SCHAPER: In addition to firing his police chief, the mayor appointed a police accountability task force Tuesday, ordering a top-to-bottom review of training, oversight and the culture within Chicago’s police department.
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Emanuel says he trusts federal officials “to make the right decision” and is “open to anything” that would restore trust in the city’s public safety efforts. “But our goal is to build the trust and confidence with the public …” He said he had dismissed Mr. McCarthy, 56, on Tuesday morning because “at this point and this juncture for the city, given what we’re working on, he has become an issue rather than dealing with the issue, and a distraction”. And that payout figure does not include the continued salaries of the police officers cited in lawsuits for brutality who are still kept on the CPD payroll and who will still receive pensions when they leave the job.
Alvarez has come under fire for taking 400 days after McDonald’s shooting to file charges against Jason Van Dyke, the police officer who allegedly murdered the teen October 20, 2014. Activists claim Emanuel covered up the video and did not take leadership in charging the officer until 13 months after the shooting took place. Instead, there was a huge cover up. They will also review and recommend how videos of police-involved shootings and other incidents should be released in the future. Why did it take so long? Protestors accuse the mayor of keeping the video hidden so it wouldn’t endanger his election chances.
In addition to the dashcams, a nearby Burger King had a security camera, but 86 minutes, including the span of the shooting, are missing from its video recording.
During an interview with Politico reporters at Chicago’s Willis Tower on Wednesday, Emanuel explained why he had canceled his trip to the climate talks in Paris.
Justice must be won for Laquan McDonald and those murdered before him.
“Chicago’s police department has had problems for a long time”, Yeomans said. It investigated the south suburban Harvey Police Department in 2008, finding in 2012 that there was not a pattern of constitutional or federal law violations. When the council voted, no council member had yet seen the dashcam video. Forensics later showed he had simply turned off the device. “The police planted that gun because there’s no way anything would have stayed in Ronald Johnson’s hand after he was shot”.
In a surprising turn of events, Rahm Emanuel fired Superintendent McCarthy on Monday.
If the city doesn’t agree to release the video, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois Edmond Chang is scheduled to decide December 10 whether to compel the city to release it. Emanuel and Alvarez, too, must go. So, McCarthy got the axe.
But having covered so many of these cases in the last couple years, it strikes me that we may need to push back and widen the lens so that we can fully appreciate and understand the systemic sociological and historical significance of this moment in our country’s development. It’s bigger than Emanuel. Lori Lightfoot is already President of the Chicago Police Board.
Blow is absolutely right. “I also felt that he was campaigning a lot”.
“I will not be bullied by politicians who do not have a full understanding of the facts of the investigation”, she told the news outlet in an email statement.
That statement is not to make white people feel guilty.
Alvarez says she won’t resign. For example, I am not intentionally racist, but I do participate in racist system that creates unjust economic, educational, judicial, healthcare, and housing policies.
She pledged to hire more minority prosecutors and help end a deep distrust between law enforcement and the community – one that grew over decades as Chicago earned a reputation for police torture of suspects and wrongful convictions. We will feel like we are on the side of justice.
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Let me give you one example of how this works: During previous drug epidemics – which were largely considered black and brown inner-city problems – lawmakers were falling all over each other to see who could be tougher on crime, in the process enacting racially skewed sentencing guidelines.
