Police officers from multiple Illinois law enforcement agencies are in Chicago next week to assist the Chicago Police Department (CPD) in providing security for the Democratic National Convention (DNC). The Weekly has obtained the intergovernmental agreement the department signed with those agencies. While it sheds some light on the requirements and duties outside officers are subject to while policing the convention, information about which agencies provided officers was redacted.
Documents obtained by a public-records request to the Illinois Law Enforcement Alert System, an interagency resource-sharing organization, show that outside agencies were required to participate in DNC training activities coordinated by the Chicago Police Department (CPD). Outside officersâ policing duties during the convention âshall be determined solely by CPD and may comprise all aspects of law enforcement including, but not limited to traffic control, security detail and crowd control,â the document reads.
Officers assigned to police the DNC must have been on the job for at least two years and be âin good standingâ with their home department. They cannot have been personally sued in the past three years and found liable for First Amendment violations, or have âany sustained complains for excessive, unreasonable or unnecessary forceâ in the last five years.
Outside officers are required to abide by âapplicable CPD policiesâ while policing the convention. The agreement makes no mention of the federal consent decree the department is currently under.
Most outside officers are supposed to be accompanied by at least one Chicago police officer, who will be responsible for making any arrests. Outside officers âshall not conduct arrests or stops unless required to do so by emergent circumstances in which a CPD officer is not available or capableâ of making the arrest, the document reads.
Eight pages that list the names of agencies providing officers are completely redacted. In a letter accompanying the agreement, ILEAS cited a section of the state FOIA law that allows information about âunique or specialized investigative techniquesâ to be withheld.
Weekly reporters have observed officers from the Cook County Sheriffâs Office, Illinois State Police, Joliet Police Department, Kankakee County Sheriff, and departments in suburbs such as Bolingbrook, Bridgeview, Flossmoor, and West Chicago at the DNC this week.
Last week, a coalition of attorneys and legal groups signed an open letter to CPD superintendent Larry Snelling and Mayor Brandon Johnson expressing âgrave concernsâ about the departmentâs plans for demonstrations at the DNC. The coalition noted recent comments by Snelling and revisions the CPD made to its mass arrest policy that were made public this month among its concerns. It also wrote that the City has prosecuted peaceful pro-Palestine demonstrators, and claimed the department has given âcontradictoryâinformation about where protesters will be jailed.
The letter was signed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, Illinois Black Advocacy Initiative, Law For Black Lives, the Movement Law Lab, Muslims for Just Futures, the National Lawyers Guild Chicago, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Bluhm Legal Clinic, Palestine Legal, the Peopleâs Law Office, and dozens of attorneys and legal workers.
âPeople have a right to exercise their First Amendment rights to speech and assembly, including rallying, marching and demonstrating,â the letter reads. âWe are calling on you to respect and honor those cherished, sacrosanct rights.â
The Hyde Park Herald broke the news last week that officers from outside departments are staying in the University of Chicagoâs Woodlawn dormitory, 1156 E. 61st St.. A university spokesperson confirmed that in a statement.
âDuring the Democratic National Convention (DNC), law enforcement personnel from outside of Chicago will be housed for approximately one week in a residence hall on the Universityâs campus at the request of the City of Chicago,â the spokesperson wrote in an email to the Weekly. âNearby residents and people on campus may notice additional law enforcement personnel and vehicles in the area during the week of the DNC. These law enforcement officials will provide security during the DNC within and in areas around convention spaces. Every summer the University hosts thousands of guests in our residence halls, ranging from high school students to visiting scholars to nonprofit groups.â
According to campus organizers, some 500 outside officers are expected. The Weekly was unable to independently confirm that number by press time.
On August 7, The TRiiBE reported in a story co-published with the Weekly that the vast majority of federal funds for DNC security are going to the CPD. A document obtained from the Office of Budget Management by TRiiBE reporter Corli Jay was heavily redacted, but offered some details on what expenses the funding will cover, including payroll, travel, and more.
Jim Daley is the Weeklyâs investigations editor. Max Blaisdell is a fellow with the Invisible Institute and a staff writer for the Hyde Park Herald.
