In 1968 Richard M. Daley was just finishing up his law degree. He could hardly be held accountable for the excesses of the Chicago Police Department that would be unmasked a few years later in the infamous Red Squad scandal. Now, though, as mayor, it’s his responsibility to remember the reprehensible nature of the police activities and respect the consequences.
Daley wants to reopen the federal consent decree that clamped down on police intelligence activities in the wake of widespread police spying on civilians who had no connection to criminal activities. On the face of it, this sounds like a dubious idea.
The police department relinquished much of its power to gather such intelligence after it was revealed that officers in the 1960s and 1970s had infiltrated numerous community and political organizations and compiled lengthy dossiers on dozens of people. For many of them, their only “crime” was opposition to the Vietnam War or criticism of mayor Richard J. Daley.
The city disbanded the Red Squad in 1975. The consent decree, reached in 1981, permitted spying activities only when the police could show that the subjects had actual criminal intent. It hardly seems like an undue burden, particularly considering the gross civil liberties violations committed against Red Squad targets.
In light of that history, the burden falls squarely on the Daley administration to prove why the consent decree should be changed to restore greater surveillance and intelligence-gathering powers to the police.
Are the current restrictions significantly more onerous than those on the FBI? The FBI, under the attorney general’s guidelines, must show a “reasonable indication” that a federal crime has been committed or is imminent before it can investigate domestic groups. The Clinton administration raised the prospect of altering those guidelines in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, but wisely decided not to seek changes.
Discussions on the consent decree between the Daley administration and the American Civil Liberties Union preceded the Oklahoma City bombing. City officials contend their primary interest is not to protect the Democratic Nnational Convention next year, it’s to investigate Chicago street gangs.
Still, the initial reaction is skepticism.
If the administration goes to court, it should be expected to demonstrate any actual harm that has been caused by the 14-year-old consent decree. And it should be expected to show how any change in the intelligence-gathering capabilities won’t be open to abuse. The odds of success on those counts are stacked against them.
