Police Settlement Transparency & Accountability Ordinance |
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The PSTA (Police Settlement Transparency and Accountability) Ordinance will lift the veil of secrecy from police misconduct litigation in Chicago. With the PSTA, we have a chance to bring transparency, democratic oversight, and justice to the city’s police accountability system. If we pass this reform, Chicago will set the standard for police accountability for cities across the country. Chicago communities deserve nothing less. As City of Chicago seeks to identify funds that can be redirected away from the criminal justice system to instead be invested in communities in Chicago this specific area is ripe with possibilities. The potential to reap millions of dollars in savings each year that can invested in real economic development across Chicago’s south and west sides is very real. This ordinance will empower Chicago’s communities to hold the Chicago Police Department, the City of Chicago, and the police accountability community responsible for civil settlements and judgments involving policing in Chicago. |
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(The orange line represents the average from 2004-2023)
Why CJP is interested
The massive amounts of money spent each year by the City of Chicago related to civil settlement and judgments around the Chicago Police Department are staggering. While historical numbers are hard to access we have managed to track the amount of money the City of Chicago has spent on payouts since 2004.
The City has worked very hard to hide the amount of money they spend every year both internally and externally to represent the Department and their officers in these civil suits. This figure is in addition to what the City pays out in settlements and judgments. We managed to collect data on how much the City has spent on just the cases involving police misconduct for the years 2011-2018.
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| In total from January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2023, the city of Chicago has spent more than $1,100,000,000 (nominal dollars). The city of Chicago spends on average $55 million a year or the equivalent of $20.63 for every resident of Chicago. Imagine if this money instead had been redirected to communities in need... That's 11,000,000 additional free school lunches! |
See the Current Draft of the Ordinance
This document contains the full text of the ordinance: PSTA
This ordinance was drafted by the Chicago Justice Project with significant input by Samuel Walker, police accountability scholar and Emeritus Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, in addition to three national police accountability experts and members of the civil rights bar in Chicago.
Sign Our Petition:
There is a signature form at the bottom of the page. If you want to learn more, you can see the full petition webpage here: PSTA Petition.
Volunteer Requirements
As we have been waiting for alderpeople to support the ordinance, we've gathered lists of names of potential supporters. Volunteers should be able and ready to make phone calls, send emails, and use their personal social media accounts to push the ordinance to the city council and the public. Volunteers need only spend a few hours a week on outreach and are welcome to do it as time allows.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to our Nation Leads at [email protected]
If you’d like to begin the application process, complete the steps and sign up on our Get Involved page.