Second try. this was very eye opening and sad. They say they will do what it takes to fix what racism has done to the city but if you already have the younger generations seeing this and knowing that this is how life is, there is going to be no easy fix if any at all. It may just get alot worse before something gives and it gets better. they always say that once trust is gone it is never the same again, there is an entire city that has lost all trust in the police force, the people that are supposed to protect them from the same stuff the police are doing to them. This could be why the crime is also getting so bad, it said in the article that the people being targeted, even if they did nothing wrong still feel like they did, it takes a toll on them and depending on their thought process some my feel that if they are going to be treated like criminals they might as well be criminals. I was also wondering what the black cops are doing while all this is going on, are they turning a blind eye, fileing reports that get ignored or is the mob mentality turning them against the black citizens. sherlocked012
This is sad that this is still going on even after Ferguson and other cities have had to deal with this. You would think all cities would start cleaning out their closets and start different ways of policing. I'm not even sure where to start with this. Its clear the police are "deviant" per say as in misusing power and hiding behind the department and not doing their job correctly. Mayor Mr. Emanuel (who I don't like either) and the president of the police union not responding when this report came out clearly says they too were involved in conspiracies of some sort and knew what those reports were going to say. I'm not sure why CPD doesn't have body cams on all their officers to show what goes on. (I was under the impression all departments were going to get them after Ferguson.) I would say the suggestion of dissolving the independent police review authority like suggested would be a good start, and making everything transparent to everyone like suggested. I also think they should have to be psychologically evaluated and maybe done so every so often. I mean obviously if their are racists or mentally unstable officers in your department those are the ones you need to get rid of. Ms. Lightfoot, I believe it was in the article, also said retraining and teaching them to protect with respect was needed. It should be police and the community as a team not the police versus the community. I did not really agree with the statement from Ms. Carruthers though who is suppose to be some advocate for black youth program or something when she said she didn't have confidence in the task force or the mayor to actually step up. I hope that's not the negativity she's teaching youth. I understand its a bad situation all the way around but reform has to start somewhere, so making a statement like that kind of says well no matter what happens nothing is going to change. I think she should have followed that up with soomething to the effect of "but the community is willing to give them this chance and move forward"....or something. She just kind of blasted the whole thing without any suggestions of repair. I think it will take a long time for the citizens to trust their police again but I do think its possible and I know their are good cops out there...even on CPD. Deacon012
It seems sad that there has been this much outrage over the years and it took a task force like this to show the mayor the problem. If it wasn't for Ferguson and Baltimore i would bet that this intervention would have taken even longer if it happened at all. One thing i will say for the officers in Chicago is that is has to be scary to go to work everyday. I have to believe that the astonishing number of minorities arrested is a direct reflection of the gang problem in the city. Chicago has one of the largest gang problems in the country, and gangs are typically made up of minorities. With that said, there is no excuse for these officers to break the law themselves. Holding people without charges or the opportunity for councel is exactly that. It appears they are going to have to be more selective on who they hire in the future, and that will be hard given the drop in applicants for Chicago P.D. There is definitely going to be an attempt to improve community relations after this, but im nkt sure if it's going to work right away. This report is going to empower criminals because it gives them more fuel for their fire against police officers. I feel like the public won't perceive the departments efforts as genuine. They're going to feel like they are only doing it to save face. I do hope something positive comes from this, however i don't think it will happen as quickly as it needs to. Crown012
I agree completely with you on the citizens not taking the changes seriously, and seeing them as just trying to save face due to the huge spot light that has been thrown on them. I was thinking the same thing when i read the article but was to sure how to put it into words. you did it very well, I have a bad feeling that things in Chicago are going to get very bad for a while. I dont understand how this could be happening these days, in a city like Chicago, there is so much diversity there you would think everyone could get along!!!! sherlocked012
I agree with sherlocked012. It is mind blowing that in a city that is so diverse that this is an issue at all. If this continues the way the article states it is, Chicago will become a most feared and racist city in the state. In the case of the citizens not taking the changes seriously,they should because not only could this get out of hand it can jeopardize the lives of others. Extreme456
Institutionalized racism codified by the department designed to protect the rights of its citizens. This is a nightmare scenario, something out of a dystopian science fiction film. However, the findings of the task force investigating racism in the Chicago police department came to the conclusion that just such a scenario is the reality for thousands of people living in one of the largest cities in the US.
From a sociology perspective, this review pricks at a few key issues. First of all (and most obviously) this review shines a spotlight on Race-Conflict Approach. The sociological lens would purport that most if not all of the ills in our society are the result of racism. In the case of the Chicago PD, this sees to be sadly true. The conflict between races seems to be to blame for the police abuses of African American citizens of this great metropolitan city.
Moreover, this abuse is encouraged and covered up by the police department’s policies. According to the New York Times article, “[police unions] ‘make it easy for officers to lie in official reports,’ ban anonymous citizen complaints and prevent the department from rewarding officers who turn in rule-breaking colleagues.” This practice is rooted in group theory. The police department seems to have fallen into a dangerous groupthink mentality, assuming all of its offers think and behave the same, ostracizing dissenting voices, and alienating group outsiders. Sadly, this mentality seems to have become the norm within the Chicago PD.
Finally, this report, the citizen riots, and the overhaul of the police department’s structure is an example of Marx’s theories of the lower classes rebelling against their oppressors. Though more peaceful than most Marxist uprisings, this micro-revolution seems to be bearing some much-needed fruit.
The windy city is no stranger to scandal and controversy. In the 1900’s the Chicago meat packers ran the city, taking advantage of their immigrant workers, forcing them to work in dangerous conditions for pennies on the dollar. Once they were worn out and unable to work in the meat backing factories, many of these poor immigrants moved to a life of crime and prostitution. One socialist writer changed this reality. With the rampant popularity of his 1906 book The Jungle, Upton Sinclair brought attention to the plight of immigrant meat packers, resulting in a widespread crackdown on the greedy companies and the rise of unions. Hopefully, this report can have a similar effect on the institutionalized racism within the Chicago PD. – Jung012
When the community cant even look to the officers for assistance there is a problem. This people have been mistreated and ignored for far to long. cops were doing their jobs maybe there wouldn't be over 500 murders in a year in Chicago. There is no order, just judgement over the civilians that live in the poor neighborhoods that the cops should be trying to win over. When you are nice and show respect to the citizens the crimes that happen every day actually might have witnesses now. The people don't want to help out the police because the people aren't helped. Giving some sort of comfort that the gang bangers across the street aren't going to come in your house at night and rob you is all the people want, they don't get any protection from the police because the cops look at it as them vs. the community. KLICK789
What I read about the actions of the Chicago Police Department truly upsets me and to think that these are real officers of the law, that are abusing their power of enforcing and upholding the law to the public that they are supposed to be protecting and serving, is just a disgrace to policing. Instead of performing procedural justice where they are unbiased and treat everyone equally, they are racial profiling African Americans the most from the statistics that they showed in the article and can even be corrupt like in the shooting death of Laquan McDonald. With the high tensions between the police and the public that have been building up for a very long time, it is going to keep brewing up more and will be the next Ferguson incident if not worse. I know that if this trend of policing is still being enforced like it is instead of some major changes taking place, than there will be an incident that is bigger than Ferguson. Just like Ferguson, the fatal shooting death of Laquan McDonald gave the public a look at just some of the mistreatment that the police have been giving to its citizens. The Chicago Police Department is taking steps to better their police department and get the racism out of the department’s image; I think that it will happen over time because they can’t get rid of all the police that they suspect are being racist, but they can get the ones that show bigger signs of racism and bias. Eventually with better recruiting and the officers that are biased, not bad enough to get fired will eventually age out of the department and the position will be filled with a better officer that treats everyone at the same caliber and not be biased. Birdman123
This type of policing that has been taking place in Chicago for many years now and it should be stopped before it somehow it gets worse. I am surprised that the citizens of Chicago did not riot against the Chicago Police Department already because from the statistics that was shown in the article by The New York Times, showing that the Chicago police did treat the African American community differently and worse than anyone else. The police department basically just threw out the book on procedural out the window and decided to mistreat the citizens that are supposed to be there for. The cover up of the shooting death of Laquan McDonald just shows how bad that the corruption in the department can be. Thankfully the men involved in the scandal were handled properly and officers that were involved were fired. I think that only time will tell on how the Chicago Police Department will change, with the bad officers getting older and retiring and the new recruits coming in there could be a shift in how the police department interacts with the citizens and how the departments are perceived as a whole. With better recruiting, better training, and getting rid of the biased and corrupt officers, the Chicago Police Department can be a better and more effective police department that helps everyone instead of victimizing people. Birdman789
This is a sad thing to see still going on after other cities have gone through similar things. It should not take a special task force to make them realize the problems they are having with their policing. They have gotten so use to policing in the wrong ways that the department can’t realize they are doing things wrong. The department said they are going to do whatever it takes to fix the racism problem but its not going to be an easy fix. The citizen’s epically African American citizens have gotten mistreated for so long they aren’t just going to be able to forgive and act like nothing happened. They are going to hold grudges and the younger generation will be the same because they have grown up being mistreated by cops so they will probably hold the grudge for even longer. Only time will tell if change will happen. The older officer will retire soon and it will be up to the new officers to make change. They need to police the way they know if right not the way they have been taught because that will only continue to make things worse. dragons789
I've watched Mayor Emanuel age nearly as fast as President Obama since he took office as mayor of Chicago. A lot of newly discovered injustices were taking place over several decades, yet Mr. Emanuel is seeming to be held responsible for most of them, right now. Given, his responses to these incidents has not been sufficient in facing up to the problems. Chicago has had major issues with the relationship between its minorities, as well as its discriminatory police department practices, for many decades. Chicago has long had a reputation for being a corrupted city. The injustices and the outrage of citizens is reaching a "boiling point." Not discussing these problems, publicly and legally, has lead to potentially irreversible damage to the reputation of the Chicago Police Department. "The community's lack of trust in the Chicago Police Department is justified." Murders are up 62% from 2015 and the summer season hasn't begun, yet. Statistics show violent crimes will be up in the warmer months- Chicago could have a really bad year, statistically. The only solid change I am aware of is the $172,000 street light replacement program Mr. Emanuel recently announced, that was mentioned in The Peoria Journal Star. The dishonesty experienced by Chicago's residents may be the most difficult of all to repair. These behaviors have been reported for several decades, and only now are really being acknowledged. The cover up revealed by the mayors politically-timed release of the Laquon McDonald police shooting video will likely have profound repercussions in rebuilding this necessary trust with the people of the Chicago neighborhoods. It will likely destroy the political career of Mr. Emanuel. The Chicago Police Department's use of Homan Square to illegally and unconstitutionally detain citizens was essentially state-sponsored kidnapping. It has been compared to the CIA's use of "black sites", where prisoners 'disappeared' and sometimes perished. This was taking place in the middle of the US? With apparent, zero oversight. More minorities will need to be a part of the resolution. We need an even representation in our police ranks. Rebuilding such a broken system will not come easy, but people need to be treated equally. They will insist. Better training and speedier investigations, as suggested by the mayor, are the few changes that have actually been confirmed. Mr. Emanuel has failed to address nearly 70% of the recommendations made by The Police Accountability Task Force. Racism and a Broken Discipline Process plaques this city, as well as many others across the US. Change is coming. Too many lives have been lost, and people are tired of not feeling as safe. Every life matters.
From a law enforcement standpoint, this is community policing gone terribly wrong. The report states the “community’s lack of trust in the C.P.D. is justified” and trust is the basis for any law enforcement and community relationship to work. The article states violent crimes have increased and murders are up from last year. If community policing was an effective policy in Chicago these numbers would not be so high. Citizen complaints to the Independent Police Review Authority have failed to change or improve police conduct and most citizens would probably agree with the reports recommendation to abolish it. Interesting comment that the union contracts have essentially turned the code of silence into official policy. How do you include that into a contract? It appears from the article there is a culture throughout the Chicago police department that routinely violates citizen’s rights and treats them with a lack of respect. In short they have lost the consent of the governed. Given this has been a problem for a number of years and the Justice Department is involved, there seems to be no immediate call for action. If it is a culture issue within the police, will the new Superintendent be able to change the culture, or is he part of the culture? The Mayor, from his comments, does not seem terribly concerned and adopted the attitude that this is a long standing problem. He will need to restore trust before any changes will be effective. Humvee123
It is sad to see that the force that is entrusted to protect ordinary citizens became rigged with issues and controversial. I generally empathize with police as I think it is one of the difficult jobs they put their lives in line, but when I see systemic issues like this, I am turning bit skeptical. I wish both citizens and police can find a common ground to deal with issues like gangs without being racial. It hurts me when I see the use of guns, violence in Chicago streets and some young victims paying the price with their lives. I wish there is a better way to deal with it. I am encouraged by the findings of the committees and hundred specific recommendations for a change. I am also hopeful that the new police chief can bring some positive and much needed change to the CPD. Best way to deal with these type of issues is to involve all type of citizens, regardless of race and get their input on how to deal with this violence, but the CPD need to gain ordinary citizen’s confidence. No society can get better when they are afraid to walk on the streets, it is shame that it happens in our cities. This article talks about some changes being made to deal with this issue, hope this works. – Chichi012
I always knew that crime and policing was not going to well up in Chicago, but I had no idea it was the whole system that was starting to become corrupt. After reading this article my eyes were opened up a lot. To have a good police department, you must be community based and be in the right terms with the community. If you are not then you are going to face a lot of trouble. But that's an obvious one. We all know that if the community hates the department in that are, then there will be problems. With the community getting as bad as it is in Chicago it's no wonder that everything is not working to well. But finding that it is more the systems fault rather than the communities is surprising to a certain point. Chicago is a corrupt place in the world and will always be just because of how vicious and big it is. There's going to be a lot of disagreeing on what to do to fix this growing problem that we have in Chicago. Soon enough it will be found though. I doubt anytime soon but it will be. I just hope that it's not like the movie Demolition Man with Sylvester Stallone to where everything is controlled. Its a futuristic dystopian movie that the government controls everything in. They even have a built in censor to deter people from cussing. Anyways, let's just hope the future doesn't come to that. ICCRunner789
We live in a world where racism is prevalent. These racial profiling instances, make their way into our cities and our police forces. If you take a look at Ferguson, Missouri, you can see what racism, bias, and racial profiling did to the city of Ferguson. The city doesn't trust their police and the police do not respect the citizens. You cannot have a safe community if the police and citizen relationship isn't on point. We are seeing a similar thing happening with Chicago. Its proven that Chicago police have been targeting blacks way more. Unlawful stops, searches, arrests, and shootings have been going on. Its only a matter of time before something like Ferguson happens, and there is massive riots. In a city like Chicago where there are more people and guns, it could potentially make for a bad situation. Its a good thing to see that the mayor, and higher up police people are seeing what is going on. They are making a great effort to try and slow down these racial biases within the police department. It was a wise step for Mayor Emmanuel to make Eddy Johnson the police superintendent. This man is black, and he grew up and lives in the south end. This new superintendent will do great. He knows the people and the area, and how to treat it, and that will trickle down to the officers who police it. This is what the city needs to start building relations. The citizens should start to see a policing change in the area. I also like the idea of expansion of the body cameras. This we we can see all of what goes on, and it can greatly eliminate tension, when something "tricky and backdoors like" happens. Overall, I think the cities best choice was appointing Eddy Johnson. I think he will make a difference in how the community sees the police. Since he comes equipped with the knowledge of the people where problems are happening, that it will make for swift impact and change in the city. Music 456
These stats are a perfect example for why there should be a regular policing of the police, at least with an annual city survey viewed by a higher department. The Justice Department's findings prove that the accountability of Chicago, and Mr. Emanuel himself, are below any level for respect. It is also a blatant form of racism when you compare this data collected to other major areas because it sits far above any other city's data. Chicago is king among the feral. African-American victimization is the most obvious collected but the racial implications will last for years now, even if there was a top-down restructuring. When McDonald was shot and protests ensued, I'm surprised full-scale riots didn't break out. I'm someone who on occasion questions, 'what if something like (blank) happens.' Imagine if the shooting of this teen would have tipped the scales enough to launch parts of the city into martial law; the fervor and passions of protests are incomprehensible. Emanuel's decision to appoint Johnson as superintendent, while dismissing procedure, seemed to seem more as a ploy to right a wrong instead of an attempt to fix a portion of what was broken. It seemed that this only led the police to claim that residents of the city were just as much of a threat as the neighbor to your side. Once it was concluded that McDonald's death was being covered up by the department, fury flew. Chicago is not the only one, take a look at the five officers who tried the same thing on the Danziger Bridge immediately following Hurricane Katrina. It is commonplace nationwide, just more on a day to day in Illinois. Truthfully I believe it's the product of your environment syndrome. Not saying that every cop is a bad apple, but the ones who are bad are doing much more than just shooting the apple off of citizens' heads. It spreads, stains, seethes, and slips away over time; many times. This holds true also because cops have found it easy to lie 'officially,' leaving questions left unturned. The complaints go ignored and people will get ticked. The changes that the Justice Department is issuing, such as body cams and approaches to dealing with those with mental health issues seem like a far step, especially for cops who have trouble thinking straight themselves while on duty. Perhaps with a closer overseer-underling relationship hovering between the two, Mr. Emanuel and his officials will learn how to play their positions the way they were originally written. To serve and protect, not curve and neglect. - StrongArm789
This is a very interesting read. Now that we have research that backs up these claims and from a city close to us, I hope it opens up the eyes of america to see that we do indeed have a problem within our police force. So let me take a minute and back track. Remember those things called biases? Well here is a first hand example of them at work in the very negative way. The simple fact is that the crime rate for black people is higher then another race in the united states today and that is a fact. With that fact comes these biases. Also the number of police officers murdered in the line of duty by blacks is also the highest. This is not to say that all black people are going to like cops. To say that is just obscured. The real problem here are these biases and not racism, racism stems from them. If people truly spent time to truly walk two moons in someone else's moccasins they would get it. Again it is hard to get these biases out of anyone mind let alone a police officers mind who is seeing these crimes committed on the daily and only see the bad happen and never get to see the good and the other half. It is truly sad and really needs to be taken care of. It is crazy that something little like the color of our skin can divide us as a people and cause us so much pain and suffering on the daily. Itll be truly interesting to see what comes out of these reports and if we see any changes in the city of Chicago Police force and eventually the rest of The United States of America. -MuayThaiGuy
The article gave me a good insight to what is really happening in Chicago than what I already knew. The trust between the citizens and the Chicago PD are no longer there. That is an issue itself. Without trust how are people going to feel safe going to the police force when there is a problem? These citizens are supposed to feel safe in their city and be able to have trust between the police officers. On another note I cannot believe that in a city so diverse that there is still a high percentage of racism. This can become a major problem in the near future if the citizens do not start to realize they need to be at peace with each other. On another note the changes that were recommended are there for a reason. I think these changes from a criminal justice point will help the community and city become better and whole as one unit instead of division among race. Having the police blatantly disrespect and violate a citizen’s rights is no way of helping either. The corrections need to be made immediately or everyone is going downhill from here. Extreme456
This topic makes me so mad. Here we have police officers who risk their lives everyday to keep people safe being accused of being racist and acting in favor of white instead of blacks. Although racism still exists, the world have come a long way in trying to make everyone equal. These communities of black people want to get mad and start riots against the police whenever a black person is arrested, physically handled, or shot by police. Yet, they don't do anything when a black person is a murderer, steals, or assaults an officer. As the reading said whites, blacks, and Hispanics make up the majority of the population. Also 74 percent of all crimes are due to african americans. The police can't decide who does the crime or what race they are. There are also times when people say "The police shot that young 14 year old boy because he was african american". Meanwhile they don't pay attention to the fact that the boy had a gun and refused to put it down. The police are only trying to do their jobs and keep themselves as well as their fellow police officers safe. There has been many riots about the police being overly aggressive, which in a few instances have been true. Not all officers have the right mindset or act in the perfectly correct way, but you can not single out the entire police force because of those few people. The media and the labels have increased the discrimination against police. People need to sit back and look at the situation before they get upset over it. Also you never know what you would do in their situation until you are actually in their shoes. VT012
From a sociology perspective I thought this article was shocking. It just comes to show how Chicago can be racist in many ways because they police department want to take arrest in a disorderly fashion. I mean it just hits the people of Chicago that they have to deal with racist police officers. Another thing is that these officers can crack at any point because of whatever it may be such as stress, or frustration. I'm not saying racism doesn't play it's role in that but they need to realize what other people might think because that will be the first thing they will be called. Media can sometimes make these people look bad but it's not just the media it's the officer and what they did wrong. We don't know what these residents go through with these cops because it may not be safe. One day we can just think how the feel or put our selves in their shoes and see the bigger picture. Overall this article was an eyeopener. BlackHawks012
This is very sad that this is happening not far from here. Not just that there is racism but that the police are essentially abusing their badge with their racist views. Now that's not to say that the whole C.P.D is racist, but those few bad apples ruin the entire image of the department. I think overstepping the the voting process for a new superintendent was a good step to fixing the situation. If Mr. Emmanuel would have gone through the Board, it could have been a while before Mr. Johnson was approved as the new superintendent or not approved at all. The C.P.D should shrink the amount of discretion the officers have out in the field to limit the amount of rational choice they have. This could limit the amount of racially biased arrests that are made. Limiting officer discretion would be as simple as putting it on a crime-or-not basis. Now while it won't completely stop racism in the department, it will greatly reduce the racist non-crime arrests. DeadMan456
I don't know if the amount of racism has always been present within the Chicago PD, or other police departments, or if it has just been made public now. I think the media is a huge problem when it comes to feeding this growing subject of prejudice in police departments. Instead of saying a "white" cop shot an African American man, why don't they leave race out of it and stick to the facts of the crime. Maybe the media could say a police officer shot a young male for (just for an example) armed robbery and resisting arrest. Clearly a crime was taking place and the police officer acted in a way they thought was appropriate. People reading about the crime would focus on the facts and not what the people involved look like. I feel like stories about racism are very popular now. Although it sickens me to hear about the discrimination going on, I can't help but wonder what has happened to create all of the racism. I find it hard to believe that everyone who joins the Chicago PD are automatically racist. Everyone has built in bias, we know that, but I feel like those biases have to be fed to become full out racism. I wonder if there is more crime in the neighborhoods that the majority of minorities live in. Did the police officer's racism grow due to a personal bad experience with a minority? Is the racism due to fear? I think I would be more likely to act before thinking if I were afraid. I would like to know how many African American police officers, or other minority police officers, were involved in the pulling over or arresting of other minorities. I automatically think all of the police officer's the article is referring to are Caucasian but I saw, in the photo, Caucasian and African American officers. I don't think the African American officers are without their own prejudices. I am not excusing any of these officers for the mistreatment of the people they should be protecting and I do think a change needs to be made. I also think that something in the community needs to change too. I don't think anything will improve if it is only one sided. I think it is a good idea to have programs where police officers and the public interact in a positive way and build a more trusting relationship. I really don't want to see a revolution where the public start eliminating the people who have a higher station. I don't think violence and vandalism is the answer. Hadrosaur012
From a criminal justice stand point. I feel like this is a topic that we are all familiar with because of the justice system can take it's tiles. Other people around the nation can call their police officers racist or maybe say that the entire system is unfair to many other people. It states in the article that "The report reinforces complaints made for decades by African-American residents who have said they were unfairly singled out by officers without justification on a regular basis, then ignored when they raised complaints." I honestly think the police officers of Chicago sort of put their police department to shame. Yea I understand how they are suppose to keep people safe but they are not approaching it properly. For example if I were to go into Chicago and I get pulled over for something petty and ask me if I have any guns in the car and I say no and the officer won't do anything else but if I was African American he might search my car in a hot second. These officers are not doing the proper way to handle someone because they want to accuse someone mainly stating that Chicago PD won't let the residents speak for themselves. It just shocks me that Chicago PD can't keep anyone safe because they are to busy arresting anyone without the proper training they where taught to do. DaBulls456
Knowing that a city with a high crime rate is only three hours away from where we live is not something that I am proud of. Chicago, with being high in crime rate, officers should not have any time being biased towards a certain group of people. Chicago has many problems, but one of the problems I believe is that the people that live in the city are mad. Just like Ferguson African Americans are feeling targeted more, which is why more of them are getting convicted of crimes. Since officers are more focused on them, it lets the white Americans get away with more crime making it seem as if African Americans are doing most of the crime. The trust is not there between the people and the police. As we all know that in order to have a successful police department there has to trust within the community. The fact that African American are targeted more does not surprise me that they are mad, and want to be heard when they have riots. Wanting a change of how they are treated, I believe they would treat officers better as well. Sometimes the only way people can be heard is when they do take it to the extreme because it gets noticed more. Media barely shows the good, but when it comes to the bad they are always all over it. In order for the people to reach out, doing something bad might be the only way to do it. bamboo456
I agree with what you said here, the people of the city are mad, and rightly so. I think after Ferguson, departments everywhere should have taken a long hard look at their own departments to ensure that they never go that bed. Ferguson should have been a wake up call, and it's scary that big cities didn't get the hint. Piglet456
It is incredibly sad to see that in a day and age such as today, racism still exists. Although there is one thing I really do not agree with about these statistics - being that many people are complaining about all police departments and their "racist behavior." Police departments all over the nation are being questioned and judged for the behaviors of a few poor cops in a few cities. There are people all over the world who preform their job poorly, but because the police force is in the public eye so much, a minuscule amount of poor police officers can allow the media a field day. The real problem lies there; the media controls everything that the public believes to be true. Because the media finds it easier to show the negatives of life rather than positives, it would appear that racism is an increasingly large issue in Chicago - although, is it possible that some officers in Chicago, and larger cities, are simply abusing power and executing their jobs poorly? Something to think about. JimHalpert012
Everything in this article is true and nothing new to me. Chicago's police force is notorious for using unnecessary force, brutality, and verbal abuse, not only to African Americans but to everyone who they see as a criminal. I'm not sure entirely if it is them being "racist" but rather the police having a bias and making assumptions. There are many factors that contribute to the unjust behavior towards black citizens though. One is the officers experiences. The crime rate and gang violence is typically higher for those who are African American. Because of this fact, the entire race is often stigmatized by officers as a deviant group. The stereotype lives not only in the police force, but the medical field, and businesses. If officers believe that African Americans are more likely to be committing a crime, they may think it is right to target the group specifically. All of this is very wrong and dehumanizing. I can not imagine living on the South side and being worried constantly that I was the POLICES next target. Just walking down the street would be terrifying. These citizens would not feel safe even in their own homes. Out of their fear comes hate. They resent the police force for the harm being done to the community and the lack of adequate help received. It's obvious that the voice of African Americans in Chicago has been doused by the police. Cops are trying to silence these individuals so they don't get in trouble. The police are supposed to protect ALL people, not select a few and leave out others. Police brutality is awful and immoral. Unless completely necessary, a police should not be physically assaulting an individual. They are supposed to have a reason for pulling someone over or detaining someone. Now, the Chicago PPD seems to believe they are above the law. Breaking the law in an attempt to enforce the law is still breaking the law by all means. I hope that an efficient way to rid the force of bias is created soon. -leafy012
I was saddened by this article. Within two paragraphs this article was already saying such things as “C.P.D.’s own data gives validity to the widely held belief the police have no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color,” I would love to say that, that is not true. The fact of the matter is, cops, no matter how professional they can be all have some type of bias. It only takes one bad apple in the police department to act on those biases and the whole department, and eventually police as a whole get labeled as racist. Unfortunately, the where the C.P.D was concerned, it was not just one bad apple, the whole department was singling out African Americans unfairly and ignoring complaints from them.I think it is good that the D.O.J. is looking into the department after the shooting of an African American 16-year old, but with all the statistical evidence of how poorly the department treats African Americans, this department should have been looked into a long time ago. Piglet456
As the article states, the make up is a third white, a third black, and a third latino in Chicago. If blacks made up 72% of street stops last year we need to be looking at the officers we are hiring. What color are they, is the diversity in our department representing the diversity of the city, where did the officers grow up at, did they have a chance to grow up around mixed races? If white officers who grew up in neighborhoods that were mainly white, and therefor went to schools that were also mainly filled with white people, and then also played football, dated, bonded and interacted with white people for the majority of their youth, then what can we expect of them when they become officers? Their entire life has been spent among people of the same color, and they have no doubt heard bad things of other cultures and races. When they get their 2 years degree from their community college, and become officers it will be their first time thrown into an area where they actually have to communicate and interact with people of separate races. Body cams were mentioned in the article, and although they seem like a good idea with all of the sketchy details the police give about incidents, they shouldn't be needed. If an officer needs a body cam in order to tell the truth than he shouldn't be an officer. -Leilani789
I was not surprised by the unfortunate, but necessary findings of the most recent report on the Chicago Police Department. People of color have complain about the problem of discrimination for decades and only now do they actually have proof of how bad it truly is. I believe that because of the higher arrest rates of African American men compared to the rates of their Caucasian counterparts, this is the cause of the higher recidivism rates too. Not only are black males just in general more likely to get arrested than whites males, but after that first arrest their chances of getting arrested a second time increase even more. Discrimination in Chicago is nothing new, but hopefully through this report elected and appointed officials will be more willing to work together to reform the Chicago criminal Justice system. There next move should be to educate their officers about how to properly deal with biases and thoroughly investigating past complaints on officers. From there I do believe it would be in the best interest of their police department to voice a public apology to the citizens of Chicago. After the apology the department can begin to make programs designed to rebuild the relationship between itself and the community it serves. Scooby789
Deviant behavior is bound to be a problem in Chicago with the unfair treatment that is going on. When we learn that African Americans are being done wrongly even though they are equal with two other races in Chicago we have to expect it. There is going to be a lack of trust, and a lack of submission. Not only are the older generations being thrown back into a time of racial injustice, but new generations are learning from these generations not to trust the police. If the new generation can't trust the police than who can they go to with their issues? What Chicago needs is a good community policing program. This way the new generation would be able to grow up with a good image of the P.D. but also so that the older generation could possibly learn to trust them again. -Leilani012
Welcome to “Chiraq”! As early as 1982 citizens of Chicago couldn’t possess a handgun legally. A ‘ban’ was passed that made it illegal to have a handgun, period! This would obviously reduce the crime rate and blood spilt by reducing the amount of guns right? O.o O.k. so give all the bad guys guns and put them on the streets with all the unarmed sheeple. This doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where this will go. Enter some cat named McDonald. S.C.O.T.U.S through McDonald vs City of Chicago (2009-2010) declared that “keep and bear arms” is protected by the 2nd Amendment. Those Supreme court justices, though. Now handguns were allowed back in the hands of law abiding citizens. I’m not good at math BUT, 27 years of gangs and criminals running the streets doesn’t get reversed overnight. Neighborhoods destroyed, whole generations of people hunted down while they sit in their homes and walk the streets they live on. The poorest neighborhoods are terrorized the most by these criminals with the guns. Drugs and crime move openly in these communities. They are destroyed and in the rubble more opportunities for crime are created. This is a cycle. Big ‘hits’ don’t happen to the folks who live on Michigan Ave. unless they were ‘just minding their own business’ on the wrong part of town. The homicide rate is high in ‘Chiraq’ but doesn’t touch East St. Louis, IL. Why? No idea. I haven’t even got to the Chicago Police Dept. yet. In an attempt to delineate Chicago’s primary problem: Imagine a beaker, drop a large population of people in there (make it tight)/now add limited resources/sprinkle it with poverty and some of the ‘entitled’/Put a drop of division in there/and a dash of ignorance/salt it all with some fear/oh, and a limited amount of firearms only accessible to the criminal element. And POOF. A recipe for disaster. A breeding of fear, hatred, and ignorance. Now put this recipe in the hands of local/state government who do things like abolish the death penalty. Thank you Pat Quinn for taking the strongest form of deterrence against the crime of murder and flushing it down the toilet……into your kelly green river. Here is your sign Pat. Feed this recipe to the police officers of Chicago now. The good ones and the bad ones, Powder Keg! Everyone on the force wants to go home to their families, etc. Whatever. But everyone is chewing on this recipe of garbage. It’s not enough to tolerate each other any longer. There needs to be cohesion. Back in my 20’s I used to think that racism would eventually get ‘aged out’ of the system. I was an idiot. I believe that the presence and severity is decreased. Maybe it’s just gotten better at hiding or disguising itself. I don’t know. Just like all the hot topics seem to be losing steam or replaced by new age problems. Pushing knobs of the media machine, we consume what we are given through our idiot boxes. People evolve as a society. Devolving is for states that do not honor a democracy. Racism is taught by families and cultural belief systems of people around the world. It’s taught. So unlearn it. Chicago Police Department. Needs restructured. Granted you’re not going to be able to get rid all the ‘good ol’ boys’ because they are in like a tick. BUT they will age out. New blood that feeds off a different recipe will eventually take over. In the mean time we need to educate ourselves and become empathetic with each other. Create a system of checks and balances for C.P.D. Enough to stop drawing lines and coloring them in. This article is a hate piece. Having a platform this big and this is what it is used for. To keep everyone glued to the problem on the surface and not the iceberg underneath. There is corruption on every level in Chicago. The unfortunate part of this is they were elected. I don’t even pretend to know how to fix the C.P.D. All I know is that bad guys with guns are stopped by good guys with guns. Bad guys don’t stop until they are stopped. Doberman789
This was a very frustrating article to read especially because it is current and happening in our state. We discussed in class one day how cops should not be cops if they cannot overcome their implicit biases and work on them. I think the C.P.D. is a perfect example of why it is so important to do more screening processes when hiring officers. Although they go through written, physical, psychological, and polygraph tests to get the job, I think that it would be beneficial to make them take the implicit bias tests Harvard created that we took for class. Then, based on their results and their biases, they should either be completely denied (if they have a strong bias against a certain type of person) or at the very least, put on a waiting list and an education list to overcome their bias and make sure to re-test them before hiring them on to the department. The problem seems to be like someone else mentioned: We need to take a closer look at the people that are being hired to do this job. It is very clear that many people sign themselves up to do a job that they are incapable of doing FAIRLY. The article mentioned that white, black, hispanic people each make up about one-third of the population in Chicago. However, 74% of the 404 people shot by Chicago police between 2008 and 2015 were black. This does not even come close to being an accurate representation based on the population. If black people are only making up one-third of the entire population, why is it that nearly 3/4 of the people being shot at by the police are black?! C.P.D needs to make changes in the way that they are screening their employees. As I said, I think that it would be helpful to test them on their values, racism, implicit biases, etc. in order to get an understanding of how they feel about people that are different than them. I grew up in a small town, without a lot of diversity, but when I went to college, I had to learn how to work with and communicate with people that were different than me. It is part of being an adult, and part of being a human being. Although we may all have some implicit biases, people interested in this career should at least have to have their implicit biases assessed and improved before ever being hired onto a police department. Cards789
This article made me very sad to think that things like this still occur and people turn a blind eye to it. Or maybe just don’t care. And to think that it’s forces on the inside that are hurting people makes it even worse. The people of Chicago have been crying out for help but they don’t trust the people who say they are going to protect the anymore because of the bad events that have happened. I’m not saying that all police officers are bad but there are a lot of bad ones who are racist and just do not care about anyone else’s well-being. At the end of the article they question what they can do to change the things that are happening in their community and not just concerning the police staff. I think that the answer to that question will be a long process for either side, there are a lot of people who have been hurt, traumatized, and killed by the police based on false accusations that had been filed carelessly. So people have put all policemen in a generalized category in thinking that they are all bad. So I think the police officers need to reach out even if people don’t except them. This is a definite healing process for everyone. Believe012
This article was very upsetting to read, and it is sad to think about these sort of things that seem to still be occurring all to often. I also feel like some of these things are just brushed off and forgotten about. It was also sad that this incident came in between a change of who was going to be the superintendent. It is really tough to because I don't believe that you should be aloud to be a policemen without them making sure that there is no real bias in your background or anything of that nature. Honestly reading all of this and being frustrated and upset in the end it really does not surprise me I think that this happens a lot more than people think, and that is awful to say but I think that this is a daily thing in the U.S. This is something that could greatly affect a city like peoria because when you think about it we are not that far away from where we are living. This news will be seen by more people here than out in California. It will hit home a little harder for people here and then they will dislike the police here, and there is not much that the police can do to change their mindset from what they have seen in Chicago. This was an awful article to read and saddens me to think about what happened not to far from here.-Bengals012
This report came at a time where police are already being looked at under a microscope and people are demanding change. The report even stated that the distrust in the Chicago Police Department was justified. All over the country it seems like minorities are being targeted even in cities primarily made up of minorities. The police force needs to be a representation of the community it serves, and I don’t mean that it should be all black people or all white people, but it should represent community values as a whole. Community policing is especially important in cities where crime is high because it makes the citizens feel safe coming to the police with any issues they are having. Racism has no place in a police force, period. Any biases should be forgotten as soon as the uniform is put on, because like it or not, you are there to protect everyone in your community. Everyone has biases, there’s no way around it, but as a police officer it is important to remember that you are there to protect and serve, and if you can’t do it there will always be someone who is more than willing to do it instead. Blues456
“The report reinforces complaints made for decades by African-American residents who have said they were unfairly singled out by officers without justification on a regular basis, then ignored when they raised complaints.” This goes without saying America still holds its roots in racism. Sadly, this has also contributed to our police forces due to us all being human. These results in regard to Chicago PD, specifically have had the public feel as though police presence is no longer wanted. The police have adopted an attitude that has tainted the department, which has turned the community into the problem while failing to see the reason for this failure. Corruption, is rampant to the point where complaints that are formed formally and according to the procedures that are set have gone unsolved. As an officer of the law, there isn’t much wiggle room in who gets what. Contextualization and understanding go a long way with respect being pivotal with interactions with members of the community. It was a good idea to reference the Laquan McDonald case, because the unrest has always plagued Chicago residents. When the shooting took place however, this was an event that allowed for people to have their voices heard. It no longer matters what a person of color does, because the media will present it in a way that perceptions become skewed and blinded to the real underlying issues in these communities. Taking steps to resolve these tensions may not come anytime soon, race and crime are not the same, no one race is better than another nor any sexual orientation. Many people have their own perceptions of what is good and bad, though the law tends to be more black and white in regards to the way society is operated.
"C.P.D's own data gives validity to the widely held belief the police have no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color,... Stopped without justification, verbally and physically abused, and in some instances arrested, and then detained without counsel-that is what we heard about over and over again." This quote from the article is very blunt, but it makes it very clear what is going on in the Chicago police department. This report reminds me a lot of the one that was developed in Ferguson last year. Both cities police department faced a lot of controversy following the deaths of and African american individual. Both reports had the same things about being stopped without reason and verbally and physically abusing African american individual. It is crazy to think that 74% of the 404 people shot by the CPD between 2008-2015 were black. Even 72% of random stops on the street by the police were black as well. The worst part is that its not only happening in chicago. It was found to be happening in ferguson and if the new york city police department is ever investigated, i am almost certain it will be happening there as well. And this is not just happening in major cities, its certainly happening in smaller towns and cities all over the country and the world. I liked how the report wants to get rid of the independent police review authority which is a program that oversees the more serious claim of police misconduct. This was found to not carry out meaningful discipline for those charged with misconduct and to favor the police in these cases. Chicago is in desperate need to implement community into how they police. Getting together and knowing the community you are working in gains the trust of the citizens that live there and decreases the chances of another shooting like the one in ferguson happening again.
As someone who is going into law enforcement it baffles me that we still have cops out here like this. Especially in my own state. Racism should not be tolerated especially within a community that has a large percentage of blacks within it. I know people make claims and lie when it comes to police officers but this is believable. With all of the shootings that happen daily, these officers are probably scared they will be next. But referring to the minorities is no way to handle the situation. It is not like these cops are old racist people that have been on the force since the '60s, so I wonder what makes them do such arrogant actions. It obviously is not one person doing it and there is always two sides to a story. So I would really enjoy to hear their side and what makes them think they should be treating the colored individuals differently. Chicago is also a very large city with a bunch of different race groups. So they probably see a car with a bunch of colored people and automatically assume they are not up to any good. No one can really know unless we talk face to face with one of these officers who are being accused of it Ibanez789.
In sociology we have learned about group think and deviance. Relating those two subjects to this is actually pretty easy. To start out deviance is all around Chicago. I have only been to Chicago one time, but from all of the stories I hear, I think everyone has a pretty good idea that there is always something bad going down there. So far in this year there has been 252 people shot there, and we are only almost 5 months into the year. People just do not shoot someone for no reason. It is because of the deviance they have surrounded by them. Group think is a big one as well because we can relate this to both sides, the cops and bad guys. Cops are trained by there field training officer when hired. Those guys have worked there for awhile and know the ends and outs of the streets. Where do you think these police learned to behave like this? That would be my guess for sure. Now relating this to the misbehaved citizens we can talk about gang members or gang affiliated people. It is pretty much self explanatory, you have the leader that makes decisions and it results to the other people without knowledge to react and make bad decisions. Ibanez012
I honestly feel that no matter how hard we try racism will always exist. People pass values and other things down to the next generation and I just feel as if there will never be a time where racism doesn't not exist. Sociology has taught us things such as deviance and leadership that after learning, I'm able to get a better view of things. Maybe there is poor quality of leadership within the police world, but there could also be self thinking as these awful things take place. It's crazy how now a days and how technology is that now we can see these racial things actually brought to life and even though justice is not always served the issue was brought in front of the whole world to see. With that being said its sad that every time something happens to the black community we run to racism. It seems to always be the first thing we think that happens when we hear the news involving someone of the other race was involved. There is lots and lots of work that needs to take place in this world involving all parties if we want this world to become a better place. Pinky012
Unfortunately with big police departments in big cities, there is a lot of possibility for corruption, especially if they have been practicing corruption for years. In the case of Chicago PD, if the people that oversee the officers in each department are okay with or endorse the behavior of the officers, not much will ever change. It is hard to internally change an organization if your views are the majority. Even if the PD has some great cops, it may be hard for them to act like good upstanding people if they are in company that is a majority corrupt. Police corruption is an unfortunate reality in many cities, not just Peoria. It is important to consider this as an issue that we may all face someday if we move to larger cities. This PD is not the only PD that is corrupt and has issues, I would even bet money there are worse departments that exist right now in terms of police corruption. The reason this is important to consider is because we need to be mindful of the people we elect that get power over PD and also to be mindful of when people are leading a charge against corruption in the PDs. Many police officers are good people but it is definitely not an infallible group. Moot012
Something that caught my attention in here was the negative attitude from some of Chicago's leadership. The opinion of them not following through and this situation not getting any better. At least that's how I took some comments. That's not what the public needs to hear. They need to see some changes and they need to hear some positive attitudes. Not lies, but someone who is standing up for them and following through. It only takes one good or bad act to be witnessed and then followed to make change. If everyone is authority says things will be different when the people change their ways, and everyone in the public says they will change their ways when authority treats them better, nothing will change. Whether the authority figures want to take it or not, it is their responsibility to figure out how to start the change. People look up to them and they should. They are leading us. Chicago needs to look at what other large cities are doing that is working. Why are they not succeeding? Because they haven't put forth the effort. They've blamed it on the people. It doesn't work that way. The public can stand up and make change too, and maybe that is what they are doing with the murder rate increasing and crime increasing. They are speaking out. Not in a good way, but maybe the only way they know how. They are reacting to their environment and the leadership (that includes the police officers) need to respond with something other than quick judgements, presumptions, and punishments. Purple012
The findings of this particular article do not startle nor surprise me not one bit.The special undercover task force found over 100 things that were wrong with this one particular department and the acts and attitudes they displayed toward minorities within the community. I feel that this type of look is very sad for the Chicago Police Department (CPD) as a whole. For many reasons yet one that stood out to me in particular is the high crime rate. Cops have all the crime in Illinois happening right there in Chicago and instead of helping the problem they are apart of the problem. Why? This is saddening so much of to "Serve and Protect." As a community you think that the cops are there to help, save, and serve the community as a whole. Though over time the respect for many officers has changed. Children have a entirely different preconception of cops and wanting to be an officer when they get older has changed. I have witnesses many black children get scared and cry when he or she sees a cop car coming down the street. Last month I seen a 7 year old black boy drop to his knees crying with his hands in the air, screaming "Please don't shoot me." We have seriously got to do better. If you don't really want to serve and protect your community this is not the job for you, if you do not like a certain ethnicity or sexual orientation of people, again this is not the job for you. Many people get into certain career to let off and abuse certain biases that they have for certain people in a legal manner, many feel that it is a cover-up. This was a pretty bad situation if the Civil Liberties Union had to get involved. It may be worse than they are advertising to the public. Yet as long as they can correct the problem I will respect their approach. Surely this is not an easy situation to interpret or digest. Because though all these negative points came out and were made there are still some good cops within the department. However the bad cops reflect the department as a whole they make all cops look bad, no matter how honest and loyal the good ones are. I would like to know how long will the department take to mend things over or will they ever be mended? Respectively speaking many things that are happening behind the scene should be a better approach used in the forefront. Meanwhile the unnecessary brutality and killing needs to stop. Gain the trust back of the community become apart of the community because great things can be done when the two come together. Forensics123
Chicago being the one of the largest police departments in the united states, these types of issues within the department should not be happening. I am glad that Chicago police department is trying to implement change in the right direction. In the article they talk about there being more then 100 specific changes being made. It blows my mind that a police department is so undermanaged that they have to make over 100 different changes. The numbers of statistics towards African American people in the city where extremely higher then they should be. Upwards in the 75 percentage in regards to African Americans. 3 out of every 4 people the police officers used a Taser on were African Americans. To me reading this article it is extremely clear that there is a huge problem in Chicago. Chicago police department has a long road ahead of them to fix the damage that police officers have created in the city of Chicago, but as long as the right leadership is set in place for all the officers to mold and learn from the Chicago police department will do great as long as the officers follow good leadership and use good judgment towards the people of Chicago. GRUNT123
Chicago is one of the largest cities in the United States. They also have one of the largest police departments and by that their Police Department should be one of the most diverse. They need people who understands the people. The citizens say that they don't even do anything wrong but they still feel like they are getting treated like criminals. Chicago is also rattled with so many different gangs that makes it very dangerous. Just the first two months of the year there were around 300 shooting. Those officers are going out there scared for their life not knowing if they will make it home that night or not. These officers need to be on high alert 24/7. The stress that these officers are under has to be damaging emotionally and physically. Then again the citizens feel like they are criminals no matter what they do. The police officers need to be able to understand what these citizens are going through. The problems with the gangs are not only stressful for the police but the innocent people living in the area. Godzilla012
With Chicago being the second largest department it isn't a big surprise with there being racism in it. Yet you'd expect the C.P.D to be more mindful of what goes on in their department. With most of the report being about white on black crime, it more likely is tied to the veteran officers. Most of whom probably joined the C.P.D when there were still racial tensions. So then you wonder if there was racial discrimination against the black officers in the department as well. With older officers in the department who already have possible racially biased views, it can not only affect the community by using these biases in the field, but it can rub off on the younger officers and affect their job as a police officer. Any officer that is of family to an older officer may also be influenced through the family life as well. If a younger officer grew up in a racist household, he will bring that mentality into his profession, which will then lead to racially biased arrests. Most of the newer officers would be more in tune to the culture because they grew up in the racially diverse society and know how they interact with each other. It helps more when the officer may be white but grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood and has the same ethnicity as the people who live there. But if an officer grew up in an all white neighborhood with a small amount of racism in that community, that officer may not understand the circumstances that go on in those inner city areas. Now, the department should really screen their officers to see their background and see if they have any biases whether its race, gender, or age, and give them training to handle situations that go against their bias or get rid of the bias all together. DeadMan012
It surprises me that in such a large city that is quite diverse that racism is so prominent. After that teen had gotten shot there were so much stuff on Facebook about how black lives matter, and how the police officer was in the wrong. I don’t know many of the details behind it so I am not going to say he was right or wrong but why not say that all lives matter. About a week and a half after it all went down there started to be post about how all white people should die. It is a little ridiculous that in such a short amount of time a few very Facebook active people would go from supporting on culture for being discriminated against to wanting all the other cultures to die. Just this weekend we were told a sorry of how a young woman that was almost nine months pregnant was involved in a car crash and arrested the chances of surviving a traumatic cardiac arrest is literally next to none, but her baby was so close to being delivered that they still worked her so save that unborn often baby sometimes referred to as un important or unwanted. TAGTaylor33012
Since we are all aware of the depressing fact of racism controlling what we think or assume about people, something needs to be done about it. The article talks about "minorities" being stopped/arrested a lot more often. These accusations on people of other cultures or races is very unfair. The article then goes on to say these people, once released or taken into custody, couldn't speak about what they encountered and how it was unfair. I believe everyone has a right to speak what they believe and talk about the situation they were in, especially in a legal matter! You cant just take one side of the story and start dealing out sentences! There are many corrupt people in this world and they wont always be "minorities". Which is another astounding fact! The make up of cultures in this area are heavily populated! Whites, blacks and hispanics make up one third of the population! If we could look at everyone as equal instead of, that guys skin color is different so he must be up to something, the justice system would have a much better outcome. Twal012
Second try. this was very eye opening and sad. They say they will do what it takes to fix what racism has done to the city but if you already have the younger generations seeing this and knowing that this is how life is, there is going to be no easy fix if any at all. It may just get alot worse before something gives and it gets better. they always say that once trust is gone it is never the same again, there is an entire city that has lost all trust in the police force, the people that are supposed to protect them from the same stuff the police are doing to them. This could be why the crime is also getting so bad, it said in the article that the people being targeted, even if they did nothing wrong still feel like they did, it takes a toll on them and depending on their thought process some my feel that if they are going to be treated like criminals they might as well be criminals. I was also wondering what the black cops are doing while all this is going on, are they turning a blind eye, fileing reports that get ignored or is the mob mentality turning them against the black citizens. sherlocked012
ReplyDeleteThis is sad that this is still going on even after Ferguson and other cities have had to deal with this. You would think all cities would start cleaning out their closets and start different ways of policing. I'm not even sure where to start with this. Its clear the police are "deviant" per say as in misusing power and hiding behind the department and not doing their job correctly. Mayor Mr. Emanuel (who I don't like either) and the president of the police union not responding when this report came out clearly says they too were involved in conspiracies of some sort and knew what those reports were going to say. I'm not sure why CPD doesn't have body cams on all their officers to show what goes on. (I was under the impression all departments were going to get them after Ferguson.) I would say the suggestion of dissolving the independent police review authority like suggested would be a good start, and making everything transparent to everyone like suggested. I also think they should have to be psychologically evaluated and maybe done so every so often. I mean obviously if their are racists or mentally unstable officers in your department those are the ones you need to get rid of. Ms. Lightfoot, I believe it was in the article, also said retraining and teaching them to protect with respect was needed. It should be police and the community as a team not the police versus the community. I did not really agree with the statement from Ms. Carruthers though who is suppose to be some advocate for black youth program or something when she said she didn't have confidence in the task force or the mayor to actually step up. I hope that's not the negativity she's teaching youth. I understand its a bad situation all the way around but reform has to start somewhere, so making a statement like that kind of says well no matter what happens nothing is going to change. I think she should have followed that up with soomething to the effect of "but the community is willing to give them this chance and move forward"....or something. She just kind of blasted the whole thing without any suggestions of repair. I think it will take a long time for the citizens to trust their police again but I do think its possible and I know their are good cops out there...even on CPD. Deacon012
ReplyDeleteIt seems sad that there has been this much outrage over the years and it took a task force like this to show the mayor the problem. If it wasn't for Ferguson and Baltimore i would bet that this intervention would have taken even longer if it happened at all. One thing i will say for the officers in Chicago is that is has to be scary to go to work everyday. I have to believe that the astonishing number of minorities arrested is a direct reflection of the gang problem in the city. Chicago has one of the largest gang problems in the country, and gangs are typically made up of minorities. With that said, there is no excuse for these officers to break the law themselves. Holding people without charges or the opportunity for councel is exactly that. It appears they are going to have to be more selective on who they hire in the future, and that will be hard given the drop in applicants for Chicago P.D. There is definitely going to be an attempt to improve community relations after this, but im nkt sure if it's going to work right away. This report is going to empower criminals because it gives them more fuel for their fire against police officers. I feel like the public won't perceive the departments efforts as genuine. They're going to feel like they are only doing it to save face. I do hope something positive comes from this, however i don't think it will happen as quickly as it needs to. Crown012
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with you on the citizens not taking the changes seriously, and seeing them as just trying to save face due to the huge spot light that has been thrown on them. I was thinking the same thing when i read the article but was to sure how to put it into words. you did it very well, I have a bad feeling that things in Chicago are going to get very bad for a while. I dont understand how this could be happening these days, in a city like Chicago, there is so much diversity there you would think everyone could get along!!!! sherlocked012
DeleteI agree with sherlocked012. It is mind blowing that in a city that is so diverse that this is an issue at all. If this continues the way the article states it is, Chicago will become a most feared and racist city in the state. In the case of the citizens not taking the changes seriously,they should because not only could this get out of hand it can jeopardize the lives of others.
DeleteExtreme456
Institutionalized racism codified by the department designed to protect the rights of its citizens. This is a nightmare scenario, something out of a dystopian science fiction film. However, the findings of the task force investigating racism in the Chicago police department came to the conclusion that just such a scenario is the reality for thousands of people living in one of the largest cities in the US.
ReplyDeleteFrom a sociology perspective, this review pricks at a few key issues. First of all (and most obviously) this review shines a spotlight on Race-Conflict Approach. The sociological lens would purport that most if not all of the ills in our society are the result of racism. In the case of the Chicago PD, this sees to be sadly true. The conflict between races seems to be to blame for the police abuses of African American citizens of this great metropolitan city.
Moreover, this abuse is encouraged and covered up by the police department’s policies. According to the New York Times article, “[police unions] ‘make it easy for officers to lie in official reports,’ ban anonymous citizen complaints and prevent the department from rewarding officers who turn in rule-breaking colleagues.” This practice is rooted in group theory. The police department seems to have fallen into a dangerous groupthink mentality, assuming all of its offers think and behave the same, ostracizing dissenting voices, and alienating group outsiders. Sadly, this mentality seems to have become the norm within the Chicago PD.
Finally, this report, the citizen riots, and the overhaul of the police department’s structure is an example of Marx’s theories of the lower classes rebelling against their oppressors. Though more peaceful than most Marxist uprisings, this micro-revolution seems to be bearing some much-needed fruit.
The windy city is no stranger to scandal and controversy. In the 1900’s the Chicago meat packers ran the city, taking advantage of their immigrant workers, forcing them to work in dangerous conditions for pennies on the dollar. Once they were worn out and unable to work in the meat backing factories, many of these poor immigrants moved to a life of crime and prostitution. One socialist writer changed this reality. With the rampant popularity of his 1906 book The Jungle, Upton Sinclair brought attention to the plight of immigrant meat packers, resulting in a widespread crackdown on the greedy companies and the rise of unions. Hopefully, this report can have a similar effect on the institutionalized racism within the Chicago PD. – Jung012
When the community cant even look to the officers for assistance there is a problem. This people have been mistreated and ignored for far to long. cops were doing their jobs maybe there wouldn't be over 500 murders in a year in Chicago. There is no order, just judgement over the civilians that live in the poor neighborhoods that the cops should be trying to win over. When you are nice and show respect to the citizens the crimes that happen every day actually might have witnesses now. The people don't want to help out the police because the people aren't helped. Giving some sort of comfort that the gang bangers across the street aren't going to come in your house at night and rob you is all the people want, they don't get any protection from the police because the cops look at it as them vs. the community.
ReplyDeleteKLICK789
What I read about the actions of the Chicago Police Department truly upsets me and to think that these are real officers of the law, that are abusing their power of enforcing and upholding the law to the public that they are supposed to be protecting and serving, is just a disgrace to policing. Instead of performing procedural justice where they are unbiased and treat everyone equally, they are racial profiling African Americans the most from the statistics that they showed in the article and can even be corrupt like in the shooting death of Laquan McDonald. With the high tensions between the police and the public that have been building up for a very long time, it is going to keep brewing up more and will be the next Ferguson incident if not worse. I know that if this trend of policing is still being enforced like it is instead of some major changes taking place, than there will be an incident that is bigger than Ferguson. Just like Ferguson, the fatal shooting death of Laquan McDonald gave the public a look at just some of the mistreatment that the police have been giving to its citizens. The Chicago Police Department is taking steps to better their police department and get the racism out of the department’s image; I think that it will happen over time because they can’t get rid of all the police that they suspect are being racist, but they can get the ones that show bigger signs of racism and bias. Eventually with better recruiting and the officers that are biased, not bad enough to get fired will eventually age out of the department and the position will be filled with a better officer that treats everyone at the same caliber and not be biased. Birdman123
ReplyDeleteThis type of policing that has been taking place in Chicago for many years now and it should be stopped before it somehow it gets worse. I am surprised that the citizens of Chicago did not riot against the Chicago Police Department already because from the statistics that was shown in the article by The New York Times, showing that the Chicago police did treat the African American community differently and worse than anyone else. The police department basically just threw out the book on procedural out the window and decided to mistreat the citizens that are supposed to be there for. The cover up of the shooting death of Laquan McDonald just shows how bad that the corruption in the department can be. Thankfully the men involved in the scandal were handled properly and officers that were involved were fired. I think that only time will tell on how the Chicago Police Department will change, with the bad officers getting older and retiring and the new recruits coming in there could be a shift in how the police department interacts with the citizens and how the departments are perceived as a whole. With better recruiting, better training, and getting rid of the biased and corrupt officers, the Chicago Police Department can be a better and more effective police department that helps everyone instead of victimizing people. Birdman789
ReplyDeleteThis is a sad thing to see still going on after other cities have gone through similar things. It should not take a special task force to make them realize the problems they are having with their policing. They have gotten so use to policing in the wrong ways that the department can’t realize they are doing things wrong. The department said they are going to do whatever it takes to fix the racism problem but its not going to be an easy fix. The citizen’s epically African American citizens have gotten mistreated for so long they aren’t just going to be able to forgive and act like nothing happened. They are going to hold grudges and the younger generation will be the same because they have grown up being mistreated by cops so they will probably hold the grudge for even longer. Only time will tell if change will happen. The older officer will retire soon and it will be up to the new officers to make change. They need to police the way they know if right not the way they have been taught because that will only continue to make things worse. dragons789
ReplyDeleteI've watched Mayor Emanuel age nearly as fast as President Obama since he took office as mayor of Chicago. A lot of newly discovered injustices were taking place over several decades, yet Mr. Emanuel is seeming to be held responsible for most of them, right now. Given, his responses to these incidents has not been sufficient in facing up to the problems.
ReplyDeleteChicago has had major issues with the relationship between its minorities, as well as its discriminatory police department practices, for many decades. Chicago has long had a reputation for being a corrupted city. The injustices and the outrage of citizens is reaching a "boiling point." Not discussing these problems, publicly and legally, has lead to potentially irreversible damage to the reputation of
the Chicago Police Department. "The community's lack of trust in the Chicago Police Department is justified."
Murders are up 62% from 2015 and the summer season hasn't begun, yet. Statistics show violent crimes will be up in the warmer months- Chicago could have a really bad year, statistically.
The only solid change I am aware of is the $172,000 street light replacement program Mr. Emanuel recently announced, that was mentioned in The Peoria Journal Star.
The dishonesty experienced by Chicago's residents may be the most difficult of all to repair. These behaviors have been reported for several decades, and only now are really being acknowledged. The cover up revealed by the mayors politically-timed release of the Laquon McDonald police shooting video will likely have profound repercussions in rebuilding this necessary trust with the people of the Chicago neighborhoods. It will likely destroy the political career of Mr. Emanuel.
The Chicago Police Department's use of Homan Square to illegally and unconstitutionally detain citizens was essentially state-sponsored kidnapping. It has been compared to the CIA's use of "black sites", where prisoners 'disappeared' and sometimes perished. This was taking place in the middle of the US? With apparent, zero oversight.
More minorities will need to be a part of the resolution. We need an even representation in our police ranks. Rebuilding such a broken system will not come easy, but people need to be treated equally. They will insist.
Better training and speedier investigations, as suggested by the mayor, are the few changes that have actually been confirmed. Mr. Emanuel has failed to address nearly 70% of the recommendations made by The Police Accountability Task Force. Racism and a Broken Discipline Process plaques this city, as well as many others across the US. Change is coming. Too many lives have been lost, and people are tired of not feeling as safe. Every life matters.
OICU8 012
DeleteFrom a law enforcement standpoint, this is community policing gone terribly wrong. The report states the “community’s lack of trust in the C.P.D. is justified” and trust is the basis for any law enforcement and community relationship to work. The article states violent crimes have increased and murders are up from last year. If community policing was an effective policy in Chicago these numbers would not be so high. Citizen complaints to the Independent Police Review Authority have failed to change or improve police conduct and most citizens would probably agree with the reports recommendation to abolish it. Interesting comment that the union contracts have essentially turned the code of silence into official policy. How do you include that into a contract? It appears from the article there is a culture throughout the Chicago police department that routinely violates citizen’s rights and treats them with a lack of respect. In short they have lost the consent of the governed. Given this has been a problem for a number of years and the Justice Department is involved, there seems to be no immediate call for action. If it is a culture issue within the police, will the new Superintendent be able to change the culture, or is he part of the culture? The Mayor, from his comments, does not seem terribly concerned and adopted the attitude that this is a long standing problem. He will need to restore trust before any changes will be effective. Humvee123
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to see that the force that is entrusted to protect ordinary citizens became rigged with issues and controversial. I generally empathize with police as I think it is one of the difficult jobs they put their lives in line, but when I see systemic issues like this, I am turning bit skeptical. I wish both citizens and police can find a common ground to deal with issues like gangs without being racial. It hurts me when I see the use of guns, violence in Chicago streets and some young victims paying the price with their lives. I wish there is a better way to deal with it. I am encouraged by the findings of the committees and hundred specific recommendations for a change. I am also hopeful that the new police chief can bring some positive and much needed change to the CPD. Best way to deal with these type of issues is to involve all type of citizens, regardless of race and get their input on how to deal with this violence, but the CPD need to gain ordinary citizen’s confidence. No society can get better when they are afraid to walk on the streets, it is shame that it happens in our cities. This article talks about some changes being made to deal with this issue, hope this works. – Chichi012
ReplyDeleteI always knew that crime and policing was not going to well up in Chicago, but I had no idea it was the whole system that was starting to become corrupt. After reading this article my eyes were opened up a lot. To have a good police department, you must be community based and be in the right terms with the community. If you are not then you are going to face a lot of trouble. But that's an obvious one. We all know that if the community hates the department in that are, then there will be problems. With the community getting as bad as it is in Chicago it's no wonder that everything is not working to well. But finding that it is more the systems fault rather than the communities is surprising to a certain point. Chicago is a corrupt place in the world and will always be just because of how vicious and big it is. There's going to be a lot of disagreeing on what to do to fix this growing problem that we have in Chicago. Soon enough it will be found though. I doubt anytime soon but it will be. I just hope that it's not like the movie Demolition Man with Sylvester Stallone to where everything is controlled. Its a futuristic dystopian movie that the government controls everything in. They even have a built in censor to deter people from cussing. Anyways, let's just hope the future doesn't come to that. ICCRunner789
ReplyDeleteWe live in a world where racism is prevalent. These racial profiling instances, make their way into our cities and our police forces. If you take a look at Ferguson, Missouri, you can see what racism, bias, and racial profiling did to the city of Ferguson. The city doesn't trust their police and the police do not respect the citizens. You cannot have a safe community if the police and citizen relationship isn't on point. We are seeing a similar thing happening with Chicago. Its proven that Chicago police have been targeting blacks way more. Unlawful stops, searches, arrests, and shootings have been going on. Its only a matter of time before something like Ferguson happens, and there is massive riots. In a city like Chicago where there are more people and guns, it could potentially make for a bad situation. Its a good thing to see that the mayor, and higher up police people are seeing what is going on. They are making a great effort to try and slow down these racial biases within the police department. It was a wise step for Mayor Emmanuel to make Eddy Johnson the police superintendent. This man is black, and he grew up and lives in the south end. This new superintendent will do great. He knows the people and the area, and how to treat it, and that will trickle down to the officers who police it. This is what the city needs to start building relations. The citizens should start to see a policing change in the area. I also like the idea of expansion of the body cameras. This we we can see all of what goes on, and it can greatly eliminate tension, when something "tricky and backdoors like" happens. Overall, I think the cities best choice was appointing Eddy Johnson. I think he will make a difference in how the community sees the police. Since he comes equipped with the knowledge of the people where problems are happening, that it will make for swift impact and change in the city.
ReplyDeleteMusic 456
These stats are a perfect example for why there should be a regular policing of the police, at least with an annual city survey viewed by a higher department. The Justice Department's findings prove that the accountability of Chicago, and Mr. Emanuel himself, are below any level for respect. It is also a blatant form of racism when you compare this data collected to other major areas because it sits far above any other city's data. Chicago is king among the feral. African-American victimization is the most obvious collected but the racial implications will last for years now, even if there was a top-down restructuring. When McDonald was shot and protests ensued, I'm surprised full-scale riots didn't break out. I'm someone who on occasion questions, 'what if something like (blank) happens.' Imagine if the shooting of this teen would have tipped the scales enough to launch parts of the city into martial law; the fervor and passions of protests are incomprehensible. Emanuel's decision to appoint Johnson as superintendent, while dismissing procedure, seemed to seem more as a ploy to right a wrong instead of an attempt to fix a portion of what was broken. It seemed that this only led the police to claim that residents of the city were just as much of a threat as the neighbor to your side. Once it was concluded that McDonald's death was being covered up by the department, fury flew. Chicago is not the only one, take a look at the five officers who tried the same thing on the Danziger Bridge immediately following Hurricane Katrina. It is commonplace nationwide, just more on a day to day in Illinois. Truthfully I believe it's the product of your environment syndrome. Not saying that every cop is a bad apple, but the ones who are bad are doing much more than just shooting the apple off of citizens' heads. It spreads, stains, seethes, and slips away over time; many times. This holds true also because cops have found it easy to lie 'officially,' leaving questions left unturned. The complaints go ignored and people will get ticked. The changes that the Justice Department is issuing, such as body cams and approaches to dealing with those with mental health issues seem like a far step, especially for cops who have trouble thinking straight themselves while on duty. Perhaps with a closer overseer-underling relationship hovering between the two, Mr. Emanuel and his officials will learn how to play their positions the way they were originally written. To serve and protect, not curve and neglect. - StrongArm789
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting read. Now that we have research that backs up these claims and from a city close to us, I hope it opens up the eyes of america to see that we do indeed have a problem within our police force. So let me take a minute and back track. Remember those things called biases? Well here is a first hand example of them at work in the very negative way. The simple fact is that the crime rate for black people is higher then another race in the united states today and that is a fact. With that fact comes these biases. Also the number of police officers murdered in the line of duty by blacks is also the highest. This is not to say that all black people are going to like cops. To say that is just obscured. The real problem here are these biases and not racism, racism stems from them. If people truly spent time to truly walk two moons in someone else's moccasins they would get it. Again it is hard to get these biases out of anyone mind let alone a police officers mind who is seeing these crimes committed on the daily and only see the bad happen and never get to see the good and the other half. It is truly sad and really needs to be taken care of. It is crazy that something little like the color of our skin can divide us as a people and cause us so much pain and suffering on the daily. Itll be truly interesting to see what comes out of these reports and if we see any changes in the city of Chicago Police force and eventually the rest of The United States of America. -MuayThaiGuy
ReplyDeleteThe article gave me a good insight to what is really happening in Chicago than what I already knew. The trust between the citizens and the Chicago PD are no longer there. That is an issue itself. Without trust how are people going to feel safe going to the police force when there is a problem? These citizens are supposed to feel safe in their city and be able to have trust between the police officers. On another note I cannot believe that in a city so diverse that there is still a high percentage of racism. This can become a major problem in the near future if the citizens do not start to realize they need to be at peace with each other. On another note the changes that were recommended are there for a reason. I think these changes from a criminal justice point will help the community and city become better and whole as one unit instead of division among race. Having the police blatantly disrespect and violate a citizen’s rights is no way of helping either. The corrections need to be made immediately or everyone is going downhill from here.
ReplyDeleteExtreme456
This topic makes me so mad. Here we have police officers who risk their lives everyday to keep people safe being accused of being racist and acting in favor of white instead of blacks. Although racism still exists, the world have come a long way in trying to make everyone equal. These communities of black people want to get mad and start riots against the police whenever a black person is arrested, physically handled, or shot by police. Yet, they don't do anything when a black person is a murderer, steals, or assaults an officer. As the reading said whites, blacks, and Hispanics make up the majority of the population. Also 74 percent of all crimes are due to african americans. The police can't decide who does the crime or what race they are. There are also times when people say "The police shot that young 14 year old boy because he was african american". Meanwhile they don't pay attention to the fact that the boy had a gun and refused to put it down. The police are only trying to do their jobs and keep themselves as well as their fellow police officers safe. There has been many riots about the police being overly aggressive, which in a few instances have been true. Not all officers have the right mindset or act in the perfectly correct way, but you can not single out the entire police force because of those few people. The media and the labels have increased the discrimination against police. People need to sit back and look at the situation before they get upset over it. Also you never know what you would do in their situation until you are actually in their shoes. VT012
ReplyDeleteFrom a sociology perspective I thought this article was shocking. It just comes to show how Chicago can be racist in many ways because they police department want to take arrest in a disorderly fashion. I mean it just hits the people of Chicago that they have to deal with racist police officers. Another thing is that these officers can crack at any point because of whatever it may be such as stress, or frustration. I'm not saying racism doesn't play it's role in that but they need to realize what other people might think because that will be the first thing they will be called. Media can sometimes make these people look bad but it's not just the media it's the officer and what they did wrong. We don't know what these residents go through with these cops because it may not be safe. One day we can just think how the feel or put our selves in their shoes and see the bigger picture. Overall this article was an eyeopener. BlackHawks012
ReplyDeleteThis is very sad that this is happening not far from here. Not just that there is racism but that the police are essentially abusing their badge with their racist views. Now that's not to say that the whole C.P.D is racist, but those few bad apples ruin the entire image of the department. I think overstepping the the voting process for a new superintendent was a good step to fixing the situation. If Mr. Emmanuel would have gone through the Board, it could have been a while before Mr. Johnson was approved as the new superintendent or not approved at all. The C.P.D should shrink the amount of discretion the officers have out in the field to limit the amount of rational choice they have. This could limit the amount of racially biased arrests that are made. Limiting officer discretion would be as simple as putting it on a crime-or-not basis. Now while it won't completely stop racism in the department, it will greatly reduce the racist non-crime arrests. DeadMan456
ReplyDeleteI don't know if the amount of racism has always been present within the Chicago PD, or other police departments, or if it has just been made public now. I think the media is a huge problem when it comes to feeding this growing subject of prejudice in police departments. Instead of saying a "white" cop shot an African American man, why don't they leave race out of it and stick to the facts of the crime. Maybe the media could say a police officer shot a young male for (just for an example) armed robbery and resisting arrest. Clearly a crime was taking place and the police officer acted in a way they thought was appropriate. People reading about the crime would focus on the facts and not what the people involved look like. I feel like stories about racism are very popular now. Although it sickens me to hear about the discrimination going on, I can't help but wonder what has happened to create all of the racism. I find it hard to believe that everyone who joins the Chicago PD are automatically racist. Everyone has built in bias, we know that, but I feel like those biases have to be fed to become full out racism. I wonder if there is more crime in the neighborhoods that the majority of minorities live in. Did the police officer's racism grow due to a personal bad experience with a minority? Is the racism due to fear? I think I would be more likely to act before thinking if I were afraid. I would like to know how many African American police officers, or other minority police officers, were involved in the pulling over or arresting of other minorities. I automatically think all of the police officer's the article is referring to are Caucasian but I saw, in the photo, Caucasian and African American officers. I don't think the African American officers are without their own prejudices. I am not excusing any of these officers for the mistreatment of the people they should be protecting and I do think a change needs to be made. I also think that something in the community needs to change too. I don't think anything will improve if it is only one sided. I think it is a good idea to have programs where police officers and the public interact in a positive way and build a more trusting relationship. I really don't want to see a revolution where the public start eliminating the people who have a higher station. I don't think violence and vandalism is the answer. Hadrosaur012
ReplyDeleteFrom a criminal justice stand point. I feel like this is a topic that we are all familiar with because of the justice system can take it's tiles. Other people around the nation can call their police officers racist or maybe say that the entire system is unfair to many other people. It states in the article that "The report reinforces complaints made for decades by African-American residents who have said they were unfairly singled out by officers without justification on a regular basis, then ignored when they raised complaints." I honestly think the police officers of Chicago sort of put their police department to shame. Yea I understand how they are suppose to keep people safe but they are not approaching it properly. For example if I were to go into Chicago and I get pulled over for something petty and ask me if I have any guns in the car and I say no and the officer won't do anything else but if I was African American he might search my car in a hot second. These officers are not doing the proper way to handle someone because they want to accuse someone mainly stating that Chicago PD won't let the residents speak for themselves. It just shocks me that Chicago PD can't keep anyone safe because they are to busy arresting anyone without the proper training they where taught to do. DaBulls456
ReplyDeleteKnowing that a city with a high crime rate is only three hours away from where we live is not something that I am proud of. Chicago, with being high in crime rate, officers should not have any time being biased towards a certain group of people. Chicago has many problems, but one of the problems I believe is that the people that live in the city are mad. Just like Ferguson African Americans are feeling targeted more, which is why more of them are getting convicted of crimes. Since officers are more focused on them, it lets the white Americans get away with more crime making it seem as if African Americans are doing most of the crime. The trust is not there between the people and the police. As we all know that in order to have a successful police department there has to trust within the community. The fact that African American are targeted more does not surprise me that they are mad, and want to be heard when they have riots. Wanting a change of how they are treated, I believe they would treat officers better as well. Sometimes the only way people can be heard is when they do take it to the extreme because it gets noticed more. Media barely shows the good, but when it comes to the bad they are always all over it. In order for the people to reach out, doing something bad might be the only way to do it.
ReplyDeletebamboo456
I agree with what you said here, the people of the city are mad, and rightly so. I think after Ferguson, departments everywhere should have taken a long hard look at their own departments to ensure that they never go that bed. Ferguson should have been a wake up call, and it's scary that big cities didn't get the hint. Piglet456
DeleteIt is incredibly sad to see that in a day and age such as today, racism still exists. Although there is one thing I really do not agree with about these statistics - being that many people are complaining about all police departments and their "racist behavior." Police departments all over the nation are being questioned and judged for the behaviors of a few poor cops in a few cities. There are people all over the world who preform their job poorly, but because the police force is in the public eye so much, a minuscule amount of poor police officers can allow the media a field day. The real problem lies there; the media controls everything that the public believes to be true. Because the media finds it easier to show the negatives of life rather than positives, it would appear that racism is an increasingly large issue in Chicago - although, is it possible that some officers in Chicago, and larger cities, are simply abusing power and executing their jobs poorly? Something to think about. JimHalpert012
ReplyDeleteEverything in this article is true and nothing new to me. Chicago's police force is notorious for using unnecessary force, brutality, and verbal abuse, not only to African Americans but to everyone who they see as a criminal. I'm not sure entirely if it is them being "racist" but rather the police having a bias and making assumptions. There are many factors that contribute to the unjust behavior towards black citizens though. One is the officers experiences. The crime rate and gang violence is typically higher for those who are African American. Because of this fact, the entire race is often stigmatized by officers as a deviant group. The stereotype lives not only in the police force, but the medical field, and businesses. If officers believe that African Americans are more likely to be committing a crime, they may think it is right to target the group specifically. All of this is very wrong and dehumanizing. I can not imagine living on the South side and being worried constantly that I was the POLICES next target. Just walking down the street would be terrifying. These citizens would not feel safe even in their own homes. Out of their fear comes hate. They resent the police force for the harm being done to the community and the lack of adequate help received. It's obvious that the voice of African Americans in Chicago has been doused by the police. Cops are trying to silence these individuals so they don't get in trouble. The police are supposed to protect ALL people, not select a few and leave out others. Police brutality is awful and immoral. Unless completely necessary, a police should not be physically assaulting an individual. They are supposed to have a reason for pulling someone over or detaining someone. Now, the Chicago PPD seems to believe they are above the law. Breaking the law in an attempt to enforce the law is still breaking the law by all means. I hope that an efficient way to rid the force of bias is created soon. -leafy012
ReplyDeleteI was saddened by this article. Within two paragraphs this article was already saying such things as “C.P.D.’s own data gives validity to the widely held belief the police have no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color,” I would love to say that, that is not true. The fact of the matter is, cops, no matter how professional they can be all have some type of bias. It only takes one bad apple in the police department to act on those biases and the whole department, and eventually police as a whole get labeled as racist. Unfortunately, the where the C.P.D was concerned, it was not just one bad apple, the whole department was singling out African Americans unfairly and ignoring complaints from them.I think it is good that the D.O.J. is looking into the department after the shooting of an African American 16-year old, but with all the statistical evidence of how poorly the department treats African Americans, this department should have been looked into a long time ago. Piglet456
ReplyDeleteAs the article states, the make up is a third white, a third black, and a third latino in Chicago. If blacks made up 72% of street stops last year we need to be looking at the officers we are hiring. What color are they, is the diversity in our department representing the diversity of the city, where did the officers grow up at, did they have a chance to grow up around mixed races? If white officers who grew up in neighborhoods that were mainly white, and therefor went to schools that were also mainly filled with white people, and then also played football, dated, bonded and interacted with white people for the majority of their youth, then what can we expect of them when they become officers? Their entire life has been spent among people of the same color, and they have no doubt heard bad things of other cultures and races. When they get their 2 years degree from their community college, and become officers it will be their first time thrown into an area where they actually have to communicate and interact with people of separate races. Body cams were mentioned in the article, and although they seem like a good idea with all of the sketchy details the police give about incidents, they shouldn't be needed. If an officer needs a body cam in order to tell the truth than he shouldn't be an officer.
ReplyDelete-Leilani789
I was not surprised by the unfortunate, but necessary findings of the most recent report on the Chicago Police Department. People of color have complain about the problem of discrimination for decades and only now do they actually have proof of how bad it truly is. I believe that because of the higher arrest rates of African American men compared to the rates of their Caucasian counterparts, this is the cause of the higher recidivism rates too. Not only are black males just in general more likely to get arrested than whites males, but after that first arrest their chances of getting arrested a second time increase even more. Discrimination in Chicago is nothing new, but hopefully through this report elected and appointed officials will be more willing to work together to reform the Chicago criminal Justice system. There next move should be to educate their officers about how to properly deal with biases and thoroughly investigating past complaints on officers. From there I do believe it would be in the best interest of their police department to voice a public apology to the citizens of Chicago. After the apology the department can begin to make programs designed to rebuild the relationship between itself and the community it serves. Scooby789
ReplyDeleteDeviant behavior is bound to be a problem in Chicago with the unfair treatment that is going on. When we learn that African Americans are being done wrongly even though they are equal with two other races in Chicago we have to expect it. There is going to be a lack of trust, and a lack of submission. Not only are the older generations being thrown back into a time of racial injustice, but new generations are learning from these generations not to trust the police. If the new generation can't trust the police than who can they go to with their issues? What Chicago needs is a good community policing program. This way the new generation would be able to grow up with a good image of the P.D. but also so that the older generation could possibly learn to trust them again.
ReplyDelete-Leilani012
Welcome to “Chiraq”! As early as 1982 citizens of Chicago couldn’t possess a handgun legally. A ‘ban’ was passed that made it illegal to have a handgun, period! This would obviously reduce the crime rate and blood spilt by reducing the amount of guns right? O.o O.k. so give all the bad guys guns and put them on the streets with all the unarmed sheeple. This doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where this will go. Enter some cat named McDonald. S.C.O.T.U.S through McDonald vs City of Chicago (2009-2010) declared that “keep and bear arms” is protected by the 2nd Amendment. Those Supreme court justices, though. Now handguns were allowed back in the hands of law abiding citizens. I’m not good at math BUT, 27 years of gangs and criminals running the streets doesn’t get reversed overnight. Neighborhoods destroyed, whole generations of people hunted down while they sit in their homes and walk the streets they live on. The poorest neighborhoods are terrorized the most by these criminals with the guns. Drugs and crime move openly in these communities. They are destroyed and in the rubble more opportunities for crime are created. This is a cycle. Big ‘hits’ don’t happen to the folks who live on Michigan Ave. unless they were ‘just minding their own business’ on the wrong part of town. The homicide rate is high in ‘Chiraq’ but doesn’t touch East St. Louis, IL. Why? No idea. I haven’t even got to the Chicago Police Dept. yet.
ReplyDeleteIn an attempt to delineate Chicago’s primary problem: Imagine a beaker, drop a large population of people in there (make it tight)/now add limited resources/sprinkle it with poverty and some of the ‘entitled’/Put a drop of division in there/and a dash of ignorance/salt it all with some fear/oh, and a limited amount of firearms only accessible to the criminal element. And POOF. A recipe for disaster. A breeding of fear, hatred, and ignorance. Now put this recipe in the hands of local/state government who do things like abolish the death penalty. Thank you Pat Quinn for taking the strongest form of deterrence against the crime of murder and flushing it down the toilet……into your kelly green river. Here is your sign Pat. Feed this recipe to the police officers of Chicago now. The good ones and the bad ones, Powder Keg! Everyone on the force wants to go home to their families, etc. Whatever. But everyone is chewing on this recipe of garbage. It’s not enough to tolerate each other any longer. There needs to be cohesion. Back in my 20’s I used to think that racism would eventually get ‘aged out’ of the system. I was an idiot. I believe that the presence and severity is decreased. Maybe it’s just gotten better at hiding or disguising itself. I don’t know. Just like all the hot topics seem to be losing steam or replaced by new age problems. Pushing knobs of the media machine, we consume what we are given through our idiot boxes. People evolve as a society. Devolving is for states that do not honor a democracy. Racism is taught by families and cultural belief systems of people around the world. It’s taught. So unlearn it. Chicago Police Department. Needs restructured. Granted you’re not going to be able to get rid all the ‘good ol’ boys’ because they are in like a tick. BUT they will age out. New blood that feeds off a different recipe will eventually take over. In the mean time we need to educate ourselves and become empathetic with each other. Create a system of checks and balances for C.P.D. Enough to stop drawing lines and coloring them in. This article is a hate piece. Having a platform this big and this is what it is used for. To keep everyone glued to the problem on the surface and not the iceberg underneath. There is corruption on every level in Chicago. The unfortunate part of this is they were elected. I don’t even pretend to know how to fix the C.P.D. All I know is that bad guys with guns are stopped by good guys with guns. Bad guys don’t stop until they are stopped.
Doberman789
This was a very frustrating article to read especially because it is current and happening in our state. We discussed in class one day how cops should not be cops if they cannot overcome their implicit biases and work on them. I think the C.P.D. is a perfect example of why it is so important to do more screening processes when hiring officers. Although they go through written, physical, psychological, and polygraph tests to get the job, I think that it would be beneficial to make them take the implicit bias tests Harvard created that we took for class. Then, based on their results and their biases, they should either be completely denied (if they have a strong bias against a certain type of person) or at the very least, put on a waiting list and an education list to overcome their bias and make sure to re-test them before hiring them on to the department. The problem seems to be like someone else mentioned: We need to take a closer look at the people that are being hired to do this job. It is very clear that many people sign themselves up to do a job that they are incapable of doing FAIRLY. The article mentioned that white, black, hispanic people each make up about one-third of the population in Chicago. However, 74% of the 404 people shot by Chicago police between 2008 and 2015 were black. This does not even come close to being an accurate representation based on the population. If black people are only making up one-third of the entire population, why is it that nearly 3/4 of the people being shot at by the police are black?! C.P.D needs to make changes in the way that they are screening their employees. As I said, I think that it would be helpful to test them on their values, racism, implicit biases, etc. in order to get an understanding of how they feel about people that are different than them. I grew up in a small town, without a lot of diversity, but when I went to college, I had to learn how to work with and communicate with people that were different than me. It is part of being an adult, and part of being a human being. Although we may all have some implicit biases, people interested in this career should at least have to have their implicit biases assessed and improved before ever being hired onto a police department. Cards789
ReplyDeleteThis article made me very sad to think that things like this still occur and people turn a blind eye to it. Or maybe just don’t care. And to think that it’s forces on the inside that are hurting people makes it even worse. The people of Chicago have been crying out for help but they don’t trust the people who say they are going to protect the anymore because of the bad events that have happened. I’m not saying that all police officers are bad but there are a lot of bad ones who are racist and just do not care about anyone else’s well-being. At the end of the article they question what they can do to change the things that are happening in their community and not just concerning the police staff. I think that the answer to that question will be a long process for either side, there are a lot of people who have been hurt, traumatized, and killed by the police based on false accusations that had been filed carelessly. So people have put all policemen in a generalized category in thinking that they are all bad. So I think the police officers need to reach out even if people don’t except them. This is a definite healing process for everyone. Believe012
ReplyDeleteThis article was very upsetting to read, and it is sad to think about these sort of things that seem to still be occurring all to often. I also feel like some of these things are just brushed off and forgotten about. It was also sad that this incident came in between a change of who was going to be the superintendent. It is really tough to because I don't believe that you should be aloud to be a policemen without them making sure that there is no real bias in your background or anything of that nature. Honestly reading all of this and being frustrated and upset in the end it really does not surprise me I think that this happens a lot more than people think, and that is awful to say but I think that this is a daily thing in the U.S. This is something that could greatly affect a city like peoria because when you think about it we are not that far away from where we are living. This news will be seen by more people here than out in California. It will hit home a little harder for people here and then they will dislike the police here, and there is not much that the police can do to change their mindset from what they have seen in Chicago. This was an awful article to read and saddens me to think about what happened not to far from here.-Bengals012
ReplyDeleteThis report came at a time where police are already being looked at under a microscope and people are demanding change. The report even stated that the distrust in the Chicago Police Department was justified. All over the country it seems like minorities are being targeted even in cities primarily made up of minorities. The police force needs to be a representation of the community it serves, and I don’t mean that it should be all black people or all white people, but it should represent community values as a whole. Community policing is especially important in cities where crime is high because it makes the citizens feel safe coming to the police with any issues they are having. Racism has no place in a police force, period. Any biases should be forgotten as soon as the uniform is put on, because like it or not, you are there to protect everyone in your community. Everyone has biases, there’s no way around it, but as a police officer it is important to remember that you are there to protect and serve, and if you can’t do it there will always be someone who is more than willing to do it instead.
ReplyDeleteBlues456
“The report reinforces complaints made for decades by African-American residents who have said they were unfairly singled out by officers without justification on a regular basis, then ignored when they raised complaints.” This goes without saying America still holds its roots in racism. Sadly, this has also contributed to our police forces due to us all being human. These results in regard to Chicago PD, specifically have had the public feel as though police presence is no longer wanted. The police have adopted an attitude that has tainted the department, which has turned the community into the problem while failing to see the reason for this failure. Corruption, is rampant to the point where complaints that are formed formally and according to the procedures that are set have gone unsolved. As an officer of the law, there isn’t much wiggle room in who gets what. Contextualization and understanding go a long way with respect being pivotal with interactions with members of the community.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good idea to reference the Laquan McDonald case, because the unrest has always plagued Chicago residents. When the shooting took place however, this was an event that allowed for people to have their voices heard. It no longer matters what a person of color does, because the media will present it in a way that perceptions become skewed and blinded to the real underlying issues in these communities. Taking steps to resolve these tensions may not come anytime soon, race and crime are not the same, no one race is better than another nor any sexual orientation. Many people have their own perceptions of what is good and bad, though the law tends to be more black and white in regards to the way society is operated.
Palmdaddy789
"C.P.D's own data gives validity to the widely held belief the police have no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color,... Stopped without justification, verbally and physically abused, and in some instances arrested, and then detained without counsel-that is what we heard about over and over again." This quote from the article is very blunt, but it makes it very clear what is going on in the Chicago police department. This report reminds me a lot of the one that was developed in Ferguson last year. Both cities police department faced a lot of controversy following the deaths of and African american individual. Both reports had the same things about being stopped without reason and verbally and physically abusing African american individual. It is crazy to think that 74% of the 404 people shot by the CPD between 2008-2015 were black. Even 72% of random stops on the street by the police were black as well. The worst part is that its not only happening in chicago. It was found to be happening in ferguson and if the new york city police department is ever investigated, i am almost certain it will be happening there as well. And this is not just happening in major cities, its certainly happening in smaller towns and cities all over the country and the world. I liked how the report wants to get rid of the independent police review authority which is a program that oversees the more serious claim of police misconduct. This was found to not carry out meaningful discipline for those charged with misconduct and to favor the police in these cases. Chicago is in desperate need to implement community into how they police. Getting together and knowing the community you are working in gains the trust of the citizens that live there and decreases the chances of another shooting like the one in ferguson happening again.
ReplyDeleteCountryGirl789
As someone who is going into law enforcement it baffles me that we still have cops out here like this. Especially in my own state. Racism should not be tolerated especially within a community that has a large percentage of blacks within it. I know people make claims and lie when it comes to police officers but this is believable. With all of the shootings that happen daily, these officers are probably scared they will be next. But referring to the minorities is no way to handle the situation. It is not like these cops are old racist people that have been on the force since the '60s, so I wonder what makes them do such arrogant actions. It obviously is not one person doing it and there is always two sides to a story. So I would really enjoy to hear their side and what makes them think they should be treating the colored individuals differently. Chicago is also a very large city with a bunch of different race groups. So they probably see a car with a bunch of colored people and automatically assume they are not up to any good. No one can really know unless we talk face to face with one of these officers who are being accused of it
ReplyDeleteIbanez789.
In sociology we have learned about group think and deviance. Relating those two subjects to this is actually pretty easy. To start out deviance is all around Chicago. I have only been to Chicago one time, but from all of the stories I hear, I think everyone has a pretty good idea that there is always something bad going down there. So far in this year there has been 252 people shot there, and we are only almost 5 months into the year. People just do not shoot someone for no reason. It is because of the deviance they have surrounded by them. Group think is a big one as well because we can relate this to both sides, the cops and bad guys. Cops are trained by there field training officer when hired. Those guys have worked there for awhile and know the ends and outs of the streets. Where do you think these police learned to behave like this? That would be my guess for sure. Now relating this to the misbehaved citizens we can talk about gang members or gang affiliated people. It is pretty much self explanatory, you have the leader that makes decisions and it results to the other people without knowledge to react and make bad decisions.
ReplyDeleteIbanez012
I honestly feel that no matter how hard we try racism will always exist. People pass values and other things down to the next generation and I just feel as if there will never be a time where racism doesn't not exist. Sociology has taught us things such as deviance and leadership that after learning, I'm able to get a better view of things. Maybe there is poor quality of leadership within the police world, but there could also be self thinking as these awful things take place. It's crazy how now a days and how technology is that now we can see these racial things actually brought to life and even though justice is not always served the issue was brought in front of the whole world to see. With that being said its sad that every time something happens to the black community we run to racism. It seems to always be the first thing we think that happens when we hear the news involving someone of the other race was involved. There is lots and lots of work that needs to take place in this world involving all parties if we want this world to become a better place. Pinky012
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately with big police departments in big cities, there is a lot of possibility for corruption, especially if they have been practicing corruption for years. In the case of Chicago PD, if the people that oversee the officers in each department are okay with or endorse the behavior of the officers, not much will ever change. It is hard to internally change an organization if your views are the majority. Even if the PD has some great cops, it may be hard for them to act like good upstanding people if they are in company that is a majority corrupt. Police corruption is an unfortunate reality in many cities, not just Peoria. It is important to consider this as an issue that we may all face someday if we move to larger cities. This PD is not the only PD that is corrupt and has issues, I would even bet money there are worse departments that exist right now in terms of police corruption. The reason this is important to consider is because we need to be mindful of the people we elect that get power over PD and also to be mindful of when people are leading a charge against corruption in the PDs. Many police officers are good people but it is definitely not an infallible group. Moot012
ReplyDeleteSomething that caught my attention in here was the negative attitude from some of Chicago's leadership. The opinion of them not following through and this situation not getting any better. At least that's how I took some comments. That's not what the public needs to hear. They need to see some changes and they need to hear some positive attitudes. Not lies, but someone who is standing up for them and following through. It only takes one good or bad act to be witnessed and then followed to make change. If everyone is authority says things will be different when the people change their ways, and everyone in the public says they will change their ways when authority treats them better, nothing will change. Whether the authority figures want to take it or not, it is their responsibility to figure out how to start the change. People look up to them and they should. They are leading us. Chicago needs to look at what other large cities are doing that is working. Why are they not succeeding? Because they haven't put forth the effort. They've blamed it on the people. It doesn't work that way. The public can stand up and make change too, and maybe that is what they are doing with the murder rate increasing and crime increasing. They are speaking out. Not in a good way, but maybe the only way they know how. They are reacting to their environment and the leadership (that includes the police officers) need to respond with something other than quick judgements, presumptions, and punishments. Purple012
ReplyDeleteThe findings of this particular article do not startle nor surprise me not one bit.The special undercover task force found over 100 things that were wrong with this one particular department and the acts and attitudes they displayed toward minorities within the community. I feel that this type of look is very sad for the Chicago Police Department (CPD) as a whole. For many reasons yet one that stood out to me in particular is the high crime rate. Cops have all the crime in Illinois happening right there in Chicago and instead of helping the problem they are apart of the problem. Why? This is saddening so much of to "Serve and Protect." As a community you think that the cops are there to help, save, and serve the community as a whole. Though over time the respect for many officers has changed. Children have a entirely different preconception of cops and wanting to be an officer when they get older has changed. I have witnesses many black children get scared and cry when he or she sees a cop car coming down the street. Last month I seen a 7 year old black boy drop to his knees crying with his hands in the air, screaming "Please don't shoot me." We have seriously got to do better. If you don't really want to serve and protect your community this is not the job for you, if you do not like a certain ethnicity or sexual orientation of people, again this is not the job for you. Many people get into certain career to let off and abuse certain biases that they have for certain people in a legal manner, many feel that it is a cover-up. This was a pretty bad situation if the Civil Liberties Union had to get involved. It may be worse than they are advertising to the public. Yet as long as they can correct the problem I will respect their approach. Surely this is not an easy situation to interpret or digest. Because though all these negative points came out and were made there are still some good cops within the department. However the bad cops reflect the department as a whole they make all cops look bad, no matter how honest and loyal the good ones are. I would like to know how long will the department take to mend things over or will they ever be mended? Respectively speaking many things that are happening behind the scene should be a better approach used in the forefront. Meanwhile the unnecessary brutality and killing needs to stop. Gain the trust back of the community become apart of the community because great things can be done when the two come together. Forensics123
ReplyDeleteChicago being the one of the largest police departments in the united states, these types of issues within the department should not be happening. I am glad that Chicago police department is trying to implement change in the right direction. In the article they talk about there being more then 100 specific changes being made. It blows my mind that a police department is so undermanaged that they have to make over 100 different changes. The numbers of statistics towards African American people in the city where extremely higher then they should be. Upwards in the 75 percentage in regards to African Americans. 3 out of every 4 people the police officers used a Taser on were African Americans. To me reading this article it is extremely clear that there is a huge problem in Chicago. Chicago police department has a long road ahead of them to fix the damage that police officers have created in the city of Chicago, but as long as the right leadership is set in place for all the officers to mold and learn from the Chicago police department will do great as long as the officers follow good leadership and use good judgment towards the people of Chicago.
ReplyDeleteGRUNT123
Chicago is one of the largest cities in the United States. They also have one of the largest police departments and by that their Police Department should be one of the most diverse. They need people who understands the people. The citizens say that they don't even do anything wrong but they still feel like they are getting treated like criminals. Chicago is also rattled with so many different gangs that makes it very dangerous. Just the first two months of the year there were around 300 shooting. Those officers are going out there scared for their life not knowing if they will make it home that night or not. These officers need to be on high alert 24/7. The stress that these officers are under has to be damaging emotionally and physically. Then again the citizens feel like they are criminals no matter what they do. The police officers need to be able to understand what these citizens are going through. The problems with the gangs are not only stressful for the police but the innocent people living in the area. Godzilla012
ReplyDeleteWith Chicago being the second largest department it isn't a big surprise with there being racism in it. Yet you'd expect the C.P.D to be more mindful of what goes on in their department. With most of the report being about white on black crime, it more likely is tied to the veteran officers. Most of whom probably joined the C.P.D when there were still racial tensions. So then you wonder if there was racial discrimination against the black officers in the department as well. With older officers in the department who already have possible racially biased views, it can not only affect the community by using these biases in the field, but it can rub off on the younger officers and affect their job as a police officer. Any officer that is of family to an older officer may also be influenced through the family life as well. If a younger officer grew up in a racist household, he will bring that mentality into his profession, which will then lead to racially biased arrests. Most of the newer officers would be more in tune to the culture because they grew up in the racially diverse society and know how they interact with each other. It helps more when the officer may be white but grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood and has the same ethnicity as the people who live there. But if an officer grew up in an all white neighborhood with a small amount of racism in that community, that officer may not understand the circumstances that go on in those inner city areas. Now, the department should really screen their officers to see their background and see if they have any biases whether its race, gender, or age, and give them training to handle situations that go against their bias or get rid of the bias all together. DeadMan012
ReplyDeleteIt surprises me that in such a large city that is quite diverse that racism is so prominent. After that teen had gotten shot there were so much stuff on Facebook about how black lives matter, and how the police officer was in the wrong. I don’t know many of the details behind it so I am not going to say he was right or wrong but why not say that all lives matter. About a week and a half after it all went down there started to be post about how all white people should die. It is a little ridiculous that in such a short amount of time a few very Facebook active people would go from supporting on culture for being discriminated against to wanting all the other cultures to die. Just this weekend we were told a sorry of how a young woman that was almost nine months pregnant was involved in a car crash and arrested the chances of surviving a traumatic cardiac arrest is literally next to none, but her baby was so close to being delivered that they still worked her so save that unborn often baby sometimes referred to as un important or unwanted. TAGTaylor33012
ReplyDeleteSince we are all aware of the depressing fact of racism controlling what we think or assume about people, something needs to be done about it. The article talks about "minorities" being stopped/arrested a lot more often. These accusations on people of other cultures or races is very unfair. The article then goes on to say these people, once released or taken into custody, couldn't speak about what they encountered and how it was unfair. I believe everyone has a right to speak what they believe and talk about the situation they were in, especially in a legal matter! You cant just take one side of the story and start dealing out sentences! There are many corrupt people in this world and they wont always be "minorities". Which is another astounding fact! The make up of cultures in this area are heavily populated! Whites, blacks and hispanics make up one third of the population! If we could look at everyone as equal instead of, that guys skin color is different so he must be up to something, the justice system would have a much better outcome. Twal012
ReplyDelete