Document #1019046
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
The following information was provided by
the chief of the Civil Rights Division of the Illinois State
Attorney General's office in Chicago during a 15 December 1994
telephone interview.
An individual in Illinois who felt he or
she was being targeted, harassed or discriminated against by a
local or federal law enforcement agency because of his or her race
or political activities would have several avenues of redress.
The first level for redressing a grievance
against a local law enforcement agency would be to write a letter
to the chief of police of the jurisdiction from which the police
were operating. If the chief of police failed to investigate the
claim, or if the individual was not satisfied with the response,
the individual could take the complaint to the Civil Rights
Division of the State Attorney General's office.
Similarly, the first level for redressing a
grievance against a federal law enforcement officer in Illinois
would be to register a complaint with the director of the agency's
Illinois bureau. All federal law enforcement agencies, including
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency,
and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Border Patrol
are under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice, so the
individual could also send a letter of complaint to the agency's
headquarters in Washington and/or to the Attorney General's office
in Washington. By law the Central Intelligence Agency cannot
conduct operations within the United States.
If the Civil Rights Division was satisfied
that the individual has attempted to resolve the dispute through
the internal mechanisms of the local or federal law enforcement
agency, it would review the claim to determine whether the
individual did appear to have been targeted for abuse, and if so,
whether that law enforcement officer, municipality, or agency
appeared to have practised a pattern of abuse on the basis of race
or political opinion. If the Civil Rights Division found a pattern
or practice of abuse, it could file a case against the municipality
on behalf of the People of Illinois, and would conduct all the
necessary research, verification and legal representation necessary
to try the case.
If the Civil Rights Division determined
that there was no pattern or practice of abuse, the individual
would have to pursue the case on his or her own initiative. The
individual could either hire an attorney or ask for assistance from
an organization that does pro bono legal representation of
cases involving harassment on the basis of race or political
opinion.
Regardless of whether the individual
secured pro bono or paid legal representation, or decided to
represent himself, any case involving police abuse in Illinois
would be tried in federal not state courts. A charge of police
misconduct would be laid under chapter 42 United States Code (USC),
section 1983. Once in the federal court system the individual would
be able to appeal to the higher federal courts, on up to the
Supreme Court assuming it agreed to hear the case, if the
individual was not satisfied with verdict at each levels.
Corroborative or additional information on
this subject could not be found among the sources currently
available to the DIRB in Ottawa. However, attached please find
several documents reporting on cases of racially or politically
motivated abuse by police and other law enforcement/intelligence
services agencies. These documents might be of interest.
This response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum.
Illinois State Attorney General's
office, Chicago. 15 December 1994. Telephone interview with Chief
of Civil Rights Division.
Against the Current [Detroit,
Mich.]. July-August 1994. Karin Baker. "The Legacy of Contelpro:
Geronimo Pratt, Political Prisoner," pp. 3-5.
The Centre for the Independence of
Judges and Lawyers (CIJL) Bulletin [Geneva]. April 1988. No.
21. Michael Krinsky. "F.B.I. Harassment of the National Lawyers
Guild," pp. 26-35.
Human Rights [Chicago]. Summer
1988. Vol. 15, No. 2. Frank Wilkinson. "Why I Won My Case Against
the FBI," pp. 38-41, 53-54.
Human Rights Watch and American Civil
Liberties Union. December 1993. Human Rights Violations in the
United States: A Report on U.S. Compliance with the International
Convenant on Civil and Political Rights. New York: Human Rights
Watch, pp. 115-27.
The National Law Journal [n.p.].
28 June 1982. Vol. 4, No. 42. Larry Tell. "$700,000 Verdict Is
Upheld Against Former FBI Agents," p. 8.