Chicago Police Union Head Says 'Anti-Police Correctness' Is Hindering Cops
By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jun 28, 2016 8:59PM
By Aaron Cynic/Chicagoist
Concerns over police misconduct and accountability are high in Chicago, and so is the city's rate of gun violence. With this in mind, the head of the city's police union told an audience at the City Club of Chicago that "disrespect" against police officers and a climate of "anti-police correctness," are keeping Chicago cops from doing their jobs effectively.
Dean Angelo Sr., president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said in a speech Tuesday afternoon that officers are under undue scrutiny as they try to stymie violent crime and take guns off the streets, according to the Tribune. He's particularly concerned about the public response to a rash of video releases showing Chicago police officers beating and shooting citizens.
Recently, videos depicting a police officer punching a man, punching another man and kicking a man in the head have been in the news, and a new trove of video files released by the city show officers choking and hitting people before and after arresting them. There's also, of course, the disturbing video of disgraced Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke gunning down Laquan McDonald, black teenager, and fatally shooting him 16 times. That video was released by the city after prosecutors sat on it for over a year, and it sparked a wave of police-accountability protests late last year.
"We have an Orlando every month in Chicago, but catch a policeman hitting someone on video—oh, my God!" Angelo said, according to the Tribune, referring to the massacre of nearly 50 people in a nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida.
Video that may depict police misconduct, he added, "It's played over and over and over again until it's embedded in the audience's mind," he said, "As if it's a Super Bowl-winning touchdown."
Chicago is sadly on-pace to log more homicides this year than it has seen in years. Meanwhile, the police department is mired in charges of police misconduct and systemic racism, not to mention a federal Department of Justice investigation into its practices.