As a black kid growing up in Chicago, I heard all types of horror stories about the Chicago Police Department.
Most of them were urban legends. Most of them were simply fueled by paranoia from a disenfranchised people. But as illustrated by individuals like John Burge, who allegedly took part in the torturing of some 200 or more men, most of them black — there's more than myth fueling anti-police sentiment. It doesn't take a genius to see that CPD has more than its share of bad apples.
The video at the top of this post shows two rotten cops inducing the sort of psychological terror that reinforces attitudes present long before N.W.A. made an anthem summarizing how many people in minority communities feel about the police. The incident was first reported by Chicago Public Radio, in this post on their website from Steve Edwards, who also happens to be a professor of mine at Loyola this semester.
While details about the circumstances of this video are still murky, one thing is obvious: the officers in this video decided to drive a youth, most likely a gang member, to a hostile gang's turf, open the doors of their SUV and allow rival gangsters to threaten and demean the youth.
One might argue that this scary moment might discourage the unidentified youth from gang life. But does something like this really deter the young man from gang life? Does the young man here feel grateful to the police for scaring him straight, or is he more hateful of authorities because they made a victim out of him? If you pick up on the tone of this post, you already know what my verdict is; this sort of behavior breeds hate. And that’s not what the world needs now, there’s enough of that going around.
Hopefully those two officers get what's coming to them. They aren't fit to be on the force or to be in any position of authority. I wouldn’t even want them hired as security at Lincolnwood Mall.
The Fraternal Order Of Police, the union representing CPD officers, railed on former Superintendent Jody Weis, and made his time at his post a living hell. The union even gave him a vote of "no confidence" last March and claimed the rank-and- file didn't believe the guy had their backs. Weis left his post on March 1 this year, after his $310,000-a-year contract expired.
When his appointment was announced in 2008, I thought the department could benefit from a shake up with a stranger to its ranks, especially in light of a long history of scandal and misconduct. But the union never seemed comfortable with him calling the shots. For example, decisions such as shuffling top police officials and handing off investigations of officer William Cozzi's alleged brutality to federal authorities rubbed rank-and-file officers the wrong way.
But the whole point of hiring Weis was to bring in an outsider who wasn't afraid to ruffle some feathers and put an end to what Weis called "business as usual." The CPD has a long way to go to accomplish what Weis was brought in to do. How do you tell anyone who has seen this video that "business as usual" no longer takes place?
You can't. Not with a straight face.
Most of them were urban legends. Most of them were simply fueled by paranoia from a disenfranchised people. But as illustrated by individuals like John Burge, who allegedly took part in the torturing of some 200 or more men, most of them black — there's more than myth fueling anti-police sentiment. It doesn't take a genius to see that CPD has more than its share of bad apples.
The video at the top of this post shows two rotten cops inducing the sort of psychological terror that reinforces attitudes present long before N.W.A. made an anthem summarizing how many people in minority communities feel about the police. The incident was first reported by Chicago Public Radio, in this post on their website from Steve Edwards, who also happens to be a professor of mine at Loyola this semester.
While details about the circumstances of this video are still murky, one thing is obvious: the officers in this video decided to drive a youth, most likely a gang member, to a hostile gang's turf, open the doors of their SUV and allow rival gangsters to threaten and demean the youth.
One might argue that this scary moment might discourage the unidentified youth from gang life. But does something like this really deter the young man from gang life? Does the young man here feel grateful to the police for scaring him straight, or is he more hateful of authorities because they made a victim out of him? If you pick up on the tone of this post, you already know what my verdict is; this sort of behavior breeds hate. And that’s not what the world needs now, there’s enough of that going around.
Hopefully those two officers get what's coming to them. They aren't fit to be on the force or to be in any position of authority. I wouldn’t even want them hired as security at Lincolnwood Mall.
The Fraternal Order Of Police, the union representing CPD officers, railed on former Superintendent Jody Weis, and made his time at his post a living hell. The union even gave him a vote of "no confidence" last March and claimed the rank-and- file didn't believe the guy had their backs. Weis left his post on March 1 this year, after his $310,000-a-year contract expired.
When his appointment was announced in 2008, I thought the department could benefit from a shake up with a stranger to its ranks, especially in light of a long history of scandal and misconduct. But the union never seemed comfortable with him calling the shots. For example, decisions such as shuffling top police officials and handing off investigations of officer William Cozzi's alleged brutality to federal authorities rubbed rank-and-file officers the wrong way.
But the whole point of hiring Weis was to bring in an outsider who wasn't afraid to ruffle some feathers and put an end to what Weis called "business as usual." The CPD has a long way to go to accomplish what Weis was brought in to do. How do you tell anyone who has seen this video that "business as usual" no longer takes place?
You can't. Not with a straight face.
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