5 BIG JOBS FOR RAHM’S CHICAGO POLICE TASK FORCE
Mayor Rahm Emanuel still has a lot of work to do.
This whole city has a lot of work to do.
Emanuel took an important step toward restoring confidence in the Chicago Police Department Tuesday when he demanded Supt. Garry McCarthy’s resignation. But that was reform by way of subtraction.
The deep distrust that many Chicagoans feel toward the police won’t be diminished unless the mayor follows through fully on several pledged acts of addition — hiring a superb new superintendent, creating an early warning system to crack down on cops who are trouble before they become a lethal menace, and reforming a Police Department culture in which a code of silence almost always trumps accountability.
Emanuel has appointed a task force to do much of this, which doesn’t necessarily mean much. Politicians like to appoint task forces to look busy. But Emanuel has appointed good people to this panel, including a couple with deserved reputations for political independence.
Here are five key police policy areas where the task force should bring to Chicago the best practices from across the nation:
Transparency. Or, as we like to call it, leveling with the people. It begins with training police spokespeople to tell the story straight, without spin or fabrication to protect an officer. This did not happen when Laquan McDonald was shot. An official department statement falsely put the onus on McDonald, claiming incorrectly that McDonald was approaching the officer, creating a threat. All results of investigations of complaints against an officer should be made public, and getting basic data on complaints should not require a lawsuit by a reporter and months of waiting, as it does now. An auditor should conduct regular, public reviews of problem areas.
Civilian oversight. Chicago needs a more tough-nosed civilian police board. The current ninemember Chicago Police Board, appointed by the mayor and OKd by the City Council, routinely overturned McCarthy’s disciplinary actions. Between March 2014 and March 2015, McCarthy asked the board to uphold the firing of 25 officers, but it agreed to uphold the firing of only seven — two of whom already had been convicted of criminal charges.
Chicago also needs a more aggressive and effective Independent Police Review Authority, the civilian agency charged with investigating complaints against officers. Though IPRA was established in 2007, it was not until June of this year that it recommended the firing of a police officer involved in a shooting.
Community relations. Policing strategies have shifted frequently in Chicago, especially as CPD, working with a tight budget, tries to do it all with too few resources. Good relationships between the police and the public, however — the kind of human relationships that might have caused the police to see Laquan McDonald as a troubled teen rather than a target — begin with cops getting out and about in a community. McCarthy preached this and worked at it, but clearly Chicago is desperate for more of it. Only then will mutual trust and cooperation grow. The more Chicago can get back to regularly stationed beat officers instead of squad cars blowing through a neighborhood, the better.
Deadly force. Obviously, there has been confusion on this one. Police should use force only to the degree necessary to protect the public and themselves. Yet officer Jason Van Dyke whipped out his gun and shot Laquan McDonald 16 times while other officers stood by. And when in 2012 an off-duty cop, Dante Servin, shot wildly into a crowd and killed a young woman, McCarthy and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez couldn’t even agree as to whether that, under the rules of use of deadly force by the police, amounted to a criminal act. Clearly, improved training, policies and practices are called for.
Discipline. Chicago Police superintendents have long complained that union rules, unfavorable decisions by the Chicago Police Board and other factors make it too hard to remove police officers whose records of citizen complaints are a big red warning flag. It is a problem not just in Chicago, but in many large cities. But the superintendent does have access to data that show which officers are running up complaints, and he could be more aggressive in reassigning officers who shouldn’t be on the streets. As we pointed out in an editorial yesterday, Van Dyke had racked up 18 citizen complaints but was never disciplined. If you can’t fire them, neutralize them.
In the months ahead, we’ll be watching and doing our best to hold City Hall, the police and the mayor’s new task force accountable.
Emanuel has appointed good people to his police task force.