Mayor Rahm Emanuel announces plans for civilian-run police watchdog group in Chicago after a series of controversial shootings by officers
Daily Mail
May 15, 2016
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced his plans on Friday to scrap a police review board and replace it with 'civilian investigative agency' to look into cases of misconduct and brutality.
The decision to abolish the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) comes a month after a task force released a scathing report recommending a new board to help mend strained relations between Chicago's police force and the city's minority communities.
The task force report said IPRA was underfunded and staffed by former law enforcement officials whose findings were routinely reversed by the body's leaders.
Emanuel's announcement comes after the Task Force on Police Accountability issued a report saying Chicago police have 'no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color'.
It also accused the police force of alienating black people and Latinos for decades by using excessive force and honoring a code of silence.
It recommended replacing the 'badly broken' IPRA with a 'new and fully transparent and accountable Civilian Police Investigative Agency.'
In an article on the Chicago Sun-Times, Emanuel wrote: 'It is clear that a totally new agency is required to rebuild trust in investigations of officer-involved shootings and the most serious allegations of police misconduct.'
Emanuel proposed a new Community Safety Oversight Board in an effort to 'give a voice to Chicago residents whose lives are affected daily by police practices'.
Public meetings and public reporting from the police department are also part of a comprehensive reform plan, which Emanuel said would be presented at a city council meeting on June 22.
IPRA was formed in 2007 to respond to community concerns about police accountability.
Critics have long questioned the length of time the body takes to make rulings, and the frequency with which it finds justification for police actions in cases of alleged misconduct.
But the cash-strapped city is struggling with unfunded pension liabilities and major budget cuts for schools, so it is not clear how Emanuel would obtain additional resources for police oversight.
Emanuel has been besieged by calls for his resignation since the city took months to release a video of a white officer, Jason Van Dyke, fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald in October 2014.
Footage taken from the Van Dyke's police car show McDonald, 17, carrying a knife in his hand while he bounded out in front of the car before running down the road.
Van Dyke, who has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge, was shown emptying an entire magazine into the young man with most of the 16 shots fired at point-blank range as he lay motionless on the ground.
It also emerged that Van Dyke was the subject of 18 civilian complaints over 14 years, including allegations that he used racial epithets and excessive force, police and court records show.
Protests have erupted in a number of US cities in the past two years over police-involved killings of African-Americans and other minorities.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Bad idea! As it is now, cops are made to feel like they’re guilty and have to prove their innocence whenever Internal Affairs investigates civilian complaints. It will only get worse with a civilian oversight board.
2 comments:
I remember reading about an incident when something similar was cranked up in NY. A citizen complained that a cop had stolen her soul. It was serious fun investigating that one, but it was investigated.
I haven't lost anything in Chicago or New York City. My wife and daughter like to go shopping in New York City without me. Imagine that.
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