Kalven and Invisible Institute push city to release police misconduct files dating to 1967

On Friday, July 8 [2016], an Illinois Appellate Court ruled to vacate an injunction obtained by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) that had barred access to police misconduct records older than four years. The decision means that the Chicago Police Department (CPD) must release police misconduct records, through the Freedom of Information Act, dating back to 1967.

The Hyde Park-based journalistic production company the Invisible Institute, 6100 S. Blackstone Ave., and its founder Jamie Kalven played a major role in the July 8 court decision, which police reform activists are heralding as a victory for transparency and accountability.

In 2014, the court decision Kalven v. City of Chicago opened a number of police misconduct records to the public.

This allowed the Invisible Institute to secure about 11 years worth of city data through Freedom of Information Act requests and civil rights litigation.

As a result, in November 2015, the Invisible Institute published the Citizens Police Data Project, an online database of 56,000 police misconduct complaints. (The database is available at cpdb.co.)

During this time, the City of Chicago agreed to release a full list of police misconduct complaints, dating back to 1967, to the Invisible Institute, Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.

The move by the City of Chicago, however, was blocked by a temporary injunction secured by the FOP. The FOP asserted that the disclosure of the misconduct records would violate its contract with the city.

The City of Chicago appealed, and the Invisible Institute filed an amicus brief on its behalf. The effort proved successful, with the Appellate Court ruling that the records must be disclosed.

http://hpherald.com/2016/07/11/kalven-and-invisible-institute-push-city-to-release-police-misconduct-files-dating-to-1967/