preston’s tragic death. Despite a ShotSpotter alert indicating the location of the incident, no help arrived for over 30 minutes. It wasn’t until nearly 20 minutes later, when Preston’s Apple Watch triggered an emergency 9-1-1 alert, that emergency services were dispatched.

In this study, such a call might have been categorized as a police “response” within a couple of minutes, as it only examines the time police identify the correct location once they are already in the vicinity of the scene.

Despite somewhat improved speed and accuracy, the study found ShotSpotter had “no effect” on fatal shootings or non-fatal shootings in Chicago compared to the study’s weighted control areas without the technology.

When controlling for crime rates before ShotSpotter was implemented, population density, demographics, income, CCTV presence, and other factors, the study revealed that the number of fatal shootings actually increased as Chicago expanded its ShotSpotter rollout.

Additionally, the study found no significant improvement in outcomes related to evidence collection and arrests.

While Chicago police are 45% more likely to find evidence at the scene of fatal shootings in areas with ShotSpotter, there was no improvement in arrest rates. For non-fatal shootings, ShotSpotter had no material effect on evidence collection.

These findings align with at least two other studies of ShotSpotter deployments in different cities, as referenced in this report, which also found no statistical improvement in arrest rates following ShotSpotter deployments.

The study yielded mixed results regarding the number of firearms recovered. Across the ten phases of Chicago’s ShotSpotter rollout, six phases showed no increase in gun recoveries, one phase resulted in fewer gun recoveries, and three phases saw significant increases in gun recoveries.

Researchers suggested the disparities observed across police districts may be attributed more to “unique leadership strategies” and approaches than technology.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is currently investigating a crew of 5th District officers who are accused of unlawfully seizing several firearms. In at least one instance, officers credited ShotSpotter with the falsely reported firearm recovery.

Kansas City

In Kansas City, the impact of ShotSpotter on the police’s ability to pinpoint locations exhibited mixed results. Upon receiving a ShotSpotter alert, officers responded to fatal shootings approximately four minutes faster. However, they were 45 seconds slower to arrive at the scene of non-fatal shootings compared to when responding to 9-1-1 calls.

ShotSpotter alerts were 18% more likely to be closed as unfounded, indicating a lack of corroborating evidence such as property damage, shell casings, or witnesses confirming gunfire, in comparison to resident calls reporting gunfire.

The study found this outcome matches previous research indicating that ShotSpotter “may increase police responses to false-positive gunfire events.”

Similar to findings in Chicago, researchers observed that ShotSpotter in Kansas City was “not significantly associated” with any improvement in the rates of non-fatal or fatal shootings, nor did it lead to a corresponding increase in arrests.

The study was conducted by investigators from Northeastern University, Boston College, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis and others.

Launched in 2019, the group analyzed more than a decade of crime and gunshot detection data from Chicago and Kansas City to determine the effects of GDT on officer response times, the collection of evidence, the occurrence of gun crimes, and case closure rates.

The study concludes, “Given the high cost of the technology… [c]ontinuing upon the current pace of GDT adoption in policing should perhaps be contingent upon the field gaining a better understanding of exactly how to deploy and integrate GDT in a manner that maximizes the likelihood of success.”

The publication of this study comes amid Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s decision to extend the city’s contract with ShotSpotter until September 2024, with an additional two-month transition period to decommission the technology.

The cost of the latest extension is unknown, but Chicago has spent at least $49 million on ShotSpotter since it’s initial deployment.

Former CPD deputy chief on the ShotSpotter sales team shilling lies about the faulty tech

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 14:46:02 GMT

Credit: ShotSpotter Investor Presentation March 2021

A retired Chicago Police chief who was instrumental in piloting the technology’s widespread invasion of Chicago’s neighborhoods is now traveling the country on the company’s dime to promote the gunshot detection system—and touting falsehoods about ShotSpotter’s effects on gun violence in his sales pitch.

Last month, Kevin Johnson pitched ShotSpotter (recently rebranded SoundThinking) to Carbondale, a small city in southern Illinois where 42 shootings with victims occurred between January 2020 and July 2022.

WSIL News 3 reported Johnson told the Carbondale city council “technology like ShotSpotter was used to reduce gun violence in some of the highest crime areas” in Chicago.

Jinx Press can find no research or evidence to corroborate Johnson’s ongoing claims that ShotSpotter produced any long-term effects of reduced gun violence in Chicago.

Johnson Leads ShotSpotter Chicago Launch and Claims Immediate Results

Kevin Johnson (right), then Commander of CPD’s 11th District, pictured demonstrating ShotSpotter technology in March 2017. Photo Credit: Maria Cardona/Sun-Times

Before being promoted to Deputy Chief of the Education and Training Division, Kevin Johnson worked as a commander in the 11th (Harrison) District. Areas of the West Side launched a pilot of updated ShotSpotter technology in January 2017.

ShotSpotter was one of many tech products acquired for CPD’s new Strategic Decision Support Centers (SDSCs) in the 11th and 7th (Englewood/South Side) Districts.

The University of Chicago Crime Lab employed “embedded analysts” at the SDSCs during the implementation phase. The Crime Lab analysts guided sworn and civilian CPD staff in using new surveillance technology like ShotSpotter, understanding predictive policing programs like HunchLab (bought by ShotSpotter in 2018), and producing crime reports.

In March 2017, Johnson told the Chicago Sun-Times that the new police tech and surveillance tools used in the SDSC—including ShotSpotter—were responsible for a reported 45% reduction of shootings in his district.

These bold claims made by CPD and University of Chicago Crime Lab were based on merely two months of data analysis. They have not been replicated in any long-term research. No studies performed nationwide have ever demonstrated a causal link between ShotSpotter installation and reductions in gun violence.

By October 2017, SDSCs were established and ShotSpotter sensors were installed in six police districts on the South and West Sides.

The Chicago Reader reported extensively on the CPD-employed civilian analyst who helped ShotSpotter refine its technology in early 2018, when the company was consistently failing to notify CPD of gunfire that injured victims.

ShotSpotter Misses briefing prepared by CPD Civilian Analyst in 2018. Obtained via Freedom of Information Act by the Chicago Reader

Johnson’s False Claims about ShotSpotter in Chicago are Refuted by Data

It’s not clear why Johnson provides false information asserting the technology has reduced gun violence in Chicago to potential ShotSpotter customers.

A 2019 evaluation by RAND Corporation found that implementing SDSCs resulted in “estimated crime reductions [that] varied between 3 percent and 17 percent”. RAND attributed the success to the holistic SDSC model that included daily crime briefings and data-driven policing—not to ShotSpotter specifically.

Source: RAND Corporation, Real-Time Crime Centers in Chicago: Evaluation of the Chicago Police Department’s SDSCs (2019)

CPD’s COMPSTAT annual report shows the number of shootings across Chicago are virtually unchanged from 2019 to 2023 and murders increased 23%. This suggests any short-term crime reduction observed by RAND as a result of implementing SDSCs did not last.

Robert Vargas, associate professor and Director of the UChicago Justice Project, noted in a recent op-ed that results from a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) study on ShotSpotter’s impact in Chicago have yet to be released.

Vargas questioned whether potentially “unflattering results” are “being delayed from public view until after Chicago’s contract renewal decision.”

The NIJ study results concerning ShotSpotter’s impact in Kansas City were published in November 2023. Researchers found that “none of the three crime types involving confirmed victims (fatal shootings, non-fatal shootings, gun assaults and robbery) exhibited any significant changes following the installation” of ShotSpotter.

Meanwhile, evidence of the negative impacts of the technology continues to mount.

The city’s Inspector General found examples of CPD officers using the “the frequency of ShotSpotter alerts in a given area” as an excuse to stop and frisk. A November 2023 study by economists at University of California-Santa Barbara also found that ShotSpotter is causing CPD officers to arrive two minutes slower to 911 calls, and arrests for domestic battery have decreased by 14%.

And in January, a CPD officer fired at an unarmed person while responding to a ShotSpotter alert in Gresham. Dispatch audio from the incident suggests the alert may have been triggered by fireworks or another loud sound:

Who’s Selling ShotSpotter To New Cities? Other Cops

Despite ShotSpotter’s documented frequent failures, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel signed a multi-year contract with the corporation in August 2018.

The original contract was extended by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot and current Mayor Brandon Johnson, and is now set to expire on February 16, 2024.

Chicago has paid ShotSpotter more than $35 million since 2019, and reserved nearly $9 million for ShotSpotter in its 2024 budget.

Days before Emanuel signed the ShotSpotter contract, Johnson was promoted from 11th District Commander to Deputy Chief of the Education and Training Division.

City records from November 2019 reported Johnson’s salary as $14,176 per month. Johnson both retired from CPD and started his current job as Customer Success Director at ShotSpotter in May 2020.

Credit: Kevin Johnson/LinkedIn

Johnson is not the only former police leader now employed by ShotSpotter. An investor presentation from March 2021 boasted 11 former law enforcement officials from police departments and agencies like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Credit: ShotSpotter Investor Presentation March 2021

Estimating Johnson’s pension at 75% of his last reported salary, his pre-tax pension amount may be up to $10,000 per month.

Any pension he receives, funded by taxpayers, is in addition to whatever SoundThinking pays him to sign up new cities and retain current customers.

Crooked Chicago cop crew seen in videos stealing guns, drugs, and cash

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 15:36:26 GMT

Just two days after her 37th birthday, Lakisha German, a friend, and her two teenagers were heading home from a birthday party at her father’s house. The group walked to 120th Street and Michigan Avenue to wait for a northbound #34 bus, carrying helium balloons and a gift bag. It was October 2021.

As they waited, an SUV drove past, U-turned at the next intersection, and pulled over at the bus stop.

The driver rolled down the window. Two uniformed police officers sat in the unmarked vehicle, shining a flashlight on the family.

German said, “Hello officers, how are you? What’s going on?”

One of the officers asked, “Anybody have a gun or firearm?”

German, who prides herself on being an honest person, replied, “Yes, sir, I do.”

She told the officers she had a gun zipped inside her fanny pack. Her gun was a distinctive purple and black .38 caliber Ruger.

One of the officers got out of the car, opened her fanny pack, took out the firearm, unloaded it, and stuck the gun in his vest.

After asking German’s children and her male friend if they had any firearms—they all said no—the officers searched the males’ bags and pockets. They started to search her daughter, but stopped when they saw she was carrying her pet boa constrictor, Milo.

One officer said, “This never happened.”

They then drove off. The entire interaction lasted about three minutes.

A police overhead camera catches Chicago police officers Daniel Fair and Jeffery Morrow conducting an unlawful search and seizure on October 5, 2021; Source: COPA

In that time, the officers never identified themselves, explained why they searched the group, or asked for names or identification. No investigatory stop report was filed. Officers are required to activate their body-worn camera at the start of any such stop, yet both officers failed to do so.

The officers returned to the 5th District station and inventoried the gun, but they lied about where they found it.

Their official story: Around the same time they were at the bus stop, they said they were near 100 E 127th Street—a mile away—where a ShotSpotter alert had gone off indicating 11 shots fired. There, a man told them he saw a man in a hoodie fire a gun and run away. The officers looked around and found a purple and black .38 caliber Ruger on the ground.

ShotSpotter is a controversial technology which is intended to detect gunshots and dispatch police to the scene. Chicago’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) and other researchers have found the program is ineffective and disproportionately impacts communities of color who are more likely to be subjected to civil rights violations in police response to ShotSpotter dispatches.

The OIG found ShotSpotter alerts resulted in evidence of gun-related crimes only about 9% of the time—that means in 9 out of 10 responses to ShotSpotter alerts, CPD did not find any shell casings, bullet holes, or a suspected shooter. This case shows that even some of those successes stem from false police reports.

Feeling the encounter was not right, and worried about how the officers might use her gun, German went to the 5th District police station to report the incident the next morning. Two days later, she was interviewed by COPA investigators.

Investigators learned the vehicle at the bus stop was assigned to two members of the 5th District’s Tactical Unit, Officers Daniel Fair and Jeffery Morrow. Fair joined the force in 2017, Morrow in 2018. The two had been partners since early 2020.

GPS logs showed Fair and Morrow’s vehicle at the bus stop exactly when German said the encounter happened. An overhead police camera at the intersection captured video of the stop, showing one of the officers taking an item out of German’s fanny pack.

German’s report kicked off an investigation of the two officers and eventually implicated two others in the same unit as COPA investigators took a fresh look at past stops.

“It’s not fair that they use their job to serve and protect, and their badge and shield, to do dirty work. You have to be an honorable person.”

German added, “I’m glad my little ol’ complaint helped get some people off the street who shouldn’t be there.”

She still has not gotten her firearm back two years later. German acknowledges she did not have a conceal carry permit, but has a FOID card and receipt for her gun. Investigators tell her it is still evidence in this case.

Calumet Cop Crew

New videos give a firsthand look at four Chicago police officers’ misconduct, including unlawful searches and seizures, falsified police reports, and evidence some may have stolen drugs and money.

All have been stripped of their police powers, and one of the officers now faces criminal charges.

5th District police officers Daniel Fair, Jeffery Morrow, Rupert Collins, and Kevin Taylor have been stripped of police powers after unlawful gun seizures and filing false reports. Source: City of Chicago

In March 2023, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) asked then-Police Superintendent David Brown to relieve four Calumet District officers of their police powers when an ongoing investigation revealed significant evidence of misconduct.

One officer, Daniel Fair, 34, has been charged with felony counts of obstruction of justice and official misconduct after allegedly filing a false report, then lying in court regarding circumstances that led to a man’s 2020 arrest and conviction. Fair has pleaded not guilty.

The Cook County State’s Attorney vacated the man’s convictions that were based on Fair’s false testimony.

People’s Fabric has obtained and reviewed dozens of official documents and videos from COPA which reveal new details about this pattern of unlawful seizures and falsified reports. In one instance, the officers were so singularly focused on unlawfully taking a firearm that they let a man wanted for murder slip through their fingers.

During the timeframe covered here, all four officers were members of the 5th District tactical team.

Missing cash and drugs

On June 15, 2021, Fair and another member of the same tactical unit, Kevin Taylor, detained and searched a man and a woman who had been sitting in a parked car.

Taylor had his body-worn camera activated during the stop. Fair did not.

The man told officers that he had been a former parolee. The officers handcuffed both of them as Fair searched the car.

During his search, Fair held up a stack of cash he’d found and asked the occupants about a large bag of cannabis.

While Fair continued his search, Taylor ran a check on the man’s name and told Fair that the system reported the man was supposed to be in Illinois Department of Corrections custody. The man disputed that, saying his parole had ended.

Both officers appeared relaxed and frequently laughed at the man’s situation. Finally, Fair appeared to drop the stack of cash back into the bag with cannabis, then tossed the bag and all its contents in his police vehicle.

Chicago PO Kevin Taylor’s body-worn camera shows PO Daniel Fair holding a stack of cash while conducting an apparent unlawful seizure on June 15, 2021. Source: COPA

The officers made the handcuffed man sit on the ground. Fair took the man’s phone and appeared to scroll through it. Fair and Taylor exchanged some looks and unintelligible words, then Taylor deactivated his camera.

GPS records show that less than three minutes after Taylor’s camera was turned off, their police vehicle was on the move. Fair’s house was six minutes away. Six minutes after their SUV started moving, it made a two minute stop at Fair’s home.

Aside from Taylor’s body-worn camera video and GPS logs, there is no other record of this stop. No incident report, no investigatory stop report, no arrest report, no drugs nor cash were inventoried by Fair or Taylor that day.

Taylor joined the force in 2015 and had been in the 5th District’s tactical unit since at least June 2017.

A murderer in their grasp

Five days later, on June 20, 2021, Fair and Morrow rolled up in front of a home where four men were sitting in the front yard.

After telling the men to turn their music down, Fair says, “Do me a favor right here and now, man. I’ll make it easy. What you do right now is give me the gun right now, you know what I’m sayin’? And go about your day.”

The officers claimed they had been able to see a gun in the pants of one of the men, a man in a red shirt.

Morrow tells the man to put up one of his hands, then adds, “You can keep your blunt though. Gimme your other hand,” as he grabs the man’s arm.

Fair asks how old he is.

“Nineteen,” the man responds.

Some of the other men object that the police didn’t have cause to pull up and confront them the way they did on private property.

Fair and Morrow then take the man’s gun, and Morrow says, “Go smoke your blunt, alright?” Morrow then turns off his camera. The entire interaction lasted less than two minutes.

Chicago PO Jeffrey Morrow’s body-worn camera shows himself and PO Daniel Fair seizing a gun from a man who investigators later learned was wanted for murder. Source: COPA

The officers inventoried the gun under a false report. They claimed an unknown man flagged them down who had “found a firearm in his yard,” and wanted to turn it in because “firearms scared him.”

Later, investigators would piece together that the man Fair and Morrow had in their grasp was wanted for a murder committed in Kentucky ten days prior.

On June 11, authorities in Paducah, Kentucky had put out a warrant for 20-year old Khalil Griffin in the shooting death of a 28-year old man the day before.

Griffin returned to Paducah and turned himself in to local police on June 25—five days after Morrow took his gun. Griffin pleaded guilty to murder and in October he was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

“Yay or nay? Before I fuckin’ do whatever?”

A 22-year old man was walking home from buying a soda at a nearby convenience mart a little after 8:00 PM in early July 2021, when an unmarked police SUV with three officers pulled up behind him.

Taylor’s camera was rolling. Officers gave no reason for the stop and immediately asked if he had a gun. He said yes, he had a gun in the bag strapped across his chest, and he had a FOID card. He also acknowledged he did not have a license to conceal carry.

Morrow handcuffed him, as Taylor unzipped the bag and took the gun.

Chicago PO Kevin Taylor’s body-worn camera shows himself, PO Jeffrey Morrow, and PO Daniel Fair making an apparent unlawful search and seizure. Source: COPA

The officers walked him back to the SUV to have Fair run his name through the system.

Fair said, “Hold on, hold on. Yay or nay? Before I fuckin do whatever?”

“F/P is fine,” Morrow replied before looking at Taylor, “Fine with you? That’s OK?”

Taylor seemed to acknowledge, then turned off his camera.

According to COPA, they understand “F/P” to be the group’s code for “Found Property,” the designation used on their false reports claiming to find firearms laying around.

Morrow inventoried the gun under a false “found property” report. He claimed an unknown male flagged officers down and pointed them to a firearm he found on nearby abandoned property.

“You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?”

In the middle of July 2021, Fair, Taylor, and Officer Rupert Collins, another member of their tactical team, stopped three males in a car. Officers said they made the stop because their headlights weren’t on. The men said they had just pulled out from their home and hadn’t turned them on yet.

The officers collected IDs from the group and handcuffed them, but never ran their names. As Fair searched their car, Collins said to them, “There’s a lot of stuff goin’ on man. It’s a Friday night,” adding they are out “tryin’ to keep everybody honest.”

In a backpack in the car’s trunk, Fair found a loaded firearm. The driver, 20, said it’s his father’s gun and he has it to feel safe since he sells shoes out of the trunk of his car and carries cash.

Fair unloaded the gun and stuck it in his vest or pocket, then walked the driver over to their squad car. As Fair walked past Collins, Collins said to him, “He’s got a stash of money in his front pocket.”

In the car, the man said something like “Take the gun, I don’t care,” which prompted Fair to loudly say, “Hey hey hey hey, chill chill chill,” in an apparent attempt to drown out the audio. Fair immediately turned off his camera.

Chicago PO Daniel Fair’s body-worn camera shows himself and PO’s Rupert Collins and Kevin Taylor seizing a gun which was later inventoried under a false report. Source: COPA

Collins, with his camera still rolling, walked up behind Fair to hand him the group’s driver’s licenses. Fair appeared to dismissively wave the IDs away. Collins covered up his camera, at which point Fair asked, “Are you thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’ here?”

“Yeah. Oh ok.” Collins quickly walks off to chat with the two passengers for a minute. As his camera showed Fair letting the driver out of the patrol car, Collins turned off his camera.

Chicago PO Rupert Collins’ body-worn camera shows himself and PO’s Daniel Fair and Kevin Taylor seizing a gun which was later inventoried under a false report. Source: COPA

Fair filed a false report later that evening claiming the gun was retrieved when he and the other officers were “waived down by a citizen who…had found a firearm laying in a grassy area.”

Investigators are looking into at least one other instance in which the crew logged three guns as “found property” from a location which is directly contradicted by GPS logs.

It’s not clear what motivated the officers’ actions, but one factor may have been top brass’ emphasis on gun retrieval statistics, without an equal emphasis on protecting residents’ civil rights.

Officers can no longer testify

All four officers have been placed on the State’s Attorney’s list of officers who lack the credibility to be called to testify.

In total, the four officers have had 67 complaints lodged against them. Fair and Morrow each have 20 complaints, Collins has 16, and Taylor has 11.

Many complaints make similar allegations of unlawful searches and seizures, and some describe property, drugs, and cash that allegedly were taken and not inventoried. Most were closed as unsustained, as they lacked video evidence, though there are still 13 open investigations which include one or more of the four officers.

These officers are still active, collecting paychecks, and accruing time toward their pensions while answering non-emergency 311 calls with the Alternate Response Section, a unit that is effectively a holding area for cops under investigation or medical disability.

The State’s Attorney petitioned in August to vacate a man’s convictions related to Fair’s testimony. The State’s Attorney’s office has not responded to questions about how many other cases or convictions might be impacted.

In recent years, hundreds of convictions in Cook County have been overturned or are the subject of lawsuits stemming from Chicago police who have a history of coercing confessions, intimidating witnesses, making false statements, and falsifying evidence. Wrongful-conviction lawsuits have cost taxpayers nearly a billion dollars over the past two decades.

COPA has not yet issued their final report on this investigation of the four officers. At this time, Fair is the only one facing criminal charges.

Article originally published by People’s Fabric on December 11, 2023.

CPD detective who tweeted selfie at Ariana Grande under investigation for racist and transphobic comments

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 20:55:33 GMT

Detective (then officer) Shawn Popow (right) and his partner at the time, Officer Ricardo Ocampo (left). Source: Twitter

The sky is blue, the grass is green, and Chicago Police officers just can’t stop acting up on social media.

Dozens of shockingly racist and transphobic social media posts from Detective Shawn Popow are currently under investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

Screenshots taken from Facebook and Twitter profiles verified as Popow’s show a long history of overtly bigoted posts, with some as recent as this week—and others stretching back more than a decade. Popow’s posts refer to Black people in dehumanizing terms such as “rats,” “subhuman wretches,” “subhuman savages,” “animals,” “ghetto mutts,” and “parasites.” He also gleefully celebrates police killings of civilians.

Detective Popow’s most offensive posts are found on a Twitter account where he goes by the screenname Südliche Polizei, translated directly from German as “Southern Police.” His handle, @SheepdogCPD, references a common policing trope wherein cops are the “sheepdogs” protecting sheep (citizens) from wolves.

Earlier this year, Popow replied to several Twitter users with an image reading, “Stupid Ass N**** Award”

Racist images tweeted by Detective Shawn Popow; Source: Twitter

Popow posted an image from a graphic scene in the movie American History X, in which a white supremacist kills a Black man by stomping his head on the curb. Above the image Popow wrote, “I bet yo mama could press your face into dough and make gorilla cookies,” with a laughing emoji.

Violent image from American History X depicting white supremacist violence; Source: Twitter

In response to posts showing Black teens twerking or fighting, Popow referred to the behavior as a “chimpout,” sharing an Urban Dictionary definition of “An aggressive and violent outburst by a black person, such as tantrums of chimpanzees or baboons straight out of National Geographic’s nature shows. O.J. really did chimp out with Nicole by slashing her throat.”

Racist term posted by Detective Shawn Popow; Source: Twitter

One of Popow’s “chimpout” references included another meme which claims, in part, “The Black experiment has failed… they have become socially incompatible with other races by their own design.”

Another racist term and trope posted by Detective Shawn Popow; Source: Twitter

On both Facebook and Twitter, Popow frequently referred to parts of the city as the “ghetto.” Just last month, Popow described the “ghetto” as a “self-cleaning oven,” adding “As long as it doesn’t affect you and yours, leave it be. Leave civilization to the civilized.”

Bigoted post describing the “ghetto” as a “self-cleaning oven.” Source: Twitter

His posts about the “ghetto” date back to when he was a patrolman. In 2012, Popow shared a photo of a misspelled sign to his personal Facebook page which read, “Puppis [sic] for sale.” Popow described the photo as “Ghetto Edu-ma-ca-shun at its finest.”

Post from Detective Shawn Popow mocking Black people; Source Facebook

Popow has long used dehumanizing terms to describe people in the “ghetto.” When he was a patrolman headed out on furlough he wrote, “the further away I drive from the ghetto rats, the better I feel.”

Post referencing “ghetto rats”; Source: Facebook

Earlier this year, he used the same phrasing in a thread to dehumanize teens gathering downtown, “These are rarely ‘teens’, just feral offspring of ghetto rats. Acting as they do.”

Detective Shawn Popow referring to Black teens as “feral offspring of ghetto rats.” Source: Twitter

Popow mocks Black Chicagoans in a 2011 Facebook post where he wrote, “We didn’t call YOU, we called for da bam-ba-lamps! [ambulance]. He refers to the residents calling for help as “subhuman savages.” In another post, he complained that he had to work 25 minutes over his shift, which didn’t qualify for overtime, blaming the “savages not able to act right” and “stupid ghetto drama.”

Post mocking Black Chicagoans; Source: Facebook

Post referring to “savages” in his beat; Source: Facebook

Shortly after his promotion to detective last year, Popow shared a plainly racist meme reading “N—ggle me this, batman. What accounts for as little as 13%, but also for half?” a reference to white supremacist propaganda which compares the 13% of the U.S. population that is Black with some alleged crime rate.

Another post from Detective Popow calling Black teens “animals,” “feral,” and “parasites”; Source Twitter

Detective Shawn Popow sharing a racist trope common among white supremacists; Source: Twitter

A recent WBEZ investigative report highlighted the significant racial disparity in traffic stops by police in Chicago and throughout Illinois. According to the report, in Chicago, Black drivers were stopped by police more than four times as often as white drivers, even though the Black population is smaller—primarily due to racial biases in police practices.

In several posts, Popow celebrated police shooting and killing Black men.

Popow shared a video on Twitter showing police firing multiple shots into a vehicle, killing a man. Popow wrote, “Any time police face a deadly force incident, it should 100[%] end like this… FAFO [Fuck around and find out] should be the CPD motto.”

Detective Shawn Popow post of a video depicting a killing by police; Source: Twitter

The next morning, Popow shared the same video to his personal Facebook page, exclaiming, “I [heart] stories with happy endings!” again adding the tag “FAFO.”

Detective Shawn Popow post of the same video depicting a killing by police; Source: Facebook

This past May, Popow shared a post reading, “The face you make when you don’t understand what stop resisting means,” over the image of a Black man in a casket.

Detective Shawn Popow’s post of a Black man in a coffin; Source: Twitter

Popow has also made transphobic statements on social media. In a reply to a Twitter user who listed their pronouns in their bio along with “protect trans kids”, Popow replied with a photo of Aiden Hale (born Audrey), using the terms “was/were” in place of pronouns. Hale was a transgender male who killed three adults and three children in a Nashville school shooting, before he was killed by police.

Anti-trans post; Source: Twitter

When far-right propagandist Ian Miles Cheong, who once declared “I fucking love Hitler,” posted a photo mocking the appearance of Chrissy Teigen, Popow replied with a photo from one of the Saw movies with the caption “now identifies as female.”

Post mocking gender identity; Source: Twitter

When world-renowned anti-trans author J.K. Rowling wrote “No,” with an image reading, “Repeat after us: Trans women are women,” Popow replied with a revised image which stated, “Repeat after us: Trans women are not.”

Another anti-trans post from Detective Popow; Source: Twitter

Popow was promoted to detective last year. A review of Popow’s case load shows he primarily handles assault and battery complaints on the South Side, from Kenwood to Chicago Lawn.

Popow has been the subject of at least two previous misconduct settlements, both involving allegations of excessive force against a minor. A search of public records shows twelve other complaints lodged against Popow over his career, none of which appear to have resulted in a sustained finding or disciplinary action.

Records show COPA is now investigating Popow’s social media activity. Previous investigations into social media posts with violent imagery have failed to produce significant discipline or firing of officers, with many still remaining on the force despite statements targeting minorities. Who has jurisdiction over complaints involving bias-based hate speech is currently in flux—past cases have been investigated by the department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs, while some are investigated by civilian investigators with COPA.

Popow is vocal on social media about his distaste for civilian oversight of police, frequently using the hashtag “#CUCKFOPA.”

One of several posts between Detective Shawn Popow and former officer Martin Tully; Source: Facebook

Martin Tully with flag by pool; Source: Facebook

He is also connected on social media to Martin Earl Tully, a former Chicago Police officer who appears on a membership roll of the Oath Keepers. The far right militia recruited heavily from law enforcement and military prior to helping organize the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol. Tully now works for a private contractor providing security in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois. Six months after the January 6 putsch, he received an “award for excellence in judicial security” from Chief U.S. district judge Rebecca Pallmeyer.

Martin Tully marking his 3 year anniversary with Walden Security; Source: Facebook

Award for Excellence in Judicial Security given to Martin Tully in 2021; Source: Facebook

Popow is also connected to northwest side Sergeant Ammie Kessem on Facebook. Kessem has previously been investigated for anti-LGBTQ* comments falsely accusing a Chicago librarian of “grooming” children. She took and passed the Lieutenant’s exam after stoking “groomer” panic.

The police department declined to comment, citing an ongoing investigation. Detective Popow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

How was it determined @SheepdogCPD is in fact Detective Popow? Besides his use of the same derogatory terms, sharing the same video hours apart on Facebook and Twitter, and frequently posting on Twitter that he is a Chicago cop—he once posted a selfie from his squad car, tagging musician Ariana Grande.

Detective (then officer) Shawn Popow (right) and his partner at the time, Officer Ricardo Ocampo (left). Source: Twitter

Popow and his partner at the time Ricardo Ocampo posted about the first two lines of her song Thank U, Next:

Thought I’d end up with Sean

But he wasn’t a match

Wrote some songs about Ricky

Now I listen and laugh

In this investigation, Shawn is a match, but no one is laughing.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A previous version of this story included some minor misattributions in our photo captions. Those mix-ups have since been corrected.

Barrington library board candidate Chase Heidner is deep into QAnon

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 17:46:28 GMT

Heidner and partner Benjamin Jinno, known on TikTok as bluecollarben, at an Arizona Turning Point USA event in December 2022.

Pizzagate. Adrenochrome. Hunter Biden’s laptop. 28-year old Chase Heidner is well-versed in them all. The Barrington Area Library Board of Trustees candidate admits she is new to electoral politics, but an illustrious social media history reveals she is far from new to extremism.

A publicly accessible Google Doc previously linked on one of her TikTok accounts outlines her personal “research” into a long list of false child sex abuse allegations involving celebrities and politicians. Titled “Research on the Deep State,” it includes alleged subliminal messages in the social media and music videos of musician Justin Bieber.

A screenshot from Heidner’s 11 page child sex abuse conspiracy theory research document.

Heidner’s partner Benjamin Jinno, who recently relocated to Barrington from Baltimore, has been spotted with her at area board meetings. He has maintained a much larger TikTok following, with at least four accounts confirmed to be his proliferating over the last three years. Like Heidner, he has frequently faced social media suspensions for violating content moderation rules.

Heidner’s main TikTok account is currently set to private. She and Jinno both began scrubbing and locking down their feeds around the time she announced her candidacy for library trustee. But in a stitch recorded with another user, she elaborates on the 2020-era Bieber pizzagate conspiracy theory popular with QAnon followers:

“If you haven’t looked into pizzagate yet, I suggest that you do,” Heidner says in the original video. “Because I have a crapload more evidence from where this came from.”

A 2020 TikTok video received nearly 349,000 views.

Community members in Barrington have repeatedly called out the extremists in their midst attempting to push book bans and disrupt public education by weaponizing false narratives of child sex abuse. Across the country, “groomer panic” has led to relentless attacks on librarians, often framed haphazardly by mainstream outlets as a “culture war” rather than a coordinated right-wing media op.

In 2022, one book challenge in Barrington came to a head, with the district 220 board voting to keep Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir Gender Queer in the school catalogue. A few months after the vote, the district superintendent resigned.

Heidner’s candidacy is situated against a backdrop of increasingly violent rhetoric against educators—including a September 2022 incident in Downers Grove, where the library received a bullet in the mail.

In another stitch with a different TikTok account, she whispers into the camera, “They’re everywhere. They’re everywhere within our government, they’re everywhere within Hollywood.”

“It’s in the media. Education system, dude, it doesn’t end.”

The library board candidate has also been featured on partner Benjamin Jinno’s account. In one video, the pair discuss a long list of their favorite “conspiracy files.”

“That’s the one about how the government and corporations are teaming up to infiltrate every single one of our institutions in order to subvert American culture and enslave all of humanity,” Heidner says.

Jinno was never arrested or charged for any activities related to January 6, and it appears he did not trespass inside the Capitol building itself or engage in fighting with police officers assigned that day. But an Instagram post that has since been deleted does confirm his presence on grounds. In the video, he pans over a singing crowd

A screengrab from Ben Jinno’s previous Instagram handle.

Perhaps more disturbing is Jinno’s rhetoric leading up to the events of January 6. He overtly threatens to assassinate political commentator Keith Olbermann.

“What are you going to do if the 6th doesn’t go your way?” Jinno tweeted before the attempted insurrection.

In a video posted to TikTok and Twitter just one week before the Capitol attack, Jinno films himself loading rounds into an assault rifle magazine. Behind him, an American flag is draped on the wall.

“What if there really is a global and elitist plan to overthrow the United States so that they can make it part of this one world communist government? My question is: what are you gonna do about it?”

“I’m pretty sure I just destroyed my TikTok account trying to post this,” Jinno wrote on Twitter.

Heidner, who is seeking a 6-year position on the Barrington Area Library Board of Trustees, is campaigning alongside censorship extremists Kristin Cunningham and Kelly Dittman. They are supported by Action PAC, a far right political action committee also endorsing three candidates for D220 school board—including Moms for Liberty activist Katey Baldassano—and one for village trustee. PAC treasurer Steve Wang currently sits on the D220 board.

Action PAC has raised an extraordinary amount of cash for a local school and library board election, with contributions currently sitting at $64, 219. Its biggest donor is Heidner’s father, Rick Heidner, whose video gambling company Gold Rush Amusements chipped in $10k.

Antisemitic flyers found hours before gun rights activists and extremists packed DuPage County board meeting

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 20:39:44 GMT

A flyer that reads “Every single aspect of gun control is Jewish” packed into a sandwich bag with rodent poison.

A Winfield resident was “disgusted” to discover antisemitic flyers littered across neighborhood driveways and lawns Tuesday morning.

The plastic bags containing the flyers, which included antisemitic conspiracy theory materials published by Goyim Defense League (GDL), also contained pellets that have been positively identified as a common form of rat poison. They were collected and discarded.

GDL propagandists commonly use identical flyers in flyering drives across over a dozen states, as well as during in-person protests. Themes also include anti-LGBTQ* and anti-immigration white supremacist messaging. Followers are known to travel the country livestreaming, and in a disturbing series of events documented by Left Coast Right Watch and Southern California Research Club, one member was exposed for harassing Jewish communities in person—even targeting children.

Polish police arrested the group’s leader, 39-year old neo-Nazi Jon Minadeo Jr., for holding signs advertising hate speech outside Auschwitz concentration camp in August 2022.

Links to the organization’s official media platform have been removed from the images shared here.

A flyer that reads, “Every single aspect of the media is Jewish.”

A flyer that reads, “Every single aspect of pornography & hookup culture is Jewish.”

The quiet subdivision where the flyers were distributed sits only five minutes away from County Board offices, where hundreds were gathered in support of DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick yesterday.

Mendrick joined a majority of IL sheriffs earlier this month in declaring his refusal to enforce the new state ban on semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines.

Sheriff’s departments across the state have vowed to defy the legislation, though sheriffs in Cook and Lake counties—the first and third most populous in the state—have expressed support of the law. Lawmakers and DuPage County board members are calling on Mendrick to retract his statement.

Mendrick was not in attendance at yesterday’s board meeting.

The public Facebook group and second amendment advocacy organization Illinois Gun Owners Together heavily promoted the county board protest.

They are also targeting an upcoming McHenry County Board meeting on January 31, calling upon board members to designate McHenry a “second amendment sanctuary county.”

According to antifascist researchers, IGOT has ties to existing far-right hate groups in IL, including the Proud Boys and Three Percenters alongside other militia group associates.

The page has faced frequent suspensions for sharing racist and sexist content. The second amendment rights club also rallied in support of Kyle Rittenhouse in 2020.

Group membership has exploded since Governor JB Pritzker signed a statewide assault weapons ban on January 11. The National Rifle Association filed a federal lawsuit against the semiautomatic weapons ban just yesterday.

In previous GDL flyering incidents, bags have typically been weighed down with rice, sand or stones.

This is the first Illinois incident researchers are aware of including toxic materials.