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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF ILLINOIS FOR ITS REPORT ON "STOP AND FRISK" POLICE PRACTICES AND CALLING UPON THE CITY OF CHICAGO TO ADOPT THE REFORMS RECOMMENDED IN THE REPORT
WHEREAS, despite the fact that the nation's attention has turned to police practices because of high profile killings, concerns about policing extend beyond the use of force and into the everyday interactions of police with community members; and,
WHEREAS, in black and Latino communities, these everyday interactions are often a "stop and frisk"; and,
WHEREAS, under the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968), officers are allowed to stop you if the officer has reasonable suspicion that you have been, are, or are about to be engaged in criminal activity. Once you are stopped, if an officer has reasonable suspicion that you are dangerous and have a weapon, the officer can frisk you, including ordering you to put your hands on a wall or car, and running his or her hands over your body; and,
WHEREAS, a report on "Stop and Frisk" police practices by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois, published just last month, contains troubling signs that the Chicago Police Department has a current practice of unlawfully using stop and frisk; and,
WHEREAS, "Stop and Frisk" is disproportionately concentrated in the black community. Last month's ACLU Report found that black Chicagoans were subjected to 72% of all stops, though they constitute just 32% of the city's population; and,
WHEREAS, the ACLU of Illinois, comparing stops to population, found that Chicagoans were stopped more than four times as often as New Yorkers at the height of New York City's stop and frisk practice; and,
WHEREAS, the abuse of stop and frisk is a violation of individual rights, but it also poisons police and community relations and directly impacts the bottom line for Cook County taxpayers by leading to arrests that would not have otherwise occurred, thereby burdening Cook County Courts and the Cook County Jail;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Cook County President and the Board of Commissioners that the appreciation of this body be expressed to the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois for its report on "Stop and Frisk" in the City of Chicago; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Cook County President and the Board of Commissioners that the recommendations contained in the above-referenced report including additional tracking, data collection and process around the "Stop and Frisk" practice be enacted at the earliest possible opportunity.
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