Rahm Emanuel's Task Force: Chicago Police Have 'No Regard' For Minority Lives

A task force appointed by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel released a cutting new report Tuesday that confirms what many Chicagoans have known for a long time: Racism plays key role in the way the city’s police treat its minority residents. The incredible frequency of misconduct and the utter lack of real oversight is why Chicagoans are “justified” in not trusting law enforcement, the task force concludes. Reads the report:

Chicagoans have had a long and troubled history with the city’s police. But the “tipping point,” the report says, was the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times by a Chicago police officer in 2014. A shocking dash-cam video of the incident, released last fall thanks to the painstaking efforts of a local journalist, revealed that McDonald wasn’t really threatening anyone at the time the first shot was fired. The cops had lied; they had covered up the incident. And Emanuel’s office had known about it.