IL: Chicago PD’s “investigative alert” arrest is without judicially approved PC and unconstitutional

“Cordell Bass was arrested solely on the authority of what the Chicago Police Department calls an ‘investigative alert.’ Department regulations allow officers to arrest people on the basis of an alert where there is probable cause to believe the suspect has committed a crime. But, the regulations allow for police supervisors to internally make that probable cause determination. Officers are not required to take their case for probable cause to a judge, as they would for an arrest warrant. We are asked to determine whether this practice is constitutional [under the Illinois constitution]. We hold that it is not.” People v. Bass, 2019 IL App (1st) 160640, 2019 Ill. App. LEXIS 638 (July 25, 2019). (It would be unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment, too. My own local police had what they called an “‘S’ docket” back in the 60s and 70s where people were arrested on “suspicion” and detained for days. A federal judge struck it down noting that “suspicion” isn’t even probable cause. The case was filed in 1972, and that ruling came shortly. The attorneys fee award didn’t come until 1984 after damages claims were exhausted. Phillips v. Weeks, 586 F.Supp. 241 (E.D. Ark. 1984). The original order isn’t online.)