December 1, 2015
By Bill Ruthhart, Hal Dardick and John Byrne
Chicago Tribune
Mayor Rahm Emanuel (click here) on Tuesday announced he has dismissed Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy,
citing a lack of public trust in the police leadership in the wake of
the high-profile shooting that eventually led to a white officer being
charged with first-degree murder in the death of a black teen shot 16
times in a Southwest Side street last year."Superintendent
McCarthy knows that a police officer is only as effective as when he
has the trust of those he serves," Emanuel said at a City Hall news conference where he appointed a task force to look at police accountability.
Emanuel said he and McCarthy on Sunday began discussing the future of the Police Department and "the undeniable fact that the public trust in the leadership of the department has been shaken and eroded."
"This morning, I formally asked for his resignation," said Emanuel, who said McCarthy can be proud of his record. "Now is the time for fresh eyes and new leadership to confront the challenges the department and our community and our city are facing as we go forward."...
Deep seated corruption has a life of it's own. It is safe to say Chicago has a problem that needs to be addressed. Some times a leader of such a city has to find the time and incident to bring about scrutiny and change. I think Mayor Emanuel has to lead Chicago to a renewal of law enforcement. He has had some terrible problems with police problems, including the manipulation of police statistics. It is time Mayor Emanuel clean house and find people worthy of their salary.
...On October 28, a pathologist ruled (click here) the death of Tiara Groves a homicide by “unspecified means.” This rare ruling means yes, somebody had killed Groves, but the pathologist couldn’t pinpoint the exact cause of death.
Given the finding of homicide—and the corroborating evidence at the crime scene—the Chicago Police Department should have counted Groves’s death as a murder. And it did. Until December 18. On that day, the police report indicates, a lieutenant overseeing the Groves case reclassified the homicide investigation as a noncriminal death investigation. In his writeup, he cited the medical examiner’s “inability to determine a cause of death.”
That lieutenant was Denis Walsh—the same cop who had played a crucial role in the alleged cover-up in the 2004 killing of David Koschman, the 21-year-old who died after being punched by a nephew of former mayor Richard M. Daley. Walsh allegedly took the Koschman file home. For years, police officials said that it was lost. After the Sun-Times reported it missing, the file mysteriously reappeared....
The cover-ups need to stop with better law enforcement for the city. Firing the Chicago police commissioner is just the beginning and not the end.
Emanuel said he and McCarthy on Sunday began discussing the future of the Police Department and "the undeniable fact that the public trust in the leadership of the department has been shaken and eroded."
"This morning, I formally asked for his resignation," said Emanuel, who said McCarthy can be proud of his record. "Now is the time for fresh eyes and new leadership to confront the challenges the department and our community and our city are facing as we go forward."...
Deep seated corruption has a life of it's own. It is safe to say Chicago has a problem that needs to be addressed. Some times a leader of such a city has to find the time and incident to bring about scrutiny and change. I think Mayor Emanuel has to lead Chicago to a renewal of law enforcement. He has had some terrible problems with police problems, including the manipulation of police statistics. It is time Mayor Emanuel clean house and find people worthy of their salary.
...On October 28, a pathologist ruled (click here) the death of Tiara Groves a homicide by “unspecified means.” This rare ruling means yes, somebody had killed Groves, but the pathologist couldn’t pinpoint the exact cause of death.
Given the finding of homicide—and the corroborating evidence at the crime scene—the Chicago Police Department should have counted Groves’s death as a murder. And it did. Until December 18. On that day, the police report indicates, a lieutenant overseeing the Groves case reclassified the homicide investigation as a noncriminal death investigation. In his writeup, he cited the medical examiner’s “inability to determine a cause of death.”
That lieutenant was Denis Walsh—the same cop who had played a crucial role in the alleged cover-up in the 2004 killing of David Koschman, the 21-year-old who died after being punched by a nephew of former mayor Richard M. Daley. Walsh allegedly took the Koschman file home. For years, police officials said that it was lost. After the Sun-Times reported it missing, the file mysteriously reappeared....
The cover-ups need to stop with better law enforcement for the city. Firing the Chicago police commissioner is just the beginning and not the end.
