Chicago mayor says every police officer to be equipped with Taser

“We must ensure our officers have the right tactics, the right training and the right technology to resolve tense situations safely and security”, Mr Emanuel told reporters. “Willful misconduct and abuse can not and will not be tolerated”. Emanuel said his administration studied the best practices of police departments in several other cities – including New York, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Cincinnati and Cleveland – in devising its own reform package.

“The goal is to make sure everyone goes home safely”, Emanuel said.

“Just because you are trained that you can use force, doesn’t mean you should”, Emanuel said at the news conference, flanked by top officials including interim Police Superintendent John Escalante. Among those changes are the presence of a stun gun in every police vehicle, and proper training for all officers, who will be mandated to use the stun gun before turning to their firearms. That announcement came after a court forced the city to release a video from 2014 showing a police officer shooting a black 17-year-old, Laquan McDonald, 16 times.

The letter alleges that police officers tried to get one witness-who was so appalled at the incident that she screamed at Van Dyke to “stop shooting”-to change her account”.

Van Dkye plead not guilty to the shooting death of McDonald Tuesday morning after he was arrested November 24 and released on $1.5 million bond. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the use of force within the Chicago Police Department and Garry McCarthy resigned as superintendent. The city fought for more than a year to keep the video from being released, prompting accusations of a cover-up in City Hall and calls for Emanuel to resign.

In the latest incident, police shot and killed Chicago teen Quintonio LeGrier and his 55-year-old neighbor, Bettie Jones.

Emanuel said Wednesday that shooting showed “we have a problem”. The city has already announced it will add more body cameras to police equipment and that officers involved in fatal shootings will be put on a mandatory 30-day period of desk duty, compared with the current three-day policy.

Pearson’s organization believes the only way to bring true change is to have a civilian police accountability council that isn’t appointed by the mayor.

“The people have no trust in the police”. They say Jones was accidentally hit. “The people in charge are continuing to give (some officers) a pass. It happens over and over and over again”.

Of almost 1,000 people shot and killed by police nationwide this year, almost a quarter were either suicidal or had a history of mental illness, according to a Washington Post database. Both he and Jones were black.

Police haven’t released the race of the officer or officers involved and haven’t said how many officers fired or what the man and woman were doing before they were shot. As we reported, the group waited in the mayor’s front yard as he returned from his vacation in Cuba, which he cut short to address this weekend’s shooting.

Alvarez said while she is urging “a thorough, professional” by the Independent Police Review Authority, her office has also contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.