Police brutality may play role in Olympic bid

Using Chicago’s Olympic bid as a pressure point and the alleged 2006 harassment of a gay man as evidence, Amnesty International turned up the heat on Mayor Daley today to fix, what it called the city’s “flawed approach” to investigating police brutality.

At a news conference outside the mayor’s office, civil rights activists reiterated arguments they made last summer, when the City Council approved Daley’s plan to sever the Office of Professional Standards from the Police Department.

They argued that the landmark ordinance is undermined by a union contract tailor-made to protect rogue officers.

The contract bars the agency now known as the Independent Police Review Authority from investigating anonymous complaints about “anything short of criminal conduct”—even though many victims “fear retaliation” from police—and limits the use of past complaints needed to establish a “pattern of conduct, said Wendy Park, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union.

“These … contract provisions and others tie IPRA’s hands … which may allow officers to escape discipline in many cases. We demand that the city drop these provisions from the next FOP contract, currently under negotiation,” Park said.

Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue countered, “All of the current provisions relative to discipline ensure our members due process.”

In a city that prides itself on gay rights, police brutality against lesbians, gays, bi-sexuals, transgender people and other minorities “remains a widespread problem,” said Ariel Herrera, director of Amnesty International USA’s human rights program on those issues.

Herrera cited the June 2006 case of Alexander Ruppert, who suffered a fractured nose and received 16 stitches to his left eye after allegedly being kicked, punched and verbally abused by police officers who escorted him out of a bar after a disturbance.

During two days in custody, Ruppert claims he was denied food, water and pain medication and forced to drink from a toilet in his cell. His lawsuit is pending.

“At a time when Chicago is competing to host the 2016 Olympics, Amnesty International believes the city must meet its obligation to respect international human rights protections,” Herrera said.

Field organizer Robert Schultz was asked whether Amnesty International would ask the International Olympic Committee to reject Chicago’s bid if Daley refuses to agree to the group’s demands.

“We will take whatever step is necessary to pursue our case to say that Chicago must adhere to international standards,” he said.

But, what about human rights abuses in Rio de Janeiro, one of Chicago’s Olympic competitors?

“We’re not suggesting that the other cities don’t have problems. But, as Chicagoans, we’re quite familiar with the problems … It’s not a problem of the past. It’s a contemporary problem,” Schultz said.

Mayor Daley issued a statement highlighting the changes he has already made to restore public confidence in investigations of police wrongdoing. They include the appointments of career FBI agent Jody Weis as police superintendent and Los Angeles attorney Ilana Rosenzweig to head an OPS that now has subpoena power and a six-month deadline to complete investigations or explain why that timetable cannot be met.

“I have the utmost confidence that the IPRA will investigate the allegations of police abuse involving Alexander Ruppert with integrity. And I encourage all witnesses to provide statements involving this allegations so that IPRA can complete a thorough investigation,” the mayor said.