Chicago, IL – Chicago's Area 5 Police Districts had a special meeting on Monday, July 28, in response to community outrage over slow investigation into sexual assaults. The commander tasked with helping residents “learn more about how CPD works” was John Foster, who is linked to multiple cases of wrongful convictions. Survivors of police torture and their allies confronted Foster and demanded his removal from CPD.

Superintendent Larry Snelling celebrated the detective work in cases where an assault perpetrator was charged, but Northwest Side residents said these cases only saw progress when hundreds of them consistently packed the 14th Police District Council meetings to support survivors and demand accountability.

District Councilors (DCs) in attendance included Ashley Vargas (14th), Elizabeth Rochford (17th), Angelica Green (25th), and Anthony Tamez (17th). Several helped facilitate the discussion in which constituents presented questions to CPD.

Residents called on DCs to make a vote of no confidence in John Foster’s ability to investigate criminal assault cases. Foster has at least 66 civilian complaints listed against him and has cost taxpayers $3.4 million in settlements for misconduct.

“Do you remember that man, right across from you,” Jasmine Smith, co-chair of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), asked Foster, “that you and Forberg pulled over and put a gun to his head and told him he’d never see daylight or these streets again?”

Smith pointed to Kevin Jackson, who spent 23 years and four months wrongfully incarcerated after being abused by John Foster and his partner at the time, Brian P. Forberg.

“You, Brian Forberg and Kevin Eberle are the cause of 41 wrongful convictions, including my two loved ones, Lester Owens and Rico Clark,” Smith continued. She is also a chair of CAARPR’s Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Torture (CFIST), which fights for the freedom of hundreds of known survivors of wrongful conviction. She called on the DCs and the Mayor to fire Foster, Eberle and Forberg.

Foster’s 15 minute presentation included a slide on building trust with survivors and the community, but he refused to answer most questions.

“How in the world could victims receive treatment, when they were locked inside interrogation rooms and tortured by your members? You are also accused of torturing individuals inside police stations, and I think that is very unfair. Where is the integrity of justice?” asked Mark Clements, a survivor and organizer with the Chicago Torture Justice Center

Foster’s response? “I think it’s very disrespectful, this meeting is about sexual assault, it’s not about past behaviors or anything like that. So I think we should focus on criminal sexual assault.”

Residents pushed back on Foster's attempts to pit survivors of sexual assault against survivors of police torture. Many who were there for other reasons echoed the call for a vote of no confidence.

Foster rushed out the back door at the close of the meeting. Outside, he was seen verbally assaulting a woman who works for CPD.

17th District Councilor Anthony Tamez remarked “I am standing here today with community members to demand justice in the wrongful conviction of Kevin Jackson. Commander John Foster played a direct role in this miscarriage of justice and it is unacceptable. That is why I will be calling for a formal vote of no confidence at our next District Council meeting, August 17.”

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