Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel stood before City Council Wednesday, apologizing for the police shooting of Laquan McDonald and addressing the “code of silence” within the Chicago Police Department.
“Our city has been down this road before,” said Emanuel. “We have seen fatal police shootings and other forms of abuse and corruption. We took corrective measures but they never measured up to the challenge.”
Find the mayor’s full remarks here.
BGA President and CEO Andy Shaw says it’s the right message, but it must be backed up by real action.
“This is a cultural thing within the police department. It goes back more than 50 years,” Shaw said on CBS 2. “Rahm Emanuel could’ve delivered the same speech on his first day in office because we have been talking about these problems year after year.”
See Andy react to the speech on CBS 2 Chicago.
“People don’t want talk, they want action. And that’s going to take a very long time to change the culture,” he said. “The data’s all been there, now it’s time for action.”
Shaw also discussed the toxic history of CPD on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered.
He said Chicago has a long history of police misconduct, which has been well documented. Here are some key findings from BGA investigations:
- Chicago taxpayers have spent more than half-a-billion dollars on excessive force cases over a decade, according to a BGA investigation last year.
- Chicago police have fatally shot more people over a five year period than any other big city, and most of the victims were black, the BGA reported last summer.
- Chicago disciplined fewer police officers accused of misconduct than most other big cities, according to this BGA investigation.
Read more from Andy Shaw in his Chicago Sun-Times column: Toxic CPD Culture Goes Back Decades.
