Chicago police ripped over George Floyd unrest response in scathing new watchdog report

A new watchdog report outlines the Chicago Police Department's response to the protests and unrest that broke out in the city in the wake of the death of George Floyd, stressing that intelligence and leadership failures put front-line officers in jeopardy, and breakdowns in mass arrest procedure during the coronavirus pandemic left violent actors released back on the streets as the city devolved into chaos.

"The challenges in responding to large-scale protests and unrest amidst a global pandemic were daunting, but the efforts of CPD and the City to stem unrest were marked, almost without exception, by confusion and lack of coordination in the field, emanating from failures of intelligence assessment, major event planning, field communication and operation, administrative systems and, most significantly, leadership from CPD's highest ranks," the inspector general's office said in a statement. The report, which seeks to provide an "an in-depth chronology and analysis" of the period from May 29 through June 7, 2020, was issued on Feb. 18 following a joint fact-finding effort with the Independent Monitor overseeing the consent decree entered in Illinois v. Chicago.