Chicago Inspector General demands reform of CPD officers in schools

CHICAGO (Fox 32 News) - Video that shows a confrontation between a female high school student and Chicago police sparked controversy when it was released earlier this year.

Now, Chicago’s Inspector General is expressing frustration at the slow pace of reform in the program that puts safety officers in schools.

When asked why he thinks it’s taking so long, Joe Ferguson said he has no idea.

“There’s no excuse for it,” he said.

It has been more than two years since the agreement between Chicago police and Chicago Public Schools expired, and last September, Ferguson tried to prod the process along by releasing a report calling for major reforms in the program that puts police officers in schools.

Now, nine months later, still no reforms have been implemented.

"Another entire school year has passed without there being an agreement that sets forth standards, principles for things like training, selection and conduct of officers inside schools,” Ferguson said.

During that time, there was another confrontation between police and a 17-year-old female student in which the girl was tased and injured.

"We had a bad incident in Marshall High School in February involving school resource officers for which the city is now a defendant in a lawsuit. These things mater on a number of different levels and we're not moving at all at the pace we should be moving,” Ferguson said.

"This is something obviously that should have been taken care of a long time ago,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

On Thursday, Mayor Lightfoot said there would be a security plan by the beginning of the school year, which may or may not include police officers.

"It is a real skill to address young kids and juveniles, and it's not something that is normally the training of a police officer. So we gotta think about what the right model is,” she said.

Ferguson is also calling for more community input, saying public hearings so far have been far from public.