Chicago police probe may lead to reforms

In the weeks since the November 24 release of the video of Chicago Police Department (CPD) officer Jason Van Dyke shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times, Chicagoans have protested the city’s leadership and its presumed cover up of McDonald’s death.

Emanuel, a former congressman and chief of staff to President Barack Obama, has come under fire for his handling of the city’s police force, which the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday would be subject to a federal investigation.

WLS-TV reports that the protesters lay on the ground Thursday morning for 16 minutes to represent the number of times a white police officer fatally shot a black teenager in October 2014.

“The word must become flesh, and we’ll know the value of it then”, Rev. Jesse Jackson tells The Chicago Tribune concerning Emanuel’s speech.

Former IPRA investigator and supervisor Lorenzo Davis said he was sacked this year after refusing to reverse his finding in one fatal police shooting that it was not justified.

Protesters who have been calling for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s resignation also have another target: a much-criticized, quasi-independent agency that was created to investigate complaints against police officers but has rarely ruled against them.

But Emanuel also stressed that change has to go beyond the police department to address the availability of guns, poverty and joblessness, as well as a lack of hope that leads too many young people to join gangs – leading them into the prison system.

Before protesters weaved through downtown, retired schoolteacher Audrey Davis held a sign that read, “Mayor Emanuel is morally corrupt!” We’re exhausted of all of the police brutality.

Mayor Emanuel issued an apology on behalf of the city, CPD, and the way in which the McDonald case was handled. The video was only recently released after a lawsuit.

Marcher Jay Payne, a 41-year-old paralegal with a civil rights law firm, said Emanuel and Alvarez need to resign because they’ve lost the support of the community.

“It’s going to be hard, even if you have the best intentions”, Strauss said.

“There may be some brilliant political play here”, Williamson said, “but I think the time of political plays has passed”. The march was one of the largest in Chicago since the release of the video. “(Garry) McCarthy is not enough”, said Hoffman, 44, noting the ousting of the police superintendent.

Brown said she was battling laryngitis and stressing over finals earlier this week when she created a seemingly incendiary Facebook event. And according to the Better Government Association, the are now no state laws that allow for a recall.

“I caught up on everything afterward”, she said.

Besides the ouster of Emanuel, the protesters are calling for Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez to resign because of the almost 14-month delay in bringing charges against Van Dyke, among other allegations.

The hour-long meeting included almost 30 minutes of public comment in which a procession of about 300 people took turns denouncing the department, demanded transparency, and called for the removal of Emanuel and Alvarez.

A recent poll which showed 51 percent of voters say the mayor should step down is indicative of his sinking popularity, but ThinkProgress said Emanuel refuses to step down.

The protests, which included prominent Chicago pastors, have been largely peaceful.