A team of reporters from the nonprofit journalism organizations Invisible Institute and ProPublica have reviewed more than 300 sexual assault and misconduct complaints that were filed over the past decade against Chicago police officers.
But experts say that’s likely an undercount.
We need your help to understand the scope and scale of this issue. We want to talk to people who have experienced sexual misconduct or sexual assault by Chicago police. For this investigation, we defined police sexual misconduct as sexual assault, unwanted, inappropriate touching or comments, and sexual harassment by police officers either on or off duty. Researchers and advocates say sexual misconduct is a “spectrum of behavior.”
This behavior can include but is not limited to:
- A Chicago police officer flirting with someone, including by asking for their phone number for reasons not related to a case or by making other inappropriate comments while on duty
- A Chicago police officer asking someone for sexual favors in exchange for not ticketing or arresting them
- A Chicago police officer sexually assaulting or making unwanted physical contact with someone, including when the officer is off duty
You can share your experience in the form below. Please also get in touch if you are a current or retired Chicago police officer who has information you can share on this issue.
If you prefer to speak with a reporter directly, you can contact the reporting team by calling or texting 312-488-9552. You can also send a message to reporter María Inés Zamudio on Signal, which is more secure, at mizamudio.95.
We appreciate you sharing your story and we take your privacy seriously. We are gathering this information for the purposes of our reporting, and we will contact you if we wish to publish any part of your story.
As journalists, our role is to write about issues. We cannot provide legal advice or other support. However, there are resources available. We know these cases can stem from painful experiences, and support is available if you need it:
- The National Sexual Assault Hotline is available online or by calling 800-656-4673.
- The National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available online or by calling or texting 988.
- The Chicago Rape Crisis Hotline can be reached at 888-293-2080.
- Resilience in Chicago offers support groups, trauma-informed counseling and advocacy support for survivors.
- Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE) offers legal advice and can make referrals for survivors.
- The Network offers support for survivors of domestic violence.
Andrew Fan, Maheen Khan, Maira Khwaja and Trina Reynolds-Tyler of Invisible Institute contributed reporting, and Ashley Clarke of ProPublica contributed research.