Chicago Mayor Emanuel meets with federal officials about police

[December 18, 2015]  By Mary Wisniewski
 
 CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday met with federal officials on their investigation into the city's police, more than three weeks after a video showing the fatal shooting of a black teenager prompted calls for the mayor to resign.

Emanuel's meeting came the morning after a visit by U.S. Justice Department officials with the interim Chicago police superintendent and command staff about policies and practices. The agency said last week that it would look at the police department's use of force as well as accountability systems.

Use of force by law enforcement officers has become a focus of national attention due to a series of high-profile police killings of black men, mostly by white officers in U.S. cities.

Baltimore police also are under federal scrutiny after the death of a black man injured in police custody. A Baltimore jury on Wednesday failed to reach a verdict on one of the six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, resulting in a mistrial.
 

Federal officials meeting the mayor and police this week included Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, and Zachary Fardon, U.S. Attorney for northern Illinois.

Emanuel spokesman Adam Collins said after the meeting on Thursday that the mayor welcomes the investigation "because their work will be an important piece of our efforts to restore trust between residents and the police."

On Nov. 24, the city released the video of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke fatally shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times in October 2014. Van Dyke was charged with murder on the day the video was released.

These actions were followed by almost daily protests, with critics asking why it took 13 months for the city to release the video and for a murder charge to be filed by Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez.

Emanuel has responded by firing his police superintendent, Garry McCarthy, and replacing the head of the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA), which investigates police misconduct. The mayor also apologized for the shooting.

Emanuel initially characterized calls for a civil rights investigation as "misguided," on top of the federal probe already being conducted into the McDonald case, but later pledged the city's cooperation.

Justice Department officials also met this week with community members and organizations, as well as union representatives, the Justice Department said in a statement. It said it met separately with Sharon Fairley, the newly-appointed head of IPRA.

(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Bill Rigby)

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