Illinois police departments are putting the brakes on training sessions with Street Cop Training, a firm recently mired in controversy following a report that slammed its methods as promoting illegal policing practices. The move by departments in Burr Ridge, Rochelle, and Elgin signals a growing unease with the firm's aggressive techniques; training seminars, which have been accused of endorsing unconstitutional stops and glorifying violence, have now been dropped from their agendas, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Street Cop Training caught heat after a report by the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller called out the firm for instructive strategies that could entangle officers and the public in potentially Rights-violating altercations placing the former on thin legal ice, and the latter in unmerited peril, the sessions included these disputed methods were set between April and November across five Illinois communities, but Burr Ridge and Rochelle have withdrawn from participating and Elgin confirmed it won't allow its officers to attend the indicted company's courses.
Burr Ridge's Chief of Police John Madden voiced his concern, "Extremely disturbing," in regards to the report and emphasized that his department would not engage with a contractor embroiled in such disquieting practices. Despite plans to host a November class with Street Cop, where officers could attend for free if external ticket sales were strong enough, Madden remained firm in his stance, following the lack of response from the questioned training firm when pressed about corrective measures for the stated issues, as Burr Ridge resident Patricia Davis expressed her dissatisfaction in an email, which raised the issue that the harmful training could potentially lead to "expensive litigation," as stated by the Chicago Tribune.
The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board's decertification of Street Cop has added to the company's waning credibility, forcing Burr Ridge to call off an agreement to host a class with them, as communicated by Deputy Police Chief Marc Loftus to a Patch inquiry, and Rochelle's police Chief Pete Pavia also axed a planned July class after learning that participation would not be credited, the decision was made easier after Pavia became aware of the New Jersey report, indicating that moving forward, he would take a deeper look into the credentials of any training provider considered by their department.
Scrutiny over Street Cop Training intensified when training material featuring officer Kenny Williams, who flaunted tactics that could be interpreted as racially biased and in violation of constitutional rights in his traffic stops, was publicly criticized by the New Jersey Comptroller's Office, as revealed in an article by Patch; Williams's actions sparked criticism including the use of pretextual stops, and situations where he prolonged traffic stops without valid legal grounds, whereas Burr Ridge officers, who participated in earlier sessions with Street Cop, maintained that what they witnessed was conducted professionally and was a far cry from the problematic conduct outlined in the comptroller's findings.
