Where is Your Badge is a community accountability network, focused on the Chicago Police Department's uniform misconduct, surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.
Statement from the CPD June 4,2020:
“All Chicago Police Officers are required to wear their unit assignment designator, nameplate and prescribed star so that they are clearly visible. ... CPD holds its officers to the highest professional standards and violations of the Department’s policy will be addressed”
If you have photo evidence of such misconduct you can submit here:
Upload an image
What we will do with your photos
This evidence is being compiled and reported to: Civilian Office of Police Accountabilityhttps://www.chicagocopa.org
And American Civil Liberties Union
https://www.aclu.org
Safety Tips When Photographing the Police
- Keep Your Distance
- Maintain a minimum of 6ft distance when at all possible. The Police may use a sudden approach as a threat.
- Be discreet
- Being silent and discreet can keep you off their radar for much longer. Which is more productive for long term accountability checking.
- Digital media safety
- For personal security, Turning your phone in airplane mode and turning off GPS tracking, help ensure digital tracking before submitting photos to Whereisyourbadge.org
Our Right to Photograph the Police
- When you are lawfully present in any public space, you have the right to photograph anything in plain view, including federal buildings and the police. (On private property, the owner may set rules about photography or video.)
- Police officers may not confiscate or demand to view your photographs or video without a warrant, nor may they delete data under any circumstances. However, they may order citizens to cease activities that are truly interfering with legitimate law enforcement operations.
- If you are videotaping, be aware that there is an important legal distinction between a visual photographic record (fully protected) and the audio portion of a videotape, which some states have tried to regulate under state wiretapping laws.
Why Record
We demand Police Accountability and VisibilityAs of 06/07/20 CPD is NOT required to wear BWC (Body Worn Cameras)
(4.5) Cameras may be turned off when the officer is engaged in community caretaking functions. However, the camera must be turned on when the officer has reason to believe that the person on whose behalf the officer is performing a community caretaking function has committed or is in the process of committing a crime.
Police Uniform Requirements
(50 ILCS 706/10-10) Sec. 10-10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
SECTION 1 "Badge" means an officer's department issued identification number associated with his or her position as a police officer with that department.
SECTION 4 "In uniform" means a law enforcement officer who is wearing any officially authorized uniform designated by a law enforcement agency, or a law enforcement officer who is visibly wearing articles of clothing, a badge, tactical gear, gun belt, a patch, or other insignia that he or she is a law enforcement officer acting in the course of his or her duties.
What to do if you are stopped or detained for taking photographs
- Always remain calm and never physically resist a police officer.
- Police cannot detain you without reasonable suspicion that you have or are about to commit a crime or are in the process of doing so.
- If you are stopped, ask the officer if you are free to leave. If the answer is yes, calmly walk away.
- If you are detained, ask the officer what crime you are suspected of committing, and remind the officer that taking photographs is your right under the First Amendment and does not constitute reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.