ACCOUNTABILITY

Illinois Supreme Court Bars PD From Destroying Thousands of Police Misconduct Records

The Chicago police union had argued their contract demands records be destroyed after five years, but the court said that’s against state law.

Chicago Police Department misconduct records must be preserved, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The police union, the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, had argued that the union’s contract with the city mandated misconduct records be destroyed after five years, but the city said that was a violation of state law. “In light of the plain language of the Local Records Act, we agree with the City that the statutory framework the General Assembly constructed makes clear that Illinois recognizes a public policy favoring the proper retention of government records,” the court said, voting 6-1 against the union. Civil rights advocates had argued that granting the union the ability to have personnel records destroyed would protect officers who have committed misconduct from facing proper consequences.