Chicago’s law department under review after police scandal

Mayor Emanuel says he has confidence in Patton, the head o…

An agency that investigates Chicago police officers said Monday that it will implement a series of corrective measures after protests over several fatal shootings of blacks. As reported by Reuters, the accidental fatal shooting Chicago mother Bettie Jones has only broadened the rift that’s now ripping through the city.

“Reparations is not a necessity”, Emanuel told the Sun-Times.

Many Chicago residents are enraged over the number of officer-involved shootings in their city, and now some are demanding that Mayor Rahm Emanuel step down.

This one has resulted in a Chicago city lawyer, Jordan Marsh, resigning from his job yesterday after a judge ruled that he had intentionally concealed evidence to protect police against a civil suit.

The payments, which were vetted by an arbitrator and a professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Kent School of Law, are part of an ordinance passed by the City Council a year ago that includes “a formal apology, the construction of a memorial to the victims and the addition of the police torture to the city’s school history curriculum”, the Associated Press reports.

“There is zero-tolerance for any individual – especially an individual representing the city in the courtroom – for not upholding the professional standards that are expected”, Emanuel said.

According to the Tribune, when Judge Chang pressed the attorney on why he withheld knowledge of the recording after hearing it from a police sergeant, Marsh claimed that he hadn’t considered that the information might be helpful to the plaintiffs.

Prosecutors charged the white officer with first-degree murder in the 2014 death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald hours before dashcam video went out.

Emanuel has apologized for the shooting and fired Police Superintendent Garry F. McCarthy after video of the McDonald shooting was released. Officers Raoul Mosqueda and Gildardo Sierra said they stopped Pinex because his auto matched the description of a vehicle that was involved in a shootng earlier that day. Officers said they shot Pinex when he attempted to drive away. Marsh resigned on Monday.

Patton said his office will double down on its efforts to properly train lawyers to produce records.

“There is a culture there of, ‘We are protecting the good guys, police, against bad guys and so we should be able to bend the rules to protect them”, said Hamilton.

While the gesture appears to be a step in the right direction in a bid to quell further issues, the Jones family has launched a lawsuit against the city and observers state that the legal backlash will continue on in the coming months as open investigations into police brutality and use of force are ongoing. On Monday, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner said he was “very disappointed” with the way the Democratic mayor has handled police misconduct cases and that, if given the opportunity, he would sign off on legislation that would let voters try to recall the mayor. “The children of the city of Chicago are not a pawn in the political game in Springfield to get an agenda done that people don’t agree with”, Emanuel said.