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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 speatheaded 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.
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