What is Citizens Alert? 

Citizens Alert was founded in 1967 by a group of community activists, Fred Glick, Jay Miller, Jack Korshak, Norman Lapping and the Rev. Stephen Whitehead. Originally, they came together to work with victims of police brutality. The excesses of the police at the 1968 Democratic Convention and the infamous midnight raid on an apartment occupied by Black Panther leaders resulting in the deaths of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, were catalysts in the evolution and growth of Citizens Alert. We spearheaded the successful campaign to replace the "cover-ups" by the Cook County Coroner's Office with the current professional Office of the Medical Examiner and negotiated procedures to assist survivors of persons dying while in police custody. We transformed the closed-door meetings of the Chicago Police Board into monthly occasions for a public forum, and help coordinate public input.

More Recently

We have been focusing our efforts on systemic change, e.g. fighting for the mandated videotaping of police interrogations to prevent police and prosecutorial misconduct. Such procedures could help prevent coercion of suspects to confess, keep innocent persons from wrongful convictions and provide objective evidence for judges and juries. Legislation requiring electronic recording of interrogations and confessions has been passed by the Illinois General Assembly and signed by Governor Rod Blagojevich. However, limiting the mandate to "electronic recording" precludes visible evidence of physical abuse or torture to obtain confessions. Citizens Alert continues to work for a videotaping mandate.