Here’s what the Chicago Police Department told the media after 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was killed by a police officer 13 months ago: A drug-addled black kid lunged at a cop with a knife and was then shot in the chest.
Six months later, and a week after Chicago’s mayoral election, the City Council rushed through approval of a $5 million settlement with McDonald’s family, even though no lawsuit had been filed.
Seven months after that, the city finally released the video of the shooting from the dashboard camera in a Chicago police car that clearly showed McDonald walking away from the police and not threatening them in any way when he was shot 16 times — and almost all of those shots were fired as he lay dying or dead in the street.
In addition to the officer who killed him, everybody failed that kid — from his mother, who lost custody of him after her boyfriend savagely beat him; to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which was supposed to protect him and help him as its legal ward; to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who covered up the gruesome manner of McDonald’s death by fighting the release of the dashboard video; to the City Council for not demanding answers before approving such a huge settlement; to the mainstream media for not following up on their denied freedom-of-information requests with a lawsuit; to the Cook County state’s attorney for her typical slow-walking of investigations of alleged police misconduct; to the Illinois attorney general, who waited until the day before a judge finally ruled to claim that the city had violated the state’s freedom of Information law by sitting on the video.
Other states take much better care of their young wards. Yes, that can be expensive, but if caring for the children nobody else wants isn’t one of the state’s most important responsibilities, I don’t know what the heck is.
Laquan was sexually molested in two different foster homes that were chosen, vetted and paid for by the state, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Two.
If that doesn’t boggle your mind and enrage your soul, then nothing will.
Police in other states release their police dashboard and body cam videos much faster than Illinois. While that may lead to some unrest in the streets, it’s infinitely more democratic and honest than our far too encumbered, lumbering process that overwhelmingly favors the interests of the politically powerful.
Citizens can’t hold police and politicians accountable if they are deliberately kept in the dark, so Chicagoans deserved the right to know about McDonald’s death before they voted last spring.
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And most other states license their police officers.
A November article in “The Police Chief” magazine reports that 44 states license police officers and have a statewide process for revoking those licenses. Illinois does neither, but it’s not for lack of trying.
Earlier this year when the General Assembly was debating law enforcement reforms, police licensure was a hot topic.
But according to its chief sponsor, Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, the idea was derailed by the House Republicans. The proposal was dropped to achieve a bipartisan victory on some much-needed reforms such as police body cameras and more extensive police training.
Police officers have an almost impossible job, particularly in Chicago. Between Jan. 1 and Nov. 23, there were 2,712 Chicago shooting victims, according to the baiduhai. I wouldn’t want to be a Chicago cop for any amount of money.
The number of fatal shootings by Chicago police (70 in five years) pales in comparison to the total of all shootings in the city.
For most of us, our first instinct is to back the police. It’s a natural reaction. They’re our protectors, so we want to believe they are just and good people, and most of them definitely are.
But more citizens, particularly in high-crime areas, have more contact with the police than they do with any other government employees. And, of course, the cops carry guns and are allowed to use them.
In Chicago, official discipline of bad cops and in incidents of police brutality historically has been so rare as to be almost non-existent, according to some recent studies. It’s a deeply rooted, systemic problem that screams for a remedy from above
Emanuel on Tuesday acknowledged that by, in addition to firing police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, appointing a five-member task force to study the operations and “culture” of the police department and recommend changes.
We need to do a better job as a state. The nightmare at DCFS needs to be addressed before the government makes more kids’ lives even worse.
Our freedom of information law should no longer be a freedom from information law.
And the legislature should revisit the police licensing issue because Chicago on its own apparently can’t take care of very real problems within its police force.
Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com