JOLIET — Thursday’s civil rights investigation of the Joliet Police Department, which lasted three years and three months, resulted in the Illinois Attorney General’s Office declaring that “We find reasonable cause to believe that JPD engages in a pattern or practice of unreasonable force in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Illinois law. Our findings are not limited to any one type of force, tactic, or context.
“We find that JPD has a pattern or practice of using unreasonable force that is not limited to any single weapon, tactic, or context. Within this overarching pattern, several trends emerged. First, JPD’s uses of force demonstrate a failure to de-escalate—and a tendency to actively escalate—encounters, leading to avoidable or excessive uses of force. From command staff down, JPD embraces the outdated mindset that using force early avoids the need for more force later. We noted repeated instances where JPD’s tendency to ‘come in hot’ confused or antagonized the persons involved, leading to disproportionate use of force.”
Joliet Patch has obtained the entire 158-page from the Attorney General’s Office, and there are several examples cited of Joliet police supervisors and officers abusing their authority and abusing people in the community who did not deserve to be beaten, injured, tasered or had a gun pointed at them or shot at by the responding members of the Joliet police force.
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Furthermore, the AG’s report pointed out how the Joliet Police Department has engaged in outdated police practices involving the use of force.
“JPD’s repeated failure to identify and address unreasonable force is not an aberration—it is a hallmark of its supervisory culture. The Department’s inability to police itself sends the message from the top down that nearly any force can be justified and that there are no consequences for using unreasonable force,” the Attorney General’s Office said.
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2023 Mexican Independence Day incident at Joliet Park District
The Joliet police response to a gathering of young people celebrating Mexican Independence Day in September 2023 is one of many problematic examples cited by the Attorney General’s Office in Thursday’s 158-page report.
The incident began when Joliet police responded to concerns about cars doing burnouts in a Joliet Park District parking lot. “A sergeant immediately set a combative tone by speeding into a group of peaceful pedestrians, opening his door with the engine still running, and abruptly accelerating several more feet towards people. This dangerous maneuver rapidly deteriorated the situation. People began complaining and mocking the sergeant, but video shows that they were not physically threatening him,” the report says. “Rather than attempt to de-escalate, the sergeant called for tow trucks and instructed an officer to ‘Block this piece of sh*t (car) in.'”
The AG’s review of the Joliet police encounter at Inwood pointed out how one of the Joliet police sergeants chased after a man with a taser.
“When the man got away, the sergeant turned to threaten random bystanders with the taser, including one man who had his hands up. The sergeant’s indiscriminate and retaliatory threats of force against people who were not suspected of any offense further escalated the situation. An officer stepped in at that point, defusing the tone and telling everyone to back up.
“Meanwhile, another sergeant drove up, pulled out pepper spray, and began yelling, ‘Get the f*** out of here!’ He shoved a young man several times and walked him backwards by the shirt while ordering him to leave. Nearby, another young man approached and motioned at the sergeant, saying, ‘Don’t be putting hands on my boy!’ The sergeant shoved him back by the throat and then immediately pepper sprayed him in the eyes, while screaming ‘LEAVE, GET THE F*** OUT OF HERE!'”
According to the AG’s analysis, “While some force may have been justified in stopping the young man from approaching, it was unreasonable to immediately pepper spray him in the eyes when he was not posing a threat. It also violated JPD policy, which requires a verbal warning and opportunity to comply, and raises state law concerns, which prohibits force used as punishment and using pepper spray for crowd control without giving sufficient time and space to allow compliance.”
J0liet Police Internal Affairs Absolves Officers, Sergeants Behavior: AG
JPD’s Internal Affairs concluded that because probable cause existed for the arrest, the complaint would not be investigated.
“Regardless of whether there was probable cause for arrest, a host of problematic police behavior exacerbated the incident, and the lack of meaningful review harms the public and the Department,” the AG’s Office said in its findings. “The fact that neither sergeant received corrective action is particularly concerning, given that sergeants are responsible for reviewing other officers’ uses of force. The two sergeants’ impunity reinforced officer and public perceptions that inappropriate behavior is acceptable.
“Referring to this incident, an officer told us that sergeants can do whatever they want because no one wants to write up sergeants—no one wants to be the ‘bad guy.’ This incident is only one of many that we identified as involving unreasonable force with no accountability.”
Related Joliet Patch coverage of AG Report, Mexican Independence Day Arrest
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