Evanston Sued for Concealing Police Misconduct Complaints – Illinois

The City of Evanston, Illinois is being sued for unlawfully concealing police misconduct records.  Check CU filed the lawsuit in Cook County Court on September 30^th, 2022, alleging violations of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The lawsuit shows that on July 22^nd, 2022, Check CU founder Christopher Hansen attempted to request Evanston Police misconduct records from 2015 through 2022. 

However, the Evanston City Clerk’s Office, headed by City Clerk Stephanie Mendoza, refused to provide most of the records.

Hansen became interested in Evanston’s handling of police complaints after it was announced that Urbana City Administrator Carol Mitten would soon be hired as City Manager for Evanston.  Mitten had made a name for herself in Urbana excusing police misconduct and inventing new ways to shut down the police complaint process.

Clerk Mendoza’s office fully denied all police complaint records from 2022, and selectively refused to provide many of the original police misconduct complaints from 2016 through 2021.  Evanston claimed that records from 2015 had already been destroyed.

The written denials were sent by Deputy City Clerk Omar Sheikh, who refused to explain why most of the original complaints were kept under concealment.

Sheikh’s last email on August 22^nd (several weeks later than the deadline to declare FOIA exemptions) indicated that he was withholding 2022 police complaint records because they were still under investigation.  However, as has been repeatedly held by the Attorney General and the courts, such a blanket exemption is unlawful – only small portions of records can be withheld or redacted and only if the public body can specifically articulate how their release would interfere with an investigation.

Despite repeated inquiry, Sheikh refused to explain the concealment of original police complaints from 2016-2021.  Over the course of a month, Hansen made numerous attempts to reconcile all of the missing records with the Evanston City Clerk’s Office, but Deputy Clerk Sheikh ultimately began ignoring all communications. 

The lawsuit can be viewed below.