Approximately 95 percent of the at least 134,242 Chicagoans listed as gang members by the Chicago Police Department are Black or Latino, an audit released Thursday by the city’s watchdog found.

Inspector General Joseph Ferguson’s 158-page report on the Chicago Police Department’s use of 18 different methods to track members of Chicago’s gangs in the past 10 years found that officials were “not able to definitively account for all such information in its possession and control.”

“The coupling of a lack of controls with the absence of procedural fairness protections inhibits the department’s ability to assure the accuracy of its information, and potentially undermines public confidence in the department’s legitimacy and effectiveness in the service of its public safety mission,” the audit concluded.

Read the full report here.

Eighty-eight percent of those designations were made during street stops on the South and West Side after the person under arrest said they belonged to a gang, according to the report.

Overwhelming number of Black and Latino Chicagoans listed in the database is not evidence of racism by department officials, Ferguson said.

However, “it does raise substantial questions that need to be asked,” Ferguson said during a news conference at City Hall.

Ferguson called on members of the Public Safety Committee to hold hearings on the police department’s use of the gang database, which he said contained “overbroad and inaccurate” information.

Ferguson said it was a “good question” whether the police department should even operate a database.

“The department’s lax approach to labeling people as gang members, without caring about the consequences, leads to further criminalization, control, and oppression of people of color in Chicago,” said Karen Sheley, the director of the ACLU of Illinois’ Police Practices Project. “The City will have a lot of work to do in cleaning up its act on this database.”

Members of the Erase the Database coalition gathered at City Hall Thursday afternoon to call the release of the audit a watershed moment that bolsters the claims members have made during their effort to shut the database down since 2017.

Reyna Wences of Organized Communities Against Deportations said the audit makes it clear that the database is “racist and is harmful.”

Veronica Rodriguez, a youth organizer with the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, said the database “encourages the criminalization and incarceration of the most vulnerable and poor communities.”

Shelia Bedi, a Northwestern University Law professor and an attorney at the MacArthur Center who has brought a class-action lawsuit against the city for its use of the database in federal court said the audit will prove her case.

Bedi said she had no confidence that the Chicago Police Department could operate a database and protect Chicagoans’ constitutional rights, given the department’s long history of racism.

Latino Caucus Chairman Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) said he was stunned by the audit.

Villegas said in a statement that he was particularly troubled by the “lack of oversight or control of a system that can ruin people’s lives.”

“We absolutely must shut this program down until we can add oversight,” he said.

More than 500 external agencies have access to the department’s gang databases, according to the audit. According to the department, individuals can be entered into the database when they admit to gang affiliation, wear or use gang emblems, tattoos, hand signals or other symbols or are identified by an officer “with special intelligence” on gangs.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office, which recently agreed to disable one of its own gang databases, was the outside agency that used the CPD database most frequently.

Chicago Public Schools were the third-most frequent user of the database, according to the police department’s data, Ferguson said.

However, CPS officials told the inspector general’s office that they do not use the database, Ferguson said.

A spokesman for CPS told The Daily Line the district does not use the database.

The system the department uses to track which agencies access the gang database also records which agencies review other types of data, including school safety plans, Chicago Police Department spokesman Howard Ludwig said.

"Because the tracking system is co-mingled, CPS posted high activity levels as shown in the Inspector General's report," Ludwig said in a statement. "We have no evidence of CPS accessing any gang affiliation information and have reached out to the Office of the Inspector General to determine how they came to this conclusion."

More than 32,000 queries came from four or five immigration agencies, making up less than 1 percent of the total number of queries, according to the report.

However, that is still a “meaningful” number, Ferguson said.

The ACLU of Illinois called on Chicago police to immediately stop sharing information with federal immigration officials, and echoed the audit’s call for aldermen to amend Chicago’s sanctuary city ordinance to remove exceptions for those listed in a gang database.

Ferguson’s audit focused on “gang arrest cards” completed by officers.

According to the audit, 11.3 percent of those cards do not identify which specific gang that individual belongs to and 11.7 percent do not list a reason for the gang designation.

Department officials cannot confirm those designations “are based on reliable evidence” and ensure that the data “serves a legitimate law enforcement person,” according to the audit.

In addition, while state law requires that those records be regularly destroyed, Chicago police do not purge outdated or incorrect records, according to the audit.

The youngest person designated by the Chicago Police Department was 9 years old — and has been in the database for 19 years, according to the audit. The oldest person designated as a gang member was 75 years old — and has been in the database for 10 years, according to the audit.

The median age of Chicagoans listed in the gang database is 22, Ferguson said. Most of the people listed in the database are Black and Latino men in their late teens, he added.

Ninety records kept by the Chicago Police list people with birthdates before 1901, while 80 records list individuals who have an age of zero, according to the audit.

More than 900 people were listed under multiple genders, according to the audit.

Individuals who are listed as gang members are not notified, and not given an opportunity to contest incorrect information.

“It is apparent that the lack of transparency around CPD’s ‘gang database’-related strategies, strain police-community relations,” the report said.

Ferguson’s office recommends a “holistic evaluation” of the gang database program if it continues, as well as “comprehensive changes” including the consideration of the database’s “collateral consequences.”

The police should also require specific evidence of an individual’s gang affiliation before listing them as a gang member. Those individuals should also be notified that they have been designated a gang member, and given the opportunity to contest that designation, according to the audit.

Records should also be regularly reviewed and purged, which should be documented by regular public reports, according to the audit.


The department should also reconsider sharing this information with other law enforcement agencies, including those charged with enforcing federal immigration law, the audit says, and a “stakeholder committee” should be formed to weigh in on ongoing reforms.

In response, Chicago Police Department officials proposed creating a new system, dubbed the Criminal Enterprise Database.

It be a “single, unified system” that will include “updated and vetted” information and provide an opportunity for individuals listed to be notified and allowed to appeal their designation.

Ferguson said those proposed changes do not go far enough.

Hours after Ferguson released his audit, police officials published a draft of the order creating the new database and opened a 30-day period for members to comment on its creation and rules.

Police Supt. Eddie Johnson defended the use of the database during a City Club speech in April 2018.

“We recognize that some people may be misidentified at certain points and we are looking at processes in terms of being able to give them what they need in terms of taking them out of that particular territory,” Johnson said. "I think that it’s important for us to know who the people are in this city and in this state are committing crimes and are affiliated with gangs but we also have a responsibility to get it right.”

Todd St. Hill, an organizer with Black Youth Project 100, said he was “shocked and disgusted” by the proposal for a new database.

The current databases will remain active and available to other law-enforcement agencies, according to the audit.

The police department also rejected Ferguson’s recommendation for a stakeholder panel. Their proposed appeals process, Ferguson says, “has substantive barriers and no additional protections for juveniles.”

Officers would orally inform people they are being included in the gang database under the police department’s plan, Ferguson said. To appeal that decision, they would have to go to police headquarters between 8 a.m. and noon on a weekday, Ferguson said.

“A lot more is needed than that,” Ferguson said. “There needs to be more rigor.”

Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot has called for the gang database to be replaced and “strict guidelines” imposed to ensure “it only includes intelligence collected from real, credible police investigations and is regularly audited to make sure that the information remains relevant and credible.”

The police department should not share information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and criteria for including individuals in the database should be determined by a public process, Lightfoot said.

Ferguson was appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to a third, four-year term in May 2017.

A similar, but more limited gang database used at the Cook County Jail has been decommissioned, according to Sheriff Tom Dart, a move activists with the Erase the Database coalition celebrated. The county board also passed an ordinance to set guidelines for its destruction and prohibit further data-sharing and participation in external databases.

Two men have sued the Chicago Police Department alleging that federal officials targeted them for deportation because they were listed in the police database as gang members.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel presided over his last City Council as mayor on Wednesday — and one last time, the City Council bent to his wishes.

After months of bitter debate that turned deeply personal, aldermen gave final approval to $1.6 billion in city subsidies to fuel two massive developments backed by Emanuel that will transform Chicago’s landscape with 16,000 new apartments and condominiums.

Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot announced a 10-committee transition team tasked with developing a 100-days plan by May 20, when she will be inaugurated.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel rode a roller coaster of emotions Wednesday as he addressed the City Council for the last time before leaving office.

In 40 days, Chicago Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot will be sworn into office.

Lightfoot will spend two of those days in Springfield meeting with state leaders — including the man whom many have painted as the embodiment of the political machine Lightfoot swore to dismantle, longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago).

Three projects funded by developer payments into the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund cleared City Council’s Budget Committee Tuesday.

A new tower at the Atrium Village apartment complex that split the Chicago Plan Commission over whether it contains enough units for low- and moderate-income Chicagoans advanced Tuesday.

Ald. Joe Moore (49) presided over one last, lengthy Housing Committee meeting Tuesday, which featured a divided vote over new agreements with county health officials to provide telepsychiatry services to the mentally ill, leases for two restaurants at the new police and fire training academy, and a land swap with the Salvation Army.

Elections officials continued counting votes cast in the April 2 runoff with two contests decided by less than two dozen votes as of Monday afternoon.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel will preside over his last City Council as mayor on Wednesday — and it will mark one of the few times in his eight-year tenure that it is not clear whether aldermen will do his bidding.

Sending City Hall into chaos, Emanuel backed Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot’s call on Monday to delay a key vote on $1.6 billion in city subsidies to fuel two massive developments that will transform Chicago’s landscape with 16,000 new apartments and condominiums.

Emanuel had led a full-court press by his office, his closest aides and his allies on the City Council to push Lincoln Yards and The 78 through City Council before he left office. The push continued despite vehement objections that the projects will exacerbate Chicago’s affordable housing shortfall and the economic or racial segregation plaguing the city.

If the projects were stopped, it would have a chilling effect on business and development in Chicago, according to the mayor and his team.

However, Lightfoot said in a late-night statement Tuesday that she expects the measures to be approved Wednesday, despite her concerns.

Lightfoot said her team met with Sterling Bay, the developer of Lincoln Yards, and Related Midwest, the developer of The 78, on Tuesday and “both developers agreed to meaningfully strengthen their commitments to minority-owned and women-owned business enterprises” from $80 million to $400 million overall.

Lightfoot said her team would closely monitor compliance with those agreements.

“These changes represent a vital sign that my administration will be able to make progress toward an equitable and fair deal for our communities,” Lightfoot said.

Lightfoot said she was “confident” provisions in place in the agreements “will allow for us to further improve these deals and to bring community voices into the process going forward” if they are approved Wednesday.

“Either way, upon swearing in, I will engage with the community and committed activists who have advocated forcefully for affordable housing, park space and the responsible use of tax increment financing dollars for many months,” Lightfoot said.

To set up a potential final vote by the full City Council, the Finance Committee will meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday consider the plans to create a 168-acre Cortland and Chicago River Redevelopment Area (F2018-72) for Lincoln Yards and a 141-acre Roosevelt/Clark Tax Increment Financing Redevelopment Area (F2018-71) for The 78.

A package of six ordinances (O2019-2145; O2019-2149; O2019-2162; O2019-2170; O2019-2185; O2019-2583) would create the Cortland and Chicago River TIF.

A package of five ordinances (O2019-2502; O2019-2542; O2019-2543; O2019-2544: O2019-2574) would create the Roosevelt/Clark TIF.

Ald. Brian Hopkins, whose 2nd Ward includes all 55 acres of Sterling Bay’s proposed Lincoln Yards development, has vowed to defy the mayor and push for a vote, insisting he has at least the 26 votes necessary to pass the measure.

Related: Fate of $1.6B in subsidies for Lincoln Yards, The 78 uncertain after Rahm backs Lightfoot’s call for delay

Lincoln Yards is a $6 billion project that promises to transform 55 acres along the North Branch of the Chicago River with 6,000 units between Lincoln Park and Bucktown. Fourteen aldermen voted against the project last month — 12 short of killing the project.

The Cortland and Chicago River TIF will generate at least $900 million to cover the cost of infrastructure projects to pave the way for Lincoln Yards to be built, including new bridges over the Chicago River, a new Metra station, an extension of the 606 trail, water taxis, dedicated bicycle lanes as well as a potential light-rail transit way and extension of the city’s street grid.

Lincoln Yards is set to include 600 affordable housing units as part of the development.

The 78 would include 10,000 apartments and condominiums between the South Loop and Chinatown. It was approved unanimously by the City Council in November. Ald.-elect Byron Sigcho Lopez (25) urged aldermen to reject the subsidy.

If the Roosevelt/Clark TIF is approved, it would generate $700 million to build the infrastructure necessary for The 78 – a new CTA station, a realignment of Metra tracks, Clark Street improvements, a 15th Street extension and a new river wall.

Developer Related Midwest agreed to set aside 500 units as affordable as part of the development, and pay a $91.3 million fee to the city’s Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund in lieu of adding another 500 on-site units.

The meeting could also be the last for ousted Ald. Proco Joe Moreno (1); Ald. Toni Foulkes (16); Ald. Milly Santiago (31); Ald. Pat O’Connor (40) Ald. John Arena (45) and Ald. Joe Moore (49).

In addition, retiring Aldermen Ricardo Muñoz (22); Magaret Laurino (39) and Ameya Pawar (47) could bid their colleagues goodbye — while disgraced Ald. Danny Solis (25) is not likely to return to City Hall. Solis will be replaced by Ald.-elect Byron Sigcho-Lopez, who is one of at least five members of the Chicago chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America who will join the City Council May 20. Alds. Deb Mell (33) and James Cappleman (46) will not know until next April 16 whether they will return next term.

The lame-duck aldermen face an agenda packed with measures from Emanuel’s bucket list.

The City Council will consider whether to ink an exclusive nine-year contract to allow Lyft (O2019-1434, O2019-1611) to operate the city’s Divvy bicycle-sharing system — and reject a proposal from Uber to offer dockless bicycles and scooters. [Our coverage]

Aldermen are also expected to approve a watered down package of reforms proposed by Emanuel that would:

• force committee chairmen to give up their perk-filled perches if they recuse themselves from a vote before their committee more than three times per year and fail to resolve the conflict.


• ban committee chairmen from presiding over matters they plan to recuse themselves from.


• require aldermen who object to a permit to name “substantive reasons” to block it within 20 days.


• block campaign contributions of more than $1,500 from parties with matters before City Council for six months before the matter’s consideration in addition to the current limit, which applies for six months after the matter’s consideration.


• require aldermen to update their annual Statements of Financial Interest within 30 days of any changes “relating to outside employment, board service or business interests.”

The City Council will also consider a measure (O2018-7001) that could allow liquor to be sold within 100 feet of places of worship, schools and hospitals as well as homes for the aged, indigent and veterans with the support of Chicago’s liquor commissioner.

While supporters said the change would reduce red tape and fill empty storefronts, opponents said the new rules could complicate efforts by aldermen to block unwanted bars and liquor stores. [Our coverage]

Aldermen are also set to approve a number of items:

• R2018-1153; R2019-159 — Two 11th Ward property tax breaks for commercial projects. [Our coverage]


• O2019-2545 — A property tax break to fuel the renovation of Macy’s on State Street.


• O2018-2577 — A measure to allow mobile boutique operators to continue to operate until Jan. 31, 2020.


• O2019-1335; O2019-1457; O2019-1416; O2019-1447 — Measures to lift bans on packaged liquor sales in the 21st, 27th, 39th and 45th ward.


• O2019-1443 — A measure to ban liquor sales in the 35th Ward.


• O2019-1922 — A collective bargaining agreement with the Illinois Nurses Association.


• O2019-1403 — A measure to allow helicopter landings and takeoffs by exhibitors at 2019 International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference Oct. 26-29. [Our coverage]


• O2019-1398 — A redevelopment agreement to build a $169 million industrial and distribution center project on 196 acres of vacant land in the 10th Ward near 116th Street and Avenue O.


• O2019-1397 — A measure to use $3.5 million in tax-increment financing funds to help Sarah’s Circle to build 38 units of supportive housing.


• O2019-1400; O2019-1401; O2019-1402 — Three park projects in Old Town, Englewood and North Lawndale paid for by TIF funds. [Our coverage]


• O2019-1650; O2019-1404; O2019-1405 — Three measures to extend the Goose Island, 95th/Western and Byrn Mawr/Broadway tax-increment financing districts set to expire in 2019 for an additional 12 years to 2031.


• O2019-1423 — A measure to extend the 60th and Western TIF for one year.


• Three proposed settlements, including a $4.5 million payment to end a wrongful conviction lawsuit filed by a man who served 11 years in prison after he was convicted of raping a court clerk at the Daley Center.


• O2019-1429 — A measure to expand the list of ways aldermen can spend their annual $98,000 expense accounts.


• O2019-1456 — A measure to extend the city’s pilot of free-floating car sharing service Car2Go through Dec. 31.


• O2019-1477 — A measure to give the commissioner of Fleet and Facility Management authority over the Pedway system Downtown.


• O2019-1452 — The first update to the city’s building code in 70 years.


• O2018-7612 — A measure approving a 41-story, 456 unit tower near Wells and Division streets as part of the Atrium Village complex. [Our coverage]


• O2019-9262 — A measure approving an anaerobic digestion center at 650 W. 83rd St. in Auburn Gresham that will compost food waste, officials said.


• O2019-1442 — A measure approving a new Portillo’s to open in on the Northwest Side at 3357 W. Addison St. in Avondale.


• O2018-9254 — A measure approving a $24 million, three-story annex at Dirksen Elementary School in Norwood Park, which is among the most crowded schools in the city.


• A2019-25 — the appointment of Peggy A. Davis, chief officer of programs and strategic integration for The Chicago Community Trust, to the City Colleges of Chicago Board of Trustees.


• O2019-2578; O2019-2575; O2019-2576 — Three measures approving $5.16 million in grants to three businesses from the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund. [Our coverage]


• O2019-1427 — A measure to change the Public Safety Officers Home Buyer Assistance program to the Community Connections Home Buyer Assistance program and make members of Laborer’s Local 1001 and Laborer’s Local 1092 eligible for the grants.


• O2019-1656 — A measure to bump up the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund’s limit by $11 million, to $23.5 million.


• O2018-9042 — A proposal to change the city's Affordable Requirements Ordinance designed to increase the number of family units on the West Side.


• O2019-1544 — An agreement to sell 830 N. Christiana Ave. to the Salvation Army to build supportive housing. In exchange, the city would receive Salvation Army property at 3345 W. Rice St. so the city can expand an existing park and build a new skate park in Humboldt Park near the Tribune’s printing plant


• O2019-1524; O2019-1519; O2019-1514 — Three measures to lease city-owned office space to Cook County to allow the county to offer telepsychiatry services.

A member of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s cabinet heads for the exit, as aldermen fail to reach an agreement on a measure that supporters said would give workers more control over their schedules, while opponents said it would put a heavy burden on businesses.

Aldermen once again balked at the bulk of ethics reforms proposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the wake of the criminal charge lodged against Ald. Ed Burke (14.)

Three large projects set to get $5.16 million from the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund are set for a vote Tuesday at the meeting of the Government and Budget Operations Committee.

The fund was created in May 2016 by Mayor Rahm Emanuel who began by charging developers additional fees in return for allowing them to build bigger and taller buildings Downtown.

All projects set to get more than $250,000 from the fund must be approved by the City Council.

Aldermen will also vote on increasing the fund’s limit by $8.5 million to $21 million (O2019-1656).

The projects up for consideration are:

• Ogden Washtenaw JV LLC (O2019-2578) — Developers of the site at 2632 W. Ogden Ave. would use $2.5 million grant “for the buildout of three ground-floor retail spaces within the $21.5 million Ogden Commons mixed-use project ... Tenants would include Steak & Shake, Ja’ Grill, and a yet-to-be identified third business,” according to the mayor’s office. The Zoning Committee cleared the Commons project in May. It promises to transform eight acres of long vacant land in Douglas Park owned by the Chicago Housing Authority into a new complex with a hotel, 384 apartments, 547 parking spaces as well as shops and stores adjacent to Mt. Sinai Hospital.


• SYTE Corporation (O2019-2575) –  A $2.1 million NOF grant would be used to renovate an 18,000-square-foot building at 6793 S. South Chicago Ave into SYTE Corp.’s new headquarters with office space and a small business training incubator. The total project cost – which includes a move from Goose Island to Woodlawn – is $3.7 million. The company “provides construction and maintenance services to public and private sector clients,” according to its website.


• Enlace Chicago (O2019-2576) –  Enlace Chicago LLC would receive a $550,000 grant new $1.8 million office and business incubator at 2759 S. Harding Ave. The building would be used to provide legal and immigration services, as well as a business training incubator focusing on food, agriculture, and art, the Mayor’s Office says.

Interactive Map: TDL’s Guide to the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund
New developments are in green — click on a pin to see an image of the development and its details. NOF grant projects are in shades of blue and listed in order of when they were announced. You can also add boundary lines for neighborhoods and wards.

Also on the agenda is a measure (O2019-1427) from Ald. Emma Mitts (37) and Ald. James Cappleman (46) to change the Public Safety Officers Home Buyer Assistance program, which was designed to encourage first responders to live in high crime areas, to the Community Connections Home Buyer Assistance program and make members of Laborer's Local 1001 and Laborer's Local 1092 in good standing for at least a year eligible for the program.

WBEZ reported last August that while the city made $30,000 loans available to officers, firefighters and paramedics to help pay for closing costs in one of the six highest crime police districts, officials received just 11 applications for 100 available grants. Mitts’ ward will soon be home to the new $95 million police training academy.

Aldermen will also consider three measures (O2019-1462, O2019-1463, O2019-1465) from Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) to identify funding to stream City Council committees, which is expected to cost $105,000 to get the equipment up and running in Room 201A and about $50,000 for an employee to help operate it.

An exclusive nine-year contract to allow Lyft (O2019-1434, O2019-1611) to operate the city’s Divvy bicycle-sharing system cleared the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee Monday, as aldermen likewise rejected a proposal from Uber to offer dockless bicycles and scooters.

A new tower at the Atrium Village apartment complex that split the Chicago Plan Commission over whether it contains enough units for low- and moderate-income Chicagoans is set for a vote Tuesday.