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Created January 15, 2016 00:09
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How to FOIA CPD for deadly OIS
Here are some basic steps to take when a CPD officer shoots and kill someone, and how to gather enough information.
- Identify the District.
Chicago is broken up into Districts and ach police district is divided into 3 sectors.
Each sector is further divided into 3 to 5 beats. For example, 712 would be District 7, sector 1 and beat 2.
https://portal.chicagopolice.org/portal/page/portal/ClearPath/Get%20Involved/How%20CAPS%20works/KnowYourDistrict
You can use that information, and an address to cross reference to make sure it is accurate. I used the Invisible Institute's
database on police misconduct complaints.
- Listen to the scanner recording of the day in question.
You'll likely hear it on a particular Zone. It will rarely be on CW2 or 6 (CityWide) put it is possible. In the example above
I might start listening on Zone 7. You should cross reference a scanner guide like the one found below.
https://github.com/freddymartinez9/miscfoiamirror/blob/master/ChicagoScannerFrequencies.pdf
Once you know the Zone, you want a copy of the Scanner traffic. You could (a) FOIA for it from OEMC or (b) download it from
a resource like Broadcastify or other paid scanner webpages. OEMC will almost certainly block your FOIA, but its worth a shot
(if they do turn down your request, contact me)
Using that information, you can identify who responded to the call. For example you may hear "1172 Robert" but you won't know
which officer that is until later.
- Identify the "Watch"
CPD Watches work in 8-9 hour shifts called watches. For example 1st watch starts around 11pm-midnight but POs clock in around
1030.
- Pull the Attendance and Assignment sheet for that watch and District
I sent a FOIA for A&A sheets for the entire District 11 for an entire week for watch 1. Follow up vigiously.
- Identify the shooter
THIS IS THE HARD PART, BE CAREFUL. I had three wrong names before identifying the correct one. the A&A sheet will have
officers clocking in, a given time and their assignment. From there, you can see 1172R was assigned to Rialmo, on the day in
question.
Example documents:
https://github.com/freddymartinez9/miscfoiamirror/tree/master/Zone11ShootingScanner
Notes: District 11 and 01 might be confusing and could cause overlap because they both begin with 1.
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