December 1: Emanuel fires Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and names a five-member task force to make recommendations on improving police accountability.
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McCarthy was not at the news conference. In the aftermath of the shooting, Emanuel has said that he has appointed a task force to delve into police accountability in Chicago.
“The answer is that Mayor Emanuel and Anita Alvarez have enabled and supported a system that has robbed Chicago of true justice”, Kelley continues.
The calls for Alvarez’s resignation come as Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan asked the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to investigate the Chicago Police Department.
“Trust in the Chicago Police Department is broken”, Madigan said in a statement.
The turmoil in Chicago isn’t unique to the city.
– Whether there is a pattern or practice of discriminatory policing. Still, the mayor said, a police chief is only as “effective as the trust that the community” places in him. The mounting evidence of a multi-layer cover-up surrounding the killing of McDonald includes actions by Emmanuel.
Protesters have been calling for McCarthy’s dismissal in response to the handling of the death of Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old who was killed in October 2014.
Officer Jason Van Dyke responds to a call about a teenager breaking into cars and stealing radios.
This prosecutor dragged her feet for over a year on indicting the policeman shown in that video firing 16-shots into Laquan McDonald. Gun violence has spiked in Chicago under Emanuel’s tenure and is a key subject of debate in the city’s politics.
In a brutal op-ed published on Monday, The New York Times editorial board called on the mayor to resign, citing instances where the administration dragged its feet despite mounting pressure from the public.
“The use of excessive force and misuse of authority is not new in Chicago or isolated only to Chicago…For whatever progress we have made, the killing of Laquan McDonald is a vivid reminder that we have much more work to do”. Charges were filed last Tuesday, the same day the dashcam video showing the shooting was released to the public. And I certainly do not apologize for conducting a meticulous and thorough investigation to build the strongest possible First Degree Murder case against Officer Van Dyke. A judge sided with the journalist, and the footage was released last week.
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The panel, due to make its recommendations by March 31, aims to boost independent oversight of police misconduct, ensure officers with repeated complaints are evaluated and forge a process for releasing videos of police incidents, Emanuel said. “They made a decision and I’m going to execute the responsibilities of being the mayor and be accountable for the decisions I make”.
