@chicagotribune: 'This isn't about a stunning, isolated event. Zoom out,' via @Trib_ed_board https://t.co/ZoEmy53oYX https://t.co/41LYt4Y00X

 

The system should have identified Van Dyke as a ticking time bomb. IPRA records show he was named in 17 citizen complaints — including three alleging excessive force — since 2006. All but two of them have been resolved, and none resulted in discipline.

This will cost Rahm and McCarthy big time

How Chicago tried to cover up a police execution

 

“The real issue here is, this terrible thing happened, how did our governmental institutions respond?” Kalven said. “And from everything we’ve learned, compulsively at every level, from the cops on the scene to the highest levels of government, they responded by circling the wagons and by fabricating a narrative that they knew was completely false.” To him this response is “part of a systemic problem” and preserves “the underlying conditions that allow abuse and shield abuse.”

 

In April, the Chicago Tribune revealed Van Dyke’s name and his history of civilian complaints—including several brutality complaints, one of which cost the city $500,000 in a civil lawsuit—none of which resulted in any disciplinary action. In May, Carol Marin reported that video from a security camera at a Burger King on the scene had apparently been deleted by police in the hours after the shooting.

 

“This case shows the operation of the code of silence in the Chicago Police Department,” said Futterman. “From the very start you have officers and detectives conspiring to cover up the story. The question is, why are they not being charged?”

 

Van Dyke’s history “also shows what happens when the police department consistently chooses not to look at patterns of abuse complaints when investigating misconduct charges,” he adds. This failure “is one of the reasons an officer like Van Dyke has an opportunity to execute a 17-year-old kid.”

 

Rather than acknowledging the systemic failures, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is now trying to frame the issue as the action of one bad officer, as the Tribune reports. “One individual needs to be held accountable,” he said Monday.

 

Kalven calls Emanuel’s “reframing” of the narrative “essentially false.” He points out that “everything we know now, the city knew from Day One. They had the officers on the scene. They knew there were witnesses. They had the autopsy, they had the video…. They maintained a false narrative about those events, and they did it for a year, when it could have been corrected almost immediately….They spent a year stonewalling any calls for transparency, any information about the case.”

They need to seriously consider obstruction charges or something for the cops who erased the surveillance footage at the Burger King.

And for the ones who helped fabricate the initial cover-up story. The rot runs up to the top on this one.

This will should cost Rahm and McCarthy big time

 

FTFY

Alvarez's explanation for why it took over a year, that it's different because he's a cop whereas she can charge a gangbanger in a day, was...less than satisfying. Rahm's press conference was also a big train wreck.

Seriously. The trib mentioned something that the city was waiting for a federal review before charging, and I thought that was some sort of thing. But it appears that was not the case.

I was just reading this article from back in March. It makes this whole event even more disturbing. This shows evidence that this is not just a one bad cop situation. It is a deep seeded problem in CPD.

 

http://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/l...-305105631.html

Alvarez's explanation for why it took over a year, that it's different because he's a cop whereas she can charge a gangbanger in a day, was...less than satisfying. Rahm's press conference was also a big train wreck.

 

Tough to tell the truth: we had to wait for the elections to end!

so many incidents have happened in the past few years, but this is the one that by far is the most f***ed up. He will be convicted of murder and a lot of people are gonna be in deep s*** for trying to quiet this

Rahm saying he never saw the footage while authorizing a 5M payout is an interesting position to put yourself in

Sounds like State's Attorney wanted to charge a long time ago but was waiting on the federal investigation to complete. Not sure what value there is in waiting for that, unless they thought the Feds could put together more evidence somehow than their office could.

 

Also, watched the video. Yeah that's murder, completely unjustified.

 

And I agree that Rahm saying he signed off on a $5M settlement without knowing a video existed - when it was Police dash cam and would have to be in the most basic core of evidence - is a bad, bad look.

 

Not only that but he gave his opinion on what the video showed!

 

The Fed investigation had nothing to do with the state's charges. The Feds only look into civil rights issues. That was a complete and utter lie by Alvarez. This was all about political timing.

 

Sounds like State's Attorney wanted to charge a long time ago but was waiting on the federal investigation to complete. Not sure what value there is in waiting for that, unless they thought the Feds could put together more evidence somehow than their office could.

 

Also, watched the video. Yeah that's murder, completely unjustified.

 

And I agree that Rahm saying he signed off on a $5M settlement without knowing a video existed - when it was Police dash cam and would have to be in the most basic core of evidence - is a bad, bad look.

 

Serious question - what's the process for the City to settle cases (I've had dealings with settling cases with cities in a couple states, but never Chicago)? Does it go to the City Council? Would the mayor have his hand in it? How detailed is the presentation?

 

I guess my question here is whether it would be ordinary course for the City of Chicago to sign off on a $5M settlement without knowing there was a video...

Serious question - what's the process for the City to settle cases (I've had dealings with settling cases with cities in a couple states, but never Chicago)? Does it go to the City Council? Would the mayor have his hand in it? How detailed is the presentation?

 

I guess my question here is whether it would be ordinary course for the City of Chicago to sign off on a $5M settlement without knowing there was a video...

 

Usually handled by city attorneys and then they go before the council for approval of anything over 100k. I'd imagine, though I don't know for sure, that the Mayor is in the loop.

 

edit: and they knew there was video. They've always known. I bet the Mayor's office new within a few days. The question was whether the video was ever going to be released to the public.

Edited November 25, 201510 yr by Jenksismybitch

Without the video, the initial fabricated story probably stands and the murderer walks.

Serious question - what's the process for the City to settle cases (I've had dealings with settling cases with cities in a couple states, but never Chicago)? Does it go to the City Council? Would the mayor have his hand in it? How detailed is the presentation?

 

I guess my question here is whether it would be ordinary course for the City of Chicago to sign off on a $5M settlement without knowing there was a video...

 

Unless I'm crazy, this says council knew there was a video: sun times

Edited November 25, 201510 yr by G&T

Unless I'm crazy, this says council knew there was a video: sun times

FYI-bad link. You need to remove an http

Jason Van Dyke's Charging Documents Reveal Just How Massively Full of s*** the Fraternal Order of Police Can Be

I can't even add anything except that the institutional response is horrifying. Our institutions of power have been set up with it being far too difficult for individuals to do the right thing when these situations are in motion.

I can't even add anything except that the institutional response is horrifying. Our institutions of power have been set up with it being far too difficult for individuals to do the right thing when these situations are in motion.

Agreed on all.

 

So, I say this being formerly in law enforcement... it disturbs me when city/county/state governments are so afraid of their own police that they sign contracts with their unions that so fully and easily protect bad cops. I'm all for unions for police, and for those unions to fight for protections, but when those protections get so absurdly huge that it takes an act of Congress to get all the evidence to the right people, it has gone too far.

 

 

Police misconduct cases have cost Chicago over half a billion dollars in the last decade alone.

 

http://www.bettergov.org/news/beyond-burge

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/1119...shooting-victim

 

This is truly heartbreaking. This poor kid has been let down by every single adult in his life. Was it his mother who received the 5 million? Thats pretty messed up that she got money after her kid was taken away from her for abuse more than once and it says he was "a ward of the state" when he was killed. It would be nice to see that money go to helping more kids like Laquan than to his mother.

 

Also, I couldnt find much info about it but it mentions he was sexually abused in foster care and DCFS never investigated. There is so much wrong with this whole situation you dont even know where to begin to try to fix it.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/1119...shooting-victim

 

This is truly heartbreaking. This poor kid has been let down by every single adult in his life. Was it his mother who received the 5 million? Thats pretty messed up that she got money after her kid was taken away from her for abuse more than once and it says he was "a ward of the state" when he was killed. It would be nice to see that money go to helping more kids like Laquan than to his mother.

 

Also, I couldnt find much info about it but it mentions he was sexually abused in foster care and DCFS never investigated. There is so much wrong with this whole situation you dont even know where to begin to try to fix it.

 

Damn I wish I didnt know all the f***ed up facts about this story. Everything about it is just flat out unfair.

 

Ignorance is bliss.