Cities would be safer if more people spoke up

Jose Torres and his son Xavier didn’t back down; they spoke up. They are examples of what Chicago needs to become a safer city: good citizens willing to make a selfless decision out of duty to others.

The pair witnessed Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke fatally shoot teenager Laquan McDonald in October 2014. They recognized a possible police cover-up and didn’t shrug it off. Both father and son testified at Van Dyke’s murder trial. Their accounts no doubt helped prosecutors last week to convict Van Dyke of seconddegree murder and aggravated battery.

Credit this father and son with doing the right thing — no easy feat, no small honor.

Jose Torres, 46, was driving north on Pulaski Road with Xavier, 26, that night when they pulled over because of police activity. They saw McDonald, an African-American teen, walking away from police. They watched as Van Dyke opened fire, shooting McDonald 16 times, continuing to fire even after McDonald was on the pavement. “Like it was never going to end,” Jose Torres told the Tribune in a joint interview with his son. “It was like pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop as he was on the ground.”

Then came a clue that police wanted what happened on the Southwest Side to stay on the Southwest Side: An officer noticed Jose and Xavier watching. The officer shooed them away. No questions, no witness statement taken. The next day, Jose Torres saw news reports that described McDonald as a threatening figure waving a knife. That’s not what Jose and Xavier Torres had seen, or what police video eventually would show. “I told my wife, ‘They’re lying,’” Torres recalled. “That didn’t happen.’”

What kind of a city would Chicago be if more citizens were like this duo and reported what they saw? In neighborhoods prone to gun violence, many residents are alienated or intimidated by a police force with a long record of condoning misconduct. They’re reluctant to turn to police when they are victims or witnesses of a crime. They’re fearful of reporting abuses by police. Jose and Xavier Torres had to set all of that aside to do what they believed was right. It wasn’t easy.

Chicago would be safer if more residents spoke up because police can’t fight crime effectively without the public’s cooperation. “We have to just be better at building relationships with people to make them more comfortable to talk to us,” CPD Superintendent Eddie Johnson explained this summer.

The killing of Laquan McDonald is one reason many Chicagoans don’t trust the police and won’t share information. The U.S. Justice Department launched a civil rights investigation of CPD amid allegations Van Dyke fired with impunity and other officers tried to cover for him. The way forward is for City Hall to complete negotiations with the state on a consent decree that will lock in police reforms under the supervision of a federal judge. Chicago’s broken system of police accountability can’t be fixed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel or his successor.

Chicago had a terrible year of gun violence in 2016. The number of shootings has trended downward since then, though not nearly enough.

Rebuilding broken trust with residents will help to solve crimes and make the city safer. What makes us think that? Because the public has an important role to play.

Just look at the contribution of Jose and Xavier Torres. They bravely reported what they saw. They deserve the city’s thanks for cooperating with a law enforcement investigation. They are models of what the relationship between police and the public can be.