The city of Chicago is expected to release a trove of records - including video, audio, and other media - related to roughly 100 incidents of misconduct by police officers in the city.
According to the Associated Press, the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) said that not all of the videos to be released Friday are related to police shootings; nor are they necessarily expected to create a major shockwave in the city as video depicting the October death of Laquan McDonald did after its release.
Police dashcam footage showing Officer Jason Van Dyke shoot 17-year-old Mr McDonald 16 times was released more than a year after the incident. Officer Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder.
On Thursday, a Cook County judge approved the appointment of a special prosecutor for the case.
The IPRA was established by the city of Chicago in 2007 to respond to widespread public concern about how reports of police misconduct were being handled by the city. They have since lost public trust following years of secrecy by Chicago police.
The civilian-operated organisation was approved by the City Council in efforts to increase accountability and transparency, as well as to expedite the complaint procedure for Chicago residents.
But the expected release of information has not yet quelled concerns about the problem with police misconduct in the city.
“Decades of secrecy and institutional denial should give us reason for skepticism about this, but I look forward to seeing whether this will really be a significant step in the direction of transparency,” Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor who was involved in the release of the McDonald video, told the AP. “This really has the potential to mark a new day in Chicago.”
However, Mr Futterman added that if the documents fail to include specific information about the cases - such as case numbers, police officers’ identities, and locations - then “this will look like nothing more than a PR move in response to the latest political crisis.”
In March, the IPRA launched an historical audit of its own investigation procedures in an effort to regain the public’s trust.
“In order to restore trust in IPRA,” Chief Administrator Sharon Fairley said in a statement, “we must understand how our work lost public confidence in the first place so we can make the necessary changes to policies and procedures going forward.”
