In previous cases, the mayor was reacting to public response to the release of an October 2014 police dashboard camera video that showed Officer Jason Van Dyke pumping 16 bullets into Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old who was wielding a small knife but appeared to be walking away from officers.
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Chicago’s interim police superintendent says a review of the department’s crisis intervention training will begin early this week, after officers fatally shot two people while responding to a domestic disturbance.
Chicago has approximately 12,000 sworn officers, so with 1,400 total tasers in deployment, about 11.6 percent of all officers will have them, with roughly 20 percent of responding officers equipped, according to Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
The shooting prompted a federal civil-rights investigation of the Chicago Police Department.
Just after Christmas, Chicago police shot and killed two people.
Police have said no officers or vehicles on the scene were equipped with one. Earlier this month, Emanuel created a “police accountability task force” that will “review the system of accountability, training and oversight that is now in place for Chicago’s police officers”, a news release from the mayor’s office said.
Emanuel also is expected to announce new training for the department that will emphasize teaching officers to try to de-escalate conflicts rather than to see every confrontation as a “shoot or don’t shoot” situation.
The city of Chicago has released hundreds of emails related to the fatal shooting of an African American teenager by a Chicago police officer in October 2014.
Emanuel said the cities they examined shared a common tie of having “gone through a change with the Department of Justice”.
With advancing technology, we as people have more evidence than ever that injustice happens on a daily basis involving the police.
In addition to receiving better training and new equipment, Chicago police will be placed on desk duty for 30 days after a shooting to make sure they are mentally prepared to be back on the streets and to give internal investigators and the state’s attorney more time to look into the incident. But, in his view, “They’re doing it now because a lot of political pressure has been exerted on the mayor”.
Emanuel’s office says he plans to lay out new policies Wednesday regarding police training and use of force. That might include calling other officers to the scene, he said.
Prosecutors announced last month they were charging Van Dyke with six counts of murder for the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
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The news conference was Emanuel’s first public appearance since cutting short a family vacation to Cuba. Police said Betty Jones was killed by accident. Community activists have also called for Emanuel’s resignation. But under police department rules, IPRA is not allowed to interview the officers until 24 to 47 hours later, and then only with a lawyer present.
