Police Complaints Drop But True Numbers Being Fudged

Yesterday, Chicago Police Superintendent, Jody Weiss announced that the number of citizen complaints against police officers sent to Internal Affairs dropped 12 percent from 2008 to 2009.  Weiss credited the drop in increased training and emphasis on ethics, professionalism and personal responsibility.  Weiss was understandably proud of the drop in complaints.  However, a deeper review of the the numbers reveals that his enthusiasm may be mistaken.  The actual number of complaints actually rose 3%.  The number of opened investigations rose 9%.  The number of complaints filed in the first quarter of 2010 declined by 2% but the number of open investigations rose 4%.  Also, it appears as if the numbers cited by Weiss do not reflect complaints related to brutality and firearms incidents involving police officers.  

The numbers suggest that the press reports of Weiss's announcement yesterday did not reflect the true picture of what is happening.

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