Justice
Chicago's Police Union Wants to Erase Records of Officer Misconduct
The city has a new task force on police accountability. But how will it function in the current union climate?
Chicago’s new task force on police accountability, announced by Mayor Rahm Emanuel on December 1, will look at creating an early-warning system to identify potentially abusive cops before they go rogue. Someone in the press-conference audience noted that the Chicago police department already has an early warning system.
Indeed, it does. But it is “woefully ineffective,” says Craig Futterman, a professor in the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic of the University of Chicago Law School. Futterman aided the legal fight to force Chicago police to release the video of Officer Jason Van Dyke killing 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, and is also behind an ongoing effort to publicize citizen complaints of police misconduct.