There was a systematic pattern of police torture of suspects at the Brighton Park police area for more than a decade during the 1970s and 1980s, according to a Chicago police Office of Professional Standards report unsealed in federal court Friday.
The report said that area commanders were aware of the abuse and failed to take action.
While the names of commanders and other police personnel were not contained in the report, police personnel records show that Supt. LeRoy Martin was commander of the Brighton Park Area detective division for nine months during the time the torture and abuse was alleged to have occurred.
Martin headed the division from Feb. 25, 1983, to Dec. 4, 1983, records show.
Names of the alleged victims also were being withheld, in compliance with federal Judge Milton Shadur`s order. About 40 alleged victims are referred to in the report, which covers from about 1972 to about 1984, sources said.
”The preponderance of the evidence is that the abuse did occur and it was systematic,” the report said.
Documents released with the report indicate Martin dragged his feet in disciplining the detectives reponsible for the alleged torture once the standards office had sustained the charges.
Lawyers said they belive the report likely will be used by civil rights lawyers in brutality lawsuits against the police.
Current awards in such cases cost the city as much as $6 million a year.
”That`s why the city fought so hard to suppress it,” said lawyer G. Flint Taylor, who won the release of the report Friday.