Chicago to arm all officers with Tasers

In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel-who had to cut short his Cuban vacation because his police department can’t stop killing Black people-is to announce changes in tactics and training for police officers, as the Chicago Tribune reported.

“This is not something officers will have to get used to doing because they do it every day”, said Dean Angelo, president of Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 7.

Chicago cops will have a Taser in every squad auto by next June, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced days after the city’s latest high-profile fatal police shooting of civilians.

The changes follow the release of video of a black man who was shot 16 times by a white police officer and the accidental fatal shooting last weekend of a woman during a domestic disturbance call. Eight days later, black teen Laquan McDonald was shot 16 times by Officer Jason Van Dyke.

On Wednesday, Emanuel noted that officers involved in the McDonald shooting discussed using a Taser, but none of them was equipped with one, according to recordings of their conversations with dispatchers.

A New Year’s Eve release of hundreds of internal emails by the City of Chicago reveals the Independent Police Review Authority not living up to its name as “independent” In one email, the mayor’s office said the IPRA was giving a “statement we approved”.

Students from Northern Illinois University were part of the demonstration on Thursday afternoon in memory of 19-year-old Quintonio Legrier, a student at the school who was fatally shot by a Chicago police officer on Saturday. Police claimed McDonald continued moving toward the officers even after he fell. Cleveland officials said on Tuesday they will review Rice’s shooting to determine if the officers involved or others should face disciplinary action.

The release of the video set off protests, forced the resignation of the city’s police chief and has led to an ongoing wide-ranging civil rights investigation of the entire Chicago Police Department by the U.S. Department of Justice. “They have no trust in the mayor”. He’s come under increasing pressure since the November release of dashcam video showing the officer shooting McDonald.

“He was a very humble, optimistic, caring and didn’t cause any problems”, said Booth.

On Dec. 9, 2014, he emailed Emanuel spokesman Adam Collins to say the city had not yet been sued over the shooting but that he told his staff “to notify us immediately if and when a complaint is filed”. LeGrier had been angrily threatening his father early that morning, which prompted a 911 call to police. Outrage alone isn’t going to reform police or lower police abuse in Chicago or anywhere else-changes to the laws and contracts that offer the privileges that thwart police transparency and accountability will.

Tasers are seen as an alternative to guns because they allow police to forcefully subdue a suspect without putting bullets in them. Critics say it took too long to both charge Van Dyke and release the video. After training and additional Tasers are put in patrol cars, “You won’t have a situation where officers are calling frantically for a Taser, because they’ll be there in the vehicles”.