The Chicago police consent decree is a court-enforced agreement, entered on January 31, 2019, that requires the Chicago Police Department to overhaul how it uses force, conducts stops, trains officers, supports officer wellness, and investigates misconduct. It contains 609 individual requirements, is overseen by a federal judge and an independent monitoring team, and as of early 2026 the department has reached full compliance with roughly 25 percent of those requirements.1United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. State of Illinois v. City of Chicago – Consent Decree
Why the Decree Exists
The U.S. Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation of CPD in December 2015, weeks after dashcam footage of the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald became public.2United States Department of Justice. Investigation of the Chicago Police Department In January 2017, the DOJ reported reasonable cause to believe CPD engaged in a pattern or practice of using force, including deadly force, in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and found serious deficiencies in training, accountability, and the handling of misconduct complaints.3United States Department of Justice. Justice Department Announces Findings of Investigation into Chicago Police Department
When the incoming Trump administration signaled it would not pursue a federal consent decree, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a state lawsuit against the City of Chicago in August 2017.4Illinois Attorney General. State of Illinois v. City of Chicago Complaint That choice matters now: because the case was brought by the state, it stays in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois regardless of federal DOJ policy. The decree was finalized and entered by the court in January 2019.
What the Decree Requires
The 609 paragraphs cover nearly every operational area of the department. The core categories are use of force, investigatory stops and searches, training, officer wellness, and accountability.
Use of Force
Officers must document every reportable use of force. That includes discharging a firearm, deploying an electronic control weapon or pepper spray, using an impact weapon, and any physical force that causes injury or exceeds low-level control tactics.5Chicago Police Consent Decree. State of Illinois v. City of Chicago – Final Consent Decree – Section: V. Use of Force Each report must include the date, time, and location; the officer’s name and star number; what the person did that led to the use of force; a description of the force used; and the reason for the initial contact. Officers must issue verbal warnings before using physical force when feasible and must provide life-saving aid consistent with their training.6Chicago Police Department Consent Decree. Fact Sheet: Chicago Police Department Consent Decree
Investigatory Stops and Searches
Every investigatory stop must rest on reasonable articulable suspicion of criminal activity. Uniformed officers must keep their name plates, unit designators, and star numbers clearly visible; plainclothes officers must announce their identity and display department identification.7Chicago Police Department. Police Encounters and the Fourth Amendment During a stop, officers must identify themselves by name and rank, explain the reason, and tell the person they will be free to leave when it ends. The person receives a written stop receipt at the conclusion.
Protective pat downs are limited to a search of outer clothing for weapons, and only when the officer has specific, articulable facts suggesting the person is armed and dangerous. CPD may not use the number of stops an officer makes as a factor in bonuses, incentives, or promotions, and stop quotas are banned.7Chicago Police Department. Police Encounters and the Fourth Amendment
Training
All officers must receive 40 hours of annual in-service training covering de-escalation, crisis intervention, and constitutional policing. Crisis intervention officers receive 40 hours of specialized initial training and at least eight hours of ongoing training every three years, and all officers get crisis intervention refresher training every three years. New recruits complete at least 12 weeks of field training with a one-to-one ratio of field training officers to probationary officers. Supervisors receive additional ongoing management and leadership training.6Chicago Police Department Consent Decree. Fact Sheet: Chicago Police Department Consent Decree
Officer Wellness
CPD was required to grow its licensed mental health staff from three professionals to at least ten, develop a suicide prevention initiative, and run a communications program aimed at reducing the stigma around seeking mental health support. All officers receive in-service training on wellness and available services.6Chicago Police Department Consent Decree. Fact Sheet: Chicago Police Department Consent Decree
Accountability
The decree overhauled how complaints against officers are investigated. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability handles serious misconduct investigations and must develop and follow timeliness benchmarks so that cases do not drag on indefinitely. Supervisors bear explicit responsibility for the conduct of officers under their command, and the decree sets out disciplinary procedures that must be followed when violations are sustained.
How Compliance Is Scored
The court evaluates each of the 609 paragraphs separately, which is why the department can sit at different levels across different areas at the same time. There are three tiers:
- Preliminary compliance: the department has drafted and finalized the written policy that addresses the requirement.
- Secondary compliance: a majority of relevant officers have been trained on the new policy, with evidence that the training was delivered effectively.
- Full compliance: the department has shown it actually follows the policy in practice over a sustained period under the judge’s oversight.
The hardest step is the last one. Writing a policy and training officers on it is more straightforward than proving that roughly 12,000 officers consistently apply the rule during unpredictable encounters on the street.
Where Things Stand
Seven years in, CPD has reached full compliance with about 25 percent of the decree’s requirements. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer, who oversees the case, has publicly said the pace is too slow. The court has authority to impose additional requirements or sanctions if progress does not accelerate.
Progress has been uneven. Policy development and training have moved faster than measurable changes in day-to-day officer behavior, which tracks with the compliance tiers above.
An independent monitoring team led by Maggie Hickey serves as the court’s eyes inside the department, with unrestricted access to facilities, documents, and personnel records, and files a formal report every six months.8CPD Monitoring Team. The CPD Monitoring Team and What We Do The monitoring team itself has cost Chicago taxpayers approximately $28.6 million over seven years, with the 11-member team’s annual cost reaching $4.7 million in 2025 and growing every year since 2022.9WTTW. Taxpayers Paid $28.6M Over 7 Years for Chicago’s Police Monitors to Enforce Consent Decree That figure covers only the monitors. CPD’s own implementation costs for training, technology, mental health staff, and revised recruitment are folded into the department’s regular budget rather than tracked as a single line item.
All monitoring reports and court filings are posted on the official consent decree website, so residents can read the compliance data and the underlying policies directly.
When the Decree Ends
The decree has no expiration date. It terminates only when the City of Chicago and CPD demonstrate to the court that they have achieved full and effective compliance with its requirements.6Chicago Police Department Consent Decree. Fact Sheet: Chicago Police Department Consent Decree Individual sections can be terminated as the department reaches sustained compliance in those areas, but the decree as a whole stays in effect until the judge is satisfied across the board.
Federal politics have limited reach here. The current DOJ under the Trump administration has described police consent decrees generally as overbroad and has moved to dismiss several Biden-era police investigations in other cities.10United States Department of Justice. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division Dismisses Biden-Era Police Investigations The federal government is not a party to the Chicago case. The Illinois Attorney General and the federal court retain control, so the decree remains enforceable regardless of who occupies the White House. At the current pace, it is likely to remain in effect for years to come.