JOLIET — The Illinois Attorney General’s Office has finished its more than three-year long investigation into the Joliet Police Department and found that “We find reasonable cause to believe that JPD engages in a pattern or practice of unreasonable force in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Illinois law.”
Joliet Patch obtained a portion of the 158-page document finding results on Wednesday and part of the report reads, “Our findings are not limited to any one type of force, tactic, or context. However, over the course of our investigation, we observed several trends including:
Residents can read the full report at the bottom of this story.
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The Attorney General’s findings concluded there are:
“Supervisory deficiencies at every level of JPD’s review of force deficiencies in JPD’s use of force policies and training a department culture that overlooks policy violations and seeks to justify all force used … Although our office identified numerous unreasonable uses of force between 2017 and 2022, our review of JPD’s supervisory and force panel review documents, as well as JPD’s Internal Affairs files, revealed that these accountability entities rarely recognized unreasonable use of force.
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“JPD’s repeated failure to identify and address unreasonable force is not an aberration—it is a hallmark of its supervisory culture. The Department’s inability to police itself sends the message from the top down that nearly any force can be justified and that there are no consequences for using unreasonable force.”
There are several specific cases cited in the Attorney General’s 158-page report involving Joliet police violating the rights of citizens by illegally harming and abusing people, often Black citizens, such as:
“A 2023 incident illustrates some of these concerns. Officers stopped a car at a gas station for an expired registration. The officers spotted what they believed to be narcotics, and one officer shouted that he would “break [the] motherf***ing jaw” of the Black driver if he did not exit the car. The officers attempted to pull the driver out by his wrists, but he did not comply. When the officers let go, the man sat still with his hands up, repeatedly asking why he was being arrested. An officer discharged a taser at the man’s bare chest.
“Moments later, while the man’s hands were still raised, the officer tased him again. The officers dragged the man out of the car to the ground. While the driver sat motionless and while two officers tried to put his hands behind his back, the officer tased him a third time. After 20 seconds, while officers held the man on the ground, the officer tased him a fourth time. The total length of taser deployment across all uses exceeded the 15-second maximum that the manufacturer recommends for safe use in the absence of a reasonably perceived immediate threat. These repeated deployments were unreasonable: the man was not suspected of a violent offense, and at the time he was tased, he was not posing a threat or attempting to flee. Yet the reviewing supervisor found the force justified and the force review panel did not raise any concerns.”
By late Thursday morning, the following press release was issued by a spokeswoman for Attorney General Kwame Raoul:
“Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy today issued a joint statement affirming their shared commitment to ensuring constitutional policing in Joliet after Raoul’s office released the findings of its investigation into policing practices in Joliet. The city of Joliet and the Joliet Police Department cooperated fully with the three-year investigation, providing access to data, responding to questions, and facilitating the investigative team’s access to information.
“Joliet residents deserve lawful and constitutional policing that is fair to all people, regardless of race or gender. We are committed to continuing the collaborative work that began when the prior Joliet city leadership, led by former Mayor Bob O’Dekirk, invited the Attorney General’s office to open an investigation, in response to concerns raised by the public, following the tragic death of Eric Lurry after his arrest in 2020 by JPD officers.
“Throughout the three years of this investigation, the city of Joliet and the Joliet Police Department have fully cooperated with this investigation. A team comprised of attorneys and staff in the Public Interest Division of the Attorney General’s office, in consultation with law enforcement experts, reviewed thousands of pages of documents provided by the department. In addition, the team carried out dozens of interviews with officers, supervisors, command staff, union representatives, members of the community and other professionals who interact with members of the department. The investigative team also made on-site visits, participated in ride-alongs, observed trainings, and reviewed hundreds of hours of squad car and body camera video.
“That work has culminated in a report; however, today’s report is not the conclusion. Rather, we will collaboratively continue, and expand the meaningful changes that have already been enacted since the election of Mayor D’Arcy. Mayor D’Arcy and the city of Joliet in conjunction with the Attorney General’s office are committed to an ongoing collaboration to enact additional changes and provide the gold standard of police services for its citizens.
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