Nov 10 2008
Chicago Police May Have Abused Obama Celebrants Without Just Cause or Legal Justification
WBBM 780 AM is reporting an investigation in progress by the Chicago Police Independent Review Board involving multiple complaintants who state that CPD Tactical Officers used pepper spray without provocation and that the celebrants’ conduct may have been lawful.
One couple say that CPD Officers used racial epithets towards them and their children, and another couple says that they tried to follow the unmarked squad but were in too much pain from pepper spray and had to reroute to a hospital for treatment instead.
During a night when the community was gathering to hopefully see an end to racism via America’s first African American president, Police have to ruin that spirit by misusing their star and the authority behind it, not to mention their trust with a weapon in their hands.
Should plainclothes Police be outlawed and should they all be put back into uniform so as to be readily identified? Should police be forced to wear digital tracking devices with a small camera constantly rolling with audio recording the entire time?
In a time when the CPD is trying to come out from under a long history of verified misconduct, should the Department be taken over by the Feds as the Cicero police were some years ago? During that time, the Illinois State Police patrolled Cicero, Illinois and also hired the new department members from the Chief to the street officers.
Under new requirements added in 1995, the Chicago Police Department requires at least an Associates Degree from any accredited college and in any subject. An interview with CPD Officers wishing to stay anonymous has revealed information to the effect that the Chicago Police Academy can successfully be passed by a three year old and that recruits only have to meet minimum standards to be certified on paper as competent to perform work as a Police Officer. These Officers also stated that the Chicago Police Academy used to be more “Military like” when compared to the CPD Academy of today.
A popular Chicago Police Blog says that the Department has eight significant problems and lists then in this order as quoted from their publicly available site:
- Problem #1 - Hiring
- Problem #2 - The FTO Program
- Problem #3 - “Merit” Promotions
- Problem #4 - Lack of Cohesiveness
- Problem #5 - Institutional Inflexibility
- Problem #6 - Supervisors vs Bosses
- Problem #7 - Oldest to Youngest
Racial, ethnic, and psychological profiling have long had the Chicago Police Department on the list of “terrorist- like” or “rogue” departments. It was only recently that John Burge, a past CPD Commander was indicted on allegations of lying about torturing those in his custody and in the custody of his Officers under his command during his CPD tenure.
One problem that the CPD blog didn’t list was forms of everyday misconduct by it’s Officers such as conducting stops on individuals or groups of people who were obviously not doing anything that could reasonably be called suspicious. On these stops, Officers routinely make serious pointed allegations and spew racist / sexist comments to those being temporarily detained with the only objective being to induce fear into the citizenry only based on the fact that they have the star allowing them to do it and also a loosely defined understanding of what their boundaries are, what “probable cause” is.
In December of 2007, a Chicago Police Sgt. was heard openly telling someone complaining about this type of behavior during a stop that “The police can stop anyone, anywhere, for any reason they want because it’s completely legal. We can stop anyone at any time and ask for their name, social security number, and address without explanation because during that time, unless you’re an attorney, you don’t have any right to know anything.”
This typical response represents an increase of this kind of thinking by police which is then carried out and defended in court or defended by the involved officer in an administrative inquiry / investigation using the argument of an Officer always being more credible than a complaining citizen because the complaining citizen is likely to be seeking vicious retaliation.
When Chicago police officers are accused of wrongdoing, they fill out what is called a “TRR ” in response to a “CR Number”. The TRR states on a pre-printed form that the officer is not admitting any guilt, but is only responding “Not voluntarily, but under duress” because he/she realizes that their job could be in jeopardy if they don’t.
Citizens of Chicago need to stand up & demand an end to police mistreatment of the citizenry. This is not a problem only for people of color, people of ethnicity; this is a problem for all the citizens of Chicago. Jody Weis has not made life any better for officers serving in the department either, giving rise to great concern that police Officers may choose to retaliate against the citizens of Chicago given that the Department often traps it’s officers into a catch 22 forcing either side’s hand.
Each valid suspicion of any wrongdoing by those we trust to be in harmonious relationship with the community, those we trust to be respectful of everyone they encounter when it isn’t contradicted by behavior that would reasonably cause an officer to act harshly, causes citizens to fear unjustly. Scared citizens make for uncooperative citizens, citizens that will think twice before treating an officer with any sort of respect when they just may be repaid with a beating or even worse.
Someone needs to do some real DEEP housecleaning in the CPD!
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