What a Justice Department investigation of police can actually do

Meanwhile, state prosecutors are now planning to announce the results of an investigation into another shooting Monday. Yet the video was made public within days of a judge’s order to release it, and former officer Jason Van Dyke, who shot McDonald 16 times, was suddenly charged with murder. It could, but not unless we come away with a full understanding of what happened after the Laquan McDonald shooting, what consequences will be faced by the officers whose reports are contradicted by the video and who else was involved in hiding the truth.

The video of that shooting will be released yesterday, according to the local ABC affiliate, citing Johnson’s family. The city’s early efforts to suppress its release coincided with Emanuel’s re-election campaign, when the mayor was seeking African-American votes in a tight race.

The attorney representing Johnson’s family countered Alvarez’s video presentation with one of his own later Monday – including parts of video and audio of a deposition that he took from Hernandez a month ago. She played 911 calls and radio traffic among officers as a way of explaining what Hernandez knew about the scene when he arrived: Shots had been fired and men with guns could be seen running into a building.

In a statement Monday, Emanuel pledged the city’s “complete cooperation” with the federal probe. Police stepped into a volatile scene, she said, and they reasonably believed that lives were at risk.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to address police accountability in a news conference with his new interim police superintendent and the acting head of the city agency that investigates police cases. He later reversed course and said he would welcome the Justice Department’s involvement – something that politicians including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan have called for. “That doesn’t mean we’re absolved, and that’s why IPRA now has to start their investigation from the disciplinary action of the officers”.

“Nothing is more important to me than the safety and well-being of our residents and ensuring that the men and women of our Police Department have the tools, resources and training they need to be effective crime fighters, stay safe and build community trust”, Emanuel said in a statement.

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez announced today that she’s not charging Officer Hernandez over the shooting death.

It says it will move its demonstration to 53rd and King Drive tonight, the South Side location where 25-year-old Ronald Johnson was shot and killed by the Chicago police. She also said Johnson was armed and was running toward an occupied police vehicle before he was shot. Video from that incident was shown to reporters Monday, as Emanuel promised last week.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the video should be released this week.

Dashcam footage from the incident shows police shooting McDonald, who was black, 16 times as he walked away from police officers on a Chicago road, including multiple times after he had fallen to the ground. Lots of police cars. That further angered activists and protesters, who were already accusing the city of a cover-up.

The Chicago investigation, which is separate from an existing federal investigation into last year’s shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, also will review how the department disciplines officers and handles misconduct accusations.

In March, the department released a scathing report of the Ferguson police force in the state of Missouri that found widespread discrimination against the black communities among law enforcement officials. Both the Ferguson and Cleveland police departments have committed to working with the DOJ, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch has praised the process. Such investigations determine whether the department systematically violates constitutional rights.

It was the first time in 30 years that a Chicago police officer was charged with first degree murder for an on-duty fatality.