loretta lynch

Garry McCarthy accuses Loretta Lynch of “lying”

Jan 17, 2017 | WLS-AM Staff

By John Dempsey, WLS-AM News

(CHICAGO) Former Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy is denouncing the U.S. Department of Justice report that accused Chicago Police of abusing citizens, and violating their civil rights.

McCarthy told the John and Ray Morning Show on WLS that the report was rushed, highly political, and unfair, and he also accused Attorney General Loretta Lynch of lying when she said her staffers were unable to reach McCarthy for an interview.

“This is United States Attorney General, on a national broadcast, lying. And I just can’t get by that. I’m sorry. I was raised with too much respect.”

McCarthy says he was always available but that no one from Lynch’s department ever made an attempt to contact him. “And the U.S. Attorney General lying on national TV, plus who’s involved with this? The obviously political bend of this, it just really speaks to the report and I don’t think it’s gonna stand up to scrutiny.”

McCarthy did say he found some things in the D.O.J. report that he agrees with. “You know there are some parts in there that are good. You can’t argue with training. You can’t argue with better supervision, you can’t argue with better policy review. And you can’t argue that CPD has one of the most dysfunctional disciplinary systems in the country. I actually identified that in 2012 and I ran headlong into a wall at City Hall trying to get that changed.”

But overall McCarthy was highly critical of a report that he says was biased against police and used anecdotal information from citizens. “They taint with broad brushes. There’s actually a phrase in there that says that CPD doesn’t care about solving murders of black and Latino men. What type of a statement is that? Where do you get that? And the actual investigation appears to be just a collection of people’s stories. And there’s no real investigation into whether it’s factual, there’s not an opposition position that’s provided, it’s just ‘you say this happened, therefore it happened.'”

President Barack Obama’s administration launched the probe in 2015 after a video showed a white officer fatally shooting black teen Laquan McDonald 16 times. But once President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated this week, his appointees will be in charge, which means there are questions about whether the Federal Government will ever impose discipline on the Chicago Police Department based on the findings of this report.

@ 2017 WLS-AM News

Lynch: “Too Many CPD Officers Shoot People Who Represent No Threat”

Jan 13, 2017 | WLSAM Staff

By Bill Cameron, WLS-AM 890 News

(CHICAGO) The Justice Dept has issued its long-awaited report on the Chicago Police Dept and Bill Cameron says it’s damning.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch came to Chicago to say there is “reasonable cause” to believe what you’ve heard for decades: that too many police officers shoot people who represent no threat and oversight agencies don’t do anything about it.

“There is reasonable cause to believe what you’ve heard for decades,” Lynch said on Friday morning. “That too many CPD officers shoot people who represent no threat and oversight agencies don’t do anything about it.”

Lynch stated that the Chicago Police Department does not give its officers the training to do their jobs “safely, effectively, and lawfully,” and that “it fails to properly collect and analyze data including data on misconduct complaints and training deficiencies.”

The finding suggested that the CPD has not properly reviewed the use of force in a number of incidents to see if it was necessary or could have been avoided altogether.

At her side was Mayor Emanuel promising to negotiate an expensive legally binding, independently monitored consent decree to fix the problems.

“The Chicago Police Department and city of Chicago is already on the road to reform,” Rahm addressed.

Feds to investigate Chicago Police for possible Civil Rights violations

Dec 7, 2015 | WLSAM Staff

By John Dempsey, WLS-AM 890 News

(CHICAGO) U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that the U.S. Department of Justice has officially opened a civil rights investigation of the Chicago Police Department.

The Police department has been under fire for the handling of a case involving black teenager LaQuan McDonald, who was shot and killed by white police officer Jason Van Dyke in October of 2014. Van Dyke has been charged with first degree murder.

Lynch told reporters in Washington, “Today, I’m here to announce that the Department of Justice has opened an investigation into whether the Chicago Police Department has engaged in a pattern or practice of violations of the constitution, or Federal law. We will examine a number of issues related to the Chicago Police Department’s use of force, including it’s use of deadly force, racial, ethnic and other disparities in it’s use of force, and it’s accountability mechanisms”.

Lynch says all citizens of Chicago, “Deserve law enforcement that is effective, responsive, respectful and most importantly constitutional. When community members feel that they are not receiving that kind of policing, when they feel ignored, let down, or mistreated by public safety officials, there are profound consequences for the well being of their communities”.

Mayor Emanuel has been under fire since the release of the McDonald video. Last week he rejected calls for a Federal investigation of Chicago Police, calling it “misguided”. But then one day later Emanuel changed course and said he welcomed the investigation. Monday morning, Emanuel released the following statement:

“I welcome today’s announcement by the Department of Justice and pledge the City’s complete cooperation. Our mutual goal is to create a stronger, better Police Department that keeps the community safe while respecting the civil rights of every Chicagoan. Nothing is more important to me than the safety and well-being of our residents and ensuring that the men and women of our Police Department have the tools, resources and training they need to be effective crime fighters, stay safe, and build community trust.”

In the wake of the release of the McDonald video, Emanuel fired Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. Emanuel has also ousted Scott Ando as the Chief Administrator of the Independent Police Review Authority, which has been criticized for not taking more decisive action against officers accused of misconduct. Emanuel is replacing Ando with Sharon Fairley, who is currently First Deputy and General Counsel of the city’s Office of the Inspector General after having served as an Assistant United States Attorney for eight years.

In addition to the Civil Rights probe Lynch announced, she also confirmed that the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois is investigating the McDonald shooting itself. Chicago U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon, who stood by Lynch at the press conference, refused to elaborate on his investigation, how long it will take, or whether it could result in obstruction of justice charges against the officers who were at the scene of the McDonald shooting. This past weekend, we learned those officers wrote reports that supported Van Dyke’s version of the story that McDonald was charging towards him with a knife, a fact that the video shows did not happen.

The Federal civil rights investigation is similar to ones recently undertaken in other cities, including Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri. It could result in the Chicago Police being forced to operate under the terms of a court order, if the federal probe finds Chicago Police have violated the U.S. Constitution.