CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department will allow independent evaluations of its stop-and-frisk procedures that critics say target blacks under an agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union announced Friday, as police nationwide face scrutiny about how they treat minorities.

The agreement that calls for increased public disclosure and more officer training follows a scathing March 2015 report from the ACLU of Illinois that found Chicago officers disproportionately targeted blacks and other racial minorities in hundreds of thousands of stop, question and frisk encounters.

Under the agreement, former U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys will provide public reports twice a year on Chicago police investigatory stops and pat downs, looking at whether the city is meeting its legal requirements. It goes into effect immediately.

“It’s not going to be a change in the actual way that we stop people, it’s going to be a change in the way that we record the stop,” Superintendent Garry McCarthy said at a Friday news conference. And he suggested that the evaluations will bear out his belief that the stops have been constitutional.

McCarthy also said he was pleased that his department was not compelled to take action by a court order, and that he hopes the agreement will “set the standard” for other police departments.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.