Sergio Acosta Appears on Chicago Tonight to Discuss Chicago Task Force on Police Accountability's Efforts

Sergio E. Acosta discussed the ongoing efforts of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Task Force on Police Accountability on the February 1, 2016, edition of the WTTW channel 11 program Chicago Tonight. Mr. Acosta — the Chicago-based leader of the White Collar Defense & Internal Investigations Practice at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP — spoke in his capacity as a co-chair of the task force.

Addressing a Chicago Tribune article relating that approximately 1 percent of Chicago police officers are responsible for almost one-third of all misconduct lawsuits, Mr. Acosta said, "It is a top-down issue. Supervisors and other police officers are aware of who the bad apples are. It's a question of putting the right procedures in place to weed those officers out." He added, "What we want to do is also develop a process by which early on in their careers, officers who are having problems can be identified, not for the purpose of firing them but to see in which instances there can be remediation, additional training, bringing to their attention this is not acceptable conduct. Hopefully we can have a role in getting that type of system in place also."

The task force will hold four public meetings this month to get Chicago residents’ input on how to improve police accountability, oversight and training of Chicago police.

Mr. Acosta is an experienced criminal litigator and investigator. He has represented companies, government entities and individuals in matters involving the FCPA, complex financial fraud, criminal tax violations, export regulations and criminal forfeiture. His practice also encompasses corporate governance, corporate internal investigations, regulatory enforcement, commercial litigation and gaming law. Before joining Hinshaw, Mr. Acosta held leading roles in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois; served as Administrator of the Illinois Gaming Board; and was a prosecutor in the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office. He also served as a member of then-Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's Illinois Concealed Carry License Review Board.

Watch the full segment, titled, "Calls for Police Accountability Grow," on the Chicago Tonight website.