Investigating CPD's Use of Civil Asset Forfeiture
Channel: Chi Hack Night
Date: 04/11/2016

In September, Lucy Parsons Labs collaborated with MuckRock and the Chicago Reader to investigate the size and scope of the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) civil asset forfeiture program. The controversial legal process allows police and prosecutors to keep and use at their own discretion the cash and assets seized by law enforcement.

Because CPD’s civil forfeiture fund exists outside of its official budget, the investigation made extensive use of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to uncover exactly how much CPD takes from Chicagoans and what the department uses this money to buy.

Lucy Parsons Labs’ Freddy Martinez and freelance journalist Joel Handley walk through the FOIA process, the analysis of the deposit and expenditure data they received, and the highlights of their findings.