Citizens Alert

Citizens Alert was founded in 1967 by Fred Glick, Jay Miller, Jack Korshak, Norman Lapping and Rev. Stephen Whitehead. Initially, our work was solely with victims of police brutality until the infamous 1968 Democratic Convention and the murder of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton and Mark Clark during a police raid in 1969. These events were the catalysts for the organization to work towards systemic changes within law enforcement agencies.  In doing so, Citizens Alert merged with the Police Task Force of The Alliance to End Repression and absorbed the program of the AER's Task Force. 

Some of our successes included:

• A campaign to replace the Cook County Coroners system with the current professional Medical Examiners office.
• Transforming the closed door meetings of the Chicago Police Board into open public forums where the public can have some degree of input.
• Fighting to mandate video tapping of police interrogations.
• Replacing the Office of Professional Standards with the Independent Police Review Authority.

Quote(s)

Albert Maule-- former president of the Chicago Police Board-- on the Burge case admits that for better or worse Citizens Alert has kept the issue (police torture) hot for several years.

Other observers noted that if not for Citizens Alert pressure, the department would not have reopened the investigation, which subsequently sent the case to the police board which led to Jon Burge's firing.

Robert J. McClory, Chicago Reader, July 17, 1992

Who We Are

Citizens Alert's programs and activities are planned and implemented by volunteers and interns. 

Citizens Alert is a not-for-profit organization which neither seeks nor receives government funds. We depend on a very limit source of grants and individual contributions for support.

We believe that law enforcement agencies are servants of the public and the public must hold these agencies to the highest standards of trust and integrity.