The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Diane Rehm Panel on Chicago Cop Case

    By NCD on Wed, 12/02/2015 - 2:06pm |

    Listened to the Diane Rehm Show this AM, 2 December, transcribed some phrases/comments by the guests in 'stream of notes' by panel, tried to use actual words spoken.

    The facts and discussion by the participants did not leave an impression that major change in Chicago and its cops/attorney/mayor departments is going to be easy.

    The guests:

    Paul Butler professor, Georgetown Law School
    Mary Mitchell columnist, Chicago Sun-Times
    Carrie Johnson justice correspondent, NPR
    Darrel Stephens executive director, Major Cities Chiefs Association; former Chief of Police for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department
    Ray Kelly former police commissioner of New York City; author of "Vigilance: My Life Serving America and Protecting Its Empire City"

    Police guests, with a few by others as listed

    a 'consummate professional' Chief McCarthy was fired by mayor
    chiefs know they can be fired to take 'the rap'
    nobody knows mayor's involvement in withholding tape
    opinion that payment to family was 'premature'
    deep concern over case
    confusion surrounds it
    complicated evaluating it
    takes time to sort things out
    never can tell why
    somebody didn't want tape out, no one knows who
    police get benefit of the doubt in law, regardless of public opinion
    female reporter : some police organizations/unions 'draw lines' in law enforcement legal fee support, don't give money to protect obvious murderers, like the SC cop who was taped shooting the guy in the back
    cop bail for this Chicago cop indicted for murder has been raised by Fraternal Order of Police
    cops no worse than lawyers or other professions protecting their own
    Diane 'lawyers don't kill people', cop guest: oh yeah, yes...
    cop cultures vary from place to place, most cops want to protect the public
    cops should come to the aid of people they shoot, not let them lay on ground for hours
    sometimes this stuff just happens
    we don't always learn the lessons
    cop body cameras would discourage cops from murdering people
    cameras provide record on interactions, many cops 'supportive' of it
    female reporter 'cops need more education'

    Other guests:

    Chicago police culture problematic for long time
    tape released over a year later from FOIA lawsuit by independent reporter
    city tried to bury the tape
    family never brought a civil case to court, had a lawyer, family paid off with $5 million approved by Chicago City Council  within months of death, family does not talk, do interviews, and did not release tape which they saw months after shooting
    state prosecutor Anita Alvarez only started her case last week, she is an elected official
    the state prosecutor is a political elected position
    US attorney for the district is 'still investigating'
    officer involved, a sworn officer, was on street for 14 months after the shooting, now indicted for murder not on the street (after video released)
    long pattern in Chicago history of police abuse
    $500 million in Chicago cop abuse payoffs to families documented over the years
    torture of suspects from 70's to 90's in Chicago, example - holding unloaded gun to the head and pulling trigger
    female cop disbursed rowdy kids in DC by having dance off and then asking them to go home, worked, good policing
    if video shows cop dept lying it reduces confidence in the police dept.
    cameras 'sunshine is the best disinfectant'
    need to talk about race,
    planned parenthood shooter, white, talked to by cops, captured alive even though he had killed a cop,
    On race - Cleveland child, black, Tamir Rice (12 yr) fatally shot within seconds of cop arrival.

    Comments

    From NY Times:

    “A Chicago investigator who determined that several civilian shootings by police officers were unjustified was fired after resisting orders to reverse those findings, according to internal records of his agency obtained by WBEZ.”

    The fired investigator was Lorenzo Davis, himself a former police commander who had served in the Chicago Police Department for 23 years and held a law degree. His firing was announced to staff by Scott M. Ando, who had been promoted by Emanuel to chief administrator of the city’s Independent Police Review Authority.

    As WBEZ reported:

    “Davis’s termination came less than two weeks after top IPRA officials, evaluating Davis’s job performance, accused him of ‘a clear bias against the police’ and called him ‘the only supervisor at IPRA who resists making requested changes as directed by management in order to reflect the correct finding with respect to O.I.S.,’ as officer-involved shootings are known in the agency.”

    According to the station:

    “Davis says he helped investigate more than a dozen shootings by police at the agency. He says his superiors had no objections when his team recommended exonerating officers. The objections came, he says, after each finding that a shooting was unjustified. He says there were six of those cases.”

    Davis told the station, “I did not like the direction the Police Department had taken.” He continued, “It appeared that officers were doing whatever they wanted to do. The discipline was no longer there.”

    Something is amiss in the Windy City. Police officers “doing whatever they wanted to do” with no worry about repercussions or accountability? That is the very nature of corruption and abuse of power. The federal government will have no choice but to step in if it cares at all about public confidence in the local officials in America’s third largest city.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/03/opinion/chicanery-in-chicago.html?ref=...

    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 12/03/2015 - 11:40am

    I didn't see that about the 'one honest cop in Chicago'. At least they just fired him and didn't try to get him killed like happened to Serpico in NYC.

    RAHM is  such a lying sleaze it makes one wonder about Obama and why he picked this guy.

    The depressing reality may be Rahm is just a typical mayor of a large US city.


    by NCD on Thu, 12/03/2015 - 2:09pm

    When you look at how the Mayor of Baltimore responded to police abuse allegations prior to the death of Freddie Gray and how the Mayor of Cleveland has been muted in response to the death of Freddie Gray, Rahm may be a typical mayor.


    by rmrd0000 on Thu, 12/03/2015 - 3:29pm

    Cleveland was  Tamir of course. I would guess the unfortunate citizen who called that one in, and even told the 911 operator it was probably a toy, would hesitate to ever call the Cleveland cops again.

    That anyone can say the Tamir shooting was 'justified' shows how biased the thinking of 'experts' can be, or 'bought off'.

    At least there has been movement to accountability with all these videos from recent cases.


    by NCD on Thu, 12/03/2015 - 4:45pm

    ??? Really ???

    "muted response" about an incident that took place in a different city is equivalent to covering up a video (+ destroying other evidence) for 18 months, lying about the contents during all that time, & spending $5 million of city money to settle & cover up the offense to help get re-elected?  [maybe you meant to say Tamir Rice or the Brela-shot suspects instead of Freddie Gray for Cleveland]

    If there's specific malpractice in the Brelo & Tamir Rice case, specify the wrong-doing, especially what the mayor should have done.

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 12/03/2015 - 5:29pm

    Of course I meant Tamir Rice. The Cleveland police hired an officer that a smaller PD found too incompetent to handle a weapon. The local prosecutor has been slow to come to a resolution on the case. In fact the prosecutor has released biased reports vindicating the officers. The Cleveland Mayor has been silent just like Rahm. 


    by rmrd0000 on Thu, 12/03/2015 - 5:52pm

    There is nothing amiss with the Pigs in Chicago, they are behaving just as they did in 1968 when they earned that descriptive name. . They don't have Black Panthers to kill to sate their bloodlust anymore so lesser victims are used to enforce class rule and project their power and control or actually the power and control of the Business/Political/ Ruling Class they represent and protect.

    Bringing in the Feds to whitewash the latest cover-up by Occupation Forces armed, trained and supported by the same Feds, in Chicago through the Democrat Party, is just the same PR diversions seen for nearly 50yrs.

    The Ruling Class through their paramilitary's showed how they build  'public confidence' yesterday in Minneapolis where they buldozed the BLM encampment and arrested the protesters.


    by Peter (not verified) on Thu, 12/03/2015 - 1:56pm

    Fuck Rahm.

    I'm sorry for the language but we might be looking at the likes of the first Daley.

    There were notes at the WP that showed Chicago cops destroying fast food tapes?

    This is like that video showing a kid with chocolate all over his face and denying that he stole chocolate?

    Only this was not chocolate, it was murder.


    by Richard Day on Thu, 12/03/2015 - 4:53pm