Report calls for overhaul of error-prone gang database
CHICAGO (AP) — A newly released report from Chicago’s inspector general criticizes how the nation’s third largest city manages a police database of purported street-gang members.
The 159-page report released Thursday says the database is rife with inaccuracies and provides no good way for someone to challenge their inclusion in it.
The report urges a reevaluation of the database’s usefulness compared to the resentment it can engender and calls for the creation of a clear appeals process for purging names.
A 2018 civil rights lawsuit alleges the database names up to 195,000 people, including many who were never in gangs. People in the database are more likely to be denied bond after arrest and find it harder to land jobs.
The inspector general’s office says Chicago police are committed to improvements but that some police proposals “substantially diverge” from report recommendations.
