As a public official, I am no longer surprised by the anti-law enforcement bias frequently displayed on the pages of the Chicago Tribune. But the story “Inmate’s death puts focus on force, Many face allegations, but not criminal charges” (June 18, Page 1), concerning complaints of excessive force in the Cook County sheriff’s office, left me shocked–not because of its slant but rather because serious conclusions were drawn without facts to back them up.
Clearly my department and I are not above criticism, and I take the issue of excessive force very seriously. I have been deeply disturbed by charges that three of our deputies violated departmental use of force regulations in connection with the case of prisoner Louis Schmude. Our department has moved to fire these three deputies, and a criminal investigation of the case is pending.
But if my department is to be criticized for instances of excessive force, readers of the Chicago Tribune should have the opportunity to see how many reports of excessive force occur compared with other law-enforcement agencies. Readers would see that reports of excessive force throughout our department are negligible.
Deputy sheriffs, correctional officers and police officers in the Cook County sheriff’s office deal with more than 600,000 prisoners each year. No other local law-enforcement agency in the nation outside of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s office handles a higher volume of prisoners. Given that volume, over the last five years we have averaged 72 complaints of excessive force per year, a figure significantly lower than other major departments.
As to the Tribune’s critique that we do not investigate excessive force complaints thoroughly, I offer the following: A total of 253 cases of excessive force have been investigated in our department since 1996, and 27–or 10.67 percent–have been sustained. This sustained rate is markedly higher than the national average of 6 percent to 8 percent, according to a study published by the Police Foundation in Washington, D.C.
To illustrate just how seriously we take this issue, our office has also brought criminal charges against six officers in connection with excessive force cases since 1996, a practice rarely followed by other law-enforcement agencies.
Incidents of excessive force in the sheriff’s office are rare, but when they do occur, we take decisive disciplinary action. I don’t believe the Chicago Tribune is accurate in casting an entire department of more than 6,600 employees in a bad light based on the actions of three deputies. Our deputies and correctional officers deal with some of the worst people that society has to offer, many of whom are accused of violent crimes and are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. They have a very difficult and dangerous job that is not fully understood or appreciated by those who pass judgment from the comfort of an ivory tower.
