Local prosecutions of Chicago police officers accused of criminal acts are rare. According to press reports, the Cook County State's Attorney's office has prosecuted only a handful of cases against officers accused of brutality during the past fifteen years.111 As in most cities surveyed for this report, the district attorney's office does not acknowledge tracking criminal cases against police officers. The former chief administrator of the OPS, David Fogel, who headed the office between 1984 and 1990, told the press he remembered only one brutality case leading to a criminal conviction during his tenure.112 Foley also has stated that he believed going to the State's Attorney's office futile, and instead reported cases to the U.S. Attorney's office for federal prosecution.113 For their part, the State's Attorney's office claims that it counts on the OPS to refer possibly criminal cases but that OPS rarely does so.114

One longtime police misconduct attorney told Human Rights Watch he knew of no federal prosecutions of abusive Chicago police officers during the past fifteen years.115 Attorneys in Chicago do pass suitable cases to federal prosecutors, but few lead to prosecution. According to press reports, the U.S. Attorney's office only learned of the Area 2 torture cases after the five-year statute of limitations for civil rights cases had passed; when it was suggested that conspiracy charges could still be brought against those involved who continued to cover up their involvement, the office still did not act.116

In 1996, of the eighteen cases involving possible civil rights violations decided by federal prosecutors for the federal district containing Chicago (Northern District of Illinois), none was prosecuted (presented to a grand jury to seek an indictment). Between 1992 and 1995, seventy-nine cases were considered, and six were prosecuted.117

111 Conroy, "Town without pity," Chicago Reader. Citing a Chicago Tribune report, Conroy states that there were only two such prosecutions between 1983 and 1992, and that he surveyed prosecutors for his 1996 article and they were unable to cite any such cases.

112 Steve Mills, "U.S. police brutality indictments prove rare," Chicago Tribune, October 9, 1997.

113 Conroy, "Town without pity," Chicago Reader.

114 Ibid.

115 Interview with attorney Edward Stein, August 24, 1995.

116 Conroy, "Town without pity," Chicago Reader.

117 According to data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) from the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys, Justice Department. Cases prosecuted or declined represent only a portion of the total number of complaints alleging federal criminal civil rights violations because several steps prior to this decision narrow down the number of complaints actually received to those considered worthy of consideration.