accountability
Muslim Leaders Settle Lawsuit with NYPD in Resounding Win for Equal Constitutional Protection
The Guardian reports that last week a settlement was reached in a lawsuit against the New York Police Department in which lawyers representing New Jersey-area Muslim community leaders won significant concessions from the defendant. The suit, filed jointly by Muslim … Read more »
Press: Workshopping with FOIA Experts Exposes the Secrets for Compelling Governments to Expose Theirs
Braving the third straight day of the weekend’s blizzard, attendees flocked to the completely booked training workshop hosted by the Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights.
Community members of different backgrounds and experience levels from across the city … Read more »
Prosecution Drops Case Against 129 Inauguration Day Protesters
According to a new piece from Al Jazeera, prosecutors in the case against protesters taking part in the Disrupt J20 demonstration, which took place in Washington, DC in January 2017, have dropped all charges against 129 defendants. Among the … Read more »
Announcement: CCDBR to Host FOIA Training Workshop Featuring LPL
To ensure the integrity of the democratic process, it is vital that citizens must be able to know what their government does in their name. This is more important now than ever, as government at all levels increasingly pursues opaque … Read more »
Trump’s Law Enforcement Address is Only the Latest Encouragement in a Pattern of Normalizing Police Brutality
In a piece for Portside, columnist Jelani Cobb underscored the dangerous pattern of the Trump administration, spearheaded by President Trump himself, to normalize abusive policing practices. While Trump’s speech last week to police officers in Long Island grabbed headlines … Read more »
Illinois Legislature Overwhelmingly Approves Bill Requiring Transparency and Accountability in Civil Forfeiture Practices
UPDATE (7/21/17): According to a new report from The Intercept, the US Department of Justice has announced that it will scrap reforms made under President Obama to rein in the practice of civil asset forfeiture by federal law enforcement… Read more »
CPD Using Opaque Algorithm to Compile List of Citizens by Risk of Violence
In a recent story by The New York Times, reporters attempt to probe into the operation of an opaque algorithm which the Chicago Police Department uses to direct law enforcement resources by creating and maintaining a list of citizens … Read more »
Unchecked Facial Recognition Programs Could Severely Erode Privacy When Coupled with Police Body Cameras
UPDATE: In an announcement last week, Taser launched a broad, ambitious promotional campaign to equip local law enforcement around the country with body cameras by providing free body cameras to any police department interested in acquiring them. The promotion, concurrent with the unveiling of … Read more »
Judge Rules Against Police Broadly Collecting of Fingerprints to Unlock Devices
In an opinion issued last week, a federal magistrate judge in Chicago ruled that police are not allowed to indiscriminately collect fingerprints from all residents or occupants of a certain property for the purposes of unlocking encrypted mobile devices. Though … Read more »
Federal Appeals Court Upholds Citizens’ Right to Record Police Activity
In a 2-1 decision, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that citizens have the right to take still or video images of police officers operating in public while on-duty. The case was brought before the court by a Dallas-Fort Worth … Read more »
