#253 Accessing the Chicago Police Department's secret data

In 2012, the Chicago City Council voted to give police the option of issuing tickets for misdemeanor marijuana possession. This led to a huge drop in pot possession arrests.

Around the same time, Chicago police began arresting parolees for “unlawful contact” with people deemed by cops to be gang members. The number of these arrests surged from 43 in 2012 to 1,978 in 2015 – and were tied to CPD’s stop-and-frisk practices.

Mick Dumke, a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, will detail his ongoing fight to access public records of how the police are keeping watch over the city.