Chicago Mayor: ‘I’m Sorry’ for Police Problems

Thomson ReutersChicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel listens to remarks at a news conference in ChicagoIn terms of reform, Emanuel cited a newly created task force, which will look at the CPD’s internal affairs department and the city’s quasi-independent police oversight agency.

A slight majority of those polled also said Emanuel should resign, and 64 percent believe he lied when insisting he did not view the video of Laquan McDonald being shot 16 times by police during settlement negotiations in the spring.

Emanuel has called a special City Council meeting Wednesday morning to deliver a message on the police department.

“One young man asked me a simple question that gets to the core of what we’re talking about: ‘Do you think the police would ever treat you the way they treat me?'” He also reversed course on whether the U.S. Justice Department should launch a civil-rights investigation, saying he would welcome it only after presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and other top Democrats endorsed the idea.

The mayor’s address comes days after his police superintendent stepped down, two more controversial videos involving police were made public and a Department of Justice Investigation was announced. Of those complaints, 13 are for alleged use of excessive force, according to the data collected from police reports by the Invisible Institute, a Chicago-based journalistic production company and watchdog group.

Police tactics and racism have been the subject of an intense national debate since protests erupted in Ferguson, Missouri in summer 2014 over the shooting death of another black teen, 18-year-old Michael Brown. “We have a long road ahead of us as a city, and I welcome people from many views to help us do what exactly we need to do”. “As I said the other day, I own it. I take responsibility for what happened, because it happened on my watch”, he said in a speech Wednesday to the Chicago City Council. “It starts today, it starts now, and it starts with us”, Emanuel said.

Emanuel’s apology simply isn’t good enough.

The family of Cedrick Chatman sued the city after the black 17-year-old, who was a suspect in a vehicle theft, was killed by a white officer on January 7, 2013.

About 200 protesters gathered outside council chambers during Emanuel’s special address to the City Council and demanded to be let inside. The video was finally released last month following the ruling of a Cook County judge.

Many are calling for the mayor’s resignation amid allegations of extreme police misconduct and an administration coverup.

As he’s done before, Emanuel took pains Wednesday to say that most Chicago police officers, day in and day out, do an excellent job. “This is about the leaders of this city”.