Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Friday that he is abolishing the agency that currently investigates police misconduct in Chicago and replacing it with a civilian department that he said will have more independence and resources to do its work.
CBS Chicago station WBBM reported Emanuel’s announcement came a month after a task force recommended the move in a report that said police in the nation’s third-largest city have “no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color” and have alienated blacks and Hispanics for decades by using excessive force and honoring a code of silence.
“My goal is to bring safety to every community, through building trust in our police department,” Emanuel wrote in an op-ed expected to appear in Sunday’s Sun-Times. “That requires creating a new system for police accountability and oversight.”