CHICAGO (AP) – The American Civil Liberties Union wants the Chicago Police Department to turn over records about a team formed last year to monitor social media. In a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, the ACLU wants the court to compel the department to release documents it refused to hand over after public records requests. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and police Superintendent David Brown in August announced the formation of the team to monitor social media sites amid looting and other disturbances after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. ACLU-Illinois executive director Colleen Connell says the activity could suppress free speech and lead to “targeting based on protected speech, race, association, and neighborhood.”
