Four days after a CHA resident was quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times complaining about the police, her home was turned upside down by officers looking for drugs.
Carol Wallace, a 63-year-old grandmother, has no criminal record and said she has never had any run-ins with the police in her 10 years at the Dearborn Homes public housing complex. She accused the police of trying to silence her.
“They did this just to harass me,” Wallace said. “My nerves are shot, and I’m afraid. I feel like I’ve been violated.”
Carol Wallace is in front of her Dearborn Homes apartment building Wednesday. Her apartment was searched Monday by police who said they were looking for drugs.
(Keith Hale/Sun-Times)
In the Sun-Times, Wallace decried police for demanding Dearborn residents’ and visitors’ information for “contact cards,” including names, nicknames, addresses, tattoos and other physical details. Her complaints also led to a recent tenants meeting with an area police commander, she said.Wallace is “widely recognized as a strong asset to this development and a community voice,” a case manager in the area said. Wallace has worked most of her life, as a medical technician and for the U.S. Postal Service. She’s retired now.
The Sun-Times story ran July 19, and a search warrant for her apartment, looking for drugs, was issued three days later. About 11 police officers showed up at her door at 29th and State streets Monday.
Files misconduct complaint
Wallace said about six of the officers dumped clothes from a dresser and closet on her bed and floor and rifled through her medications. Police also told a friend at the apartment that visitors weren’t allowed, she said.Wallace filed a complaint of alleged misconduct with the Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards on Wednesday.
“They will interview her, others in her building, there will be an official investigation,” said police spokeswoman Monique Bond.
Bond said officers fill out contact cards only if someone is doing something wrong, such as littering, drinking in public or hanging out in a park after hours.
“It kind of serves as a warning,” she said.
Wallace called that a “lie,” saying police regularly fill out cards on residents and visitors who are just minding their own business.
Bond defended the cards, saying they are a way for police to keep track of interactions with citizens and that the information has proved useful in solving other crimes.
Wallace also noted a mistake on the search warrant. It included the correct name, age and address, but cited an alias used by a neighbor on her floor.
The physical description of the occupant — 5-foot-1 and 140 pounds — also matched that neighbor. Wallace is 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds.
