Taxpayers paid more than $80 million to resolve Chicago police misconduct lawsuits in 2023, documents show.

CHICAGO (WLS) — New data shows Chicago taxpayers continue to fund an endless stream of police abuse settlements.

Over the past five years, Chicago taxpayers have paid out more than $378 million in settlements, judgments and other legal costs related to CPD, according to annual litigation reports prepared by the city’s Law Department and analyzed by the I-Team.

The city’s latest report, released last week, shows $81 million has been paid out in 2023 to settle litigation with the Chicago Police Department.

Most of that total includes the huge amount spent on resolving “overturned convictions” cases brought by people who were arrested, convicted and later found innocent.

City records show that settlements from these types of lawsuits alone have risen from $44 million in 2022 to $51 million in 2023.

“The city’s approach to these cases continues to be a disservice to taxpayers,” said Ron Safer, a former federal prosecutor who now works as a defense attorney in private practice.

Safer represented people who were convicted but later legally acquitted, and he also sued the city.

“The numbers are going in the wrong direction. The numbers are going up. Settlements are going up because they’re not being considered at the beginning of the case.”

For years, ABC7 has covered the city’s approach to lawsuits filed after overturned and wrongful convictions, including a decades-long practice of fighting such cases that has cost tens of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Safer believes the city could resolve these cases sooner, at a fraction of the cost.

“The city needs to be more intelligent about this. People need to get involved,” Safer explained. “At some point, the city needs to say, ‘Was this person wrongfully convicted?’ If so, let’s pay them compensation at the beginning of the case. Let’s pay them what they’re owed and be done with it. Let’s not pay lawyers to fight and fight and fight them and then end up paying a big judgment or settlement.”

In addition to the overturned convictions, the investigative team also found that payouts in “unlawful pretrial detention” cases increased from $904,500 in 2022 to $2.5 million in 2023.

The amount of “illegal search and seizure” lawsuits, which include violations resulting from traffic stops by CPD police that resulted in searches of drivers and vehicles, increased from $1.1 million in 2022 to $1.2 million in 2023.

Overall, over the past five years, the total amount of taxpayer money spent on police misconduct cases has increased: from $46 million in 2019 to $123 million in 2021 and decreased slightly to $81 million in 2023.

It’s a cash grab by any measure, said Deborah Witzburg, the city’s inspector general who is investigating the issue.

“This is a big-money question,” Witzburg told the I-Team. “The city pays out tens of millions of dollars a year in settlements or judgments resulting from CPD-related lawsuits.”

Witzburg said what matters most is how the city responds to the numbers.

“If we use these settlements and judgments to learn lessons about how to improve operations and how to manage risk for the city, then those dollars will have some return. Then it looks more like an investment.”

But Witzburg continued: “If we don’t learn anything to reduce future risk from litigation data, we’re just writing big checks and missing out on expensive opportunities.”

A Chicago Law Department spokesperson told the I-Team, “Pursuant to a consent decree issued in 2019, the City of Chicago is required to publish an annual Chicago Police Department (CPD) Litigation Report to inform the public about the outcomes of lawsuits filed against the City alleging that CPD members violated civil rights or suffered injuries as a result of vehicle chases by CPD members. The report reflects cases resolved in 2023 by settlement, verdict, or dismissal.”

To view the annual reports on court proceedings in the city, click here.

Among the shocking expenses for Chicago taxpayers highlighted in the latest lawsuit report are payouts for allegations of excessive force by police against the CPD during protests following the death of George Floyd in 2020.

An I-Team review of court records found more than $100,000 was paid in 2023 to plaintiffs who sued the city over CPD’s response to civil unrest.

With the Democratic National Convention approaching, Safer hopes the city has learned from the past.

“The city is about to have another watershed moment. The city has risen to the occasion before, when we had the NATO summit here. The city has done very well, the police have done very well. But this is a critical point,” Safer said. “If we were to repeat the ’68 convention, the city would go bankrupt.”