U.S. Attorney General Will Come To Chicago To Release Police Investigation Findings
By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jan 12, 2017 9:02PM
Attorney General Loretta Lynch / Getty Images / Photo: Chip Somodevilla
The U.S. Justice Department is on the eve of releasing the findings of a year-long investigation into the Chicago Police Department, which will likely describe constitutional rights violations made by Chicago police.
The Sun-Times is reporting that U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch will be in Chicago Friday morning to announce the findings herself alongside her colleague Vanita Gupta, who heads the Justice Department's civil rights division, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon.
Fardon is the federal prosecutor for northern Illinois. Emanuel's participation in the press conference likely signals that the city will sign a court-enforceable "agreement in principle" to address the findings of the report, as opposed to disputing them.
The DOJ report comes amid speculation that a Trump administration will not be interested in scrutinizing city police departments like Chicago's that face accusations of misconduct. For example, PEOTUS Donald Trump's Attorney General appointee Jeff Sessions told a Congressional committee at his Wednesday confirmation hearing that he believes low police morale is to blame for Chicago's gun violence problem. The Justice Department's effort to release its report on Chicago and find some closure with city officials before President Barack Obama leaves office makes sense, given the lack of clarity around Trump's plans to "fix" Chicago's crime problem by talking to a guy he knows and using the federal government to boost police morale—with no mention of reforming troubled police departments.
Meanwhile, Chicago Police Union President Dean Angelo Sr. told the Sun-Times that Emanuel shouldn't sign an agreement with the DOJ before the findings are released.
“No one should agree to anything,” Angelo said of talks between the city and the feds. “At this stage, it’s a report on their findings and their study. It’s not a mandate. It’s nothing that anyone should be jumping to agree to unless they already have it. And if they already have it, how do they have it when no one else has it? Where is the transparency and professionalism related to that? I don’t get it at all.”
Angelo did not immediately respond to Chicagoist's requests for comment this afternoon.