It has been a year since George Floyd died beneath a Minneapolis police officer’s knee, setting off riots in Chicago and protests across Illinois. Lawmakers vowed reforms, but nothing will change as long as police contracts overpower state law.

Both police reform advocates and law enforcement supporters face the same serious obstacle in Illinois: police union contracts include provisions protecting officers from discipline. Those contracts carry more weight than state law.

While Illinois law explicitly states union contracts trump all other state laws, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled a police contract allowing the destruction of disciplinarily records defies public policy and cannot be enforced.

ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune’s groundbreaking report shows how disciplinary actions for Chicago police officers fall through the cracks.