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Daley vowed to take control of the Office of Professional Standards after misconduct including two videotaped beatings involving off-duty officers at bars and the indictments of six officers from the Special Operations Section on charges ranging from burglary to armed violence.
The mayor said the change, approved 48-0, "is an important step forward in our ongoing commitment to assure that the people of Chicago have confidence in the conduct of police officers and the process of investigating allegations of misconduct."
Critics, however, said the measure would do little to change the transparency or culture of the Chicago Police Department, which has long been accused of heavy-handed tactics and a closed-ranks attitude over misconduct.
Just this week, Daley's office appealed a federal judge's order to release the names of hundreds of officers who have had 10 or more citizen complaints against them.
Flint Taylor, an attorney who has represented citizens in lawsuits against police, said Daley's oversight will do nothing to protect citizens from wayward officers. He said the Office of Professional Standards "has to be truly independent and it isn't."
[Associated Press;
by Megan Reichgott] |
