Chicago police freed of spying limits

A federal judge has dissolved decades-old legal restrictions placed on Chicago police because of their infamous Red Squad.

U.S. District Court Judge Joan Gotschall voided the consent decrees today in response to a joint motion from Mayor Richard Daley's administration and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The city agreed to the decrees, which limited the police's ability to gather intelligence, to resolve a class-action lawsuit in 1982.

The restrictions came in response to the Red Squad that spied on political activists in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2001, the courts eased the rules, arguing that the decrees made it difficult for police to combat terrorist groups.

from the Trib