Police Brutality Incidents Involving Chicago Cops Detailed at DOJ Forum

Chicago, IL - Calls for police officers to be more frequently drug tested, provided mental health examinations and to be subject to criminal penalties for their actions while in uniform were among the ideas thrown around during a community forum held Thursday night as part of the United States Department of Justice’s civil rights investigation of the Chicago Police Department.

Emotions ran high in a mostly packed theater hall at the Kroc Center in West Pullman. Dozens of speakers shared their experiences with police in Chicago, many providing specific examples of how racial bias and systemic unfairness has plagued the department for decades.

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“This is the only place I get pulled over, handcuffed and searched,” said one Chicago man who has a degree in civil engineering and has studied at multiple school around the United States. “It happens 2-3 times a month.”

Eric Williamson is a former police officer in Atlanta, and says the problem of police “covering up for each other” is nothing there compared to Chicago. Williamson related incidents in Chicago in which he was taken to jail in 1974 for having one headlight out and 12 years later when he was stopped on the East Side for driving a Camaro.

The police officer told him the car “could have been stolen.”

Williamson was the first speaker to suggest mandatory drug testing and mental health evaluations for police officers.

Members of the Chicago Police Department were not present during the meeting. A leaflet from the DOJ indicated the department is facing an investigation into a possible “pattern or practice” of unconstitutional conduct.

But members of the crowd were in an uproar when it was noted that the investigation is a civil one, and that no police officer will be prosecuted regardless of the findings.

“If you are a cop and you are charged with doing something wrong, why can’t they put an orange suit on you like everyone else?” one woman asked. “The police department runs the world like the Red Army here.”

The woman agreed with Witherspoon on the need for more drug tests and background checks.

“That way you are going to know if they are part of the klan or live in Mount Greenwood, where there aren’t any black folks around,” she said.

Others advocated for the creation of a Civilian Police Accountability Council so “people will have control over the police.”

While others pointed out not enough is being done about diversifying the Chicago Police Department.

On the psychological evaluation one must pass in order to become an officer, one commenter said he failed because one of the questions was, “Have you ever slept with your mother?”

“Everyone knows all African-American men have slept with their mother growing up,” he said.

Rachel Davis, who says she has family in law enforcement, describes the experiences her nephew has had with Chicago police...until they found out he is related to a cop.

One incident in Mount Greenwood, she said, involved an officer putting him in a choke block and “putting a gun to his side” after he threw a Coke bottle to the ground.

“He’s pulled over every single weekend for playing music too loud,” the woman said. “These experiences have traumatized him.”

The DOJ said in a leaflet that if it is found there is a pattern of misconduct, they will “develop a plan to eliminate that pattern of practice” and negotiate a plan for police reform with the city of Chicago.