Editorial: Despite Jeff Sessions, reform Chicago police force

Follow @csteditorialsJeff Sessions is wrong.

The troubles of the Chicago Police Department go beyond a “few bad actors,” contrary to what the U.S. attorney general said Monday. Rejecting that well-documented fact just makes it harder to reform the department and better fight crime.

We agree with Sessions that the Chicago Police are working less aggressively because morale is down, and this likely is a reason violent crime has soared. But the solution is not to back off making department-wide improvements in training, supervision and accountability, as Sessions would do.

The solution is to transform the department harder and faster, ending a frustrating sense of uncertainty among thousands of officers about what they can and cannot do. They need to know. Only then will the department be able to build better trust with the communities it serves, which is essential to good police work.

Sessions deplores the way the Justice Department has gone to court to force reforms on urban police departments, saying its investigative findings usually are nothing more than an unconvincing collection of “anecdotes.” The Justice Department’s report on the Chicago Police Department, he said Monday, is “not so scientifically based.”

Our first thought is that if Sessions really wants hard numbers, he should consider this: From 2004 through 2015, according to a Better Government Association study, Chicago spent $642 million on court settlements, legal fees and the like because of alleged misconduct by the police.

But we also would invite Sessions to read the Justice Department’s full report, which he acknowledged Monday he has not done.

Yes, the Justice Department report is replete with anecdotes about officers who crossed the line, such as using Tasers on people without justification, failing to call for backup before firing their guns, shooting at fleeing suspects who pose no immediate threat and filing false witness reports. But in each case, the report identifies a larger pattern of misbehavior, moving beyond mere anecdotes, and argues that the root of the problem is the failure of the Chicago Police to follow the best professional practices when it comes to training, supervision and accountability.

It is hard to understand, to cite just one example, why Chicago cops are allowed to wait a full 24 hours before filing a statement after a police-involved shooting. And then, even stranger, officers are allowed to amend that statement after watching any available video of the incident. If an officer is telling the truth as best he can, he does not need a 24-hour cushion or helpful video to get his story straight.

Dean Angelo, president of the city’s largest police union, the Fraternal Order of Police, on Tuesday laughed off such criticisms of the union contract, saying, “Are you kidding me? They are so off-base.”

But nobody is kidding. The criticisms are valid. They go to the heart of questions about the integrity of the Chicago Police.

Now that Sessions is attorney general, there is almost zero chance the Justice Department will pursue a court-ordered consent decree to compel the Chicago Police Department to carry out the recommendations of the report. But Mayor Rahm Emanuel has signaled that he will pursue the recommended reforms nonetheless, saying improved police professionalism and better police work are “heads and tails of the same coin.” We must hold him to that.

Chicago is in crisis. The number of deaths from bullets this year is outpacing the number last year — and last year was a nightmare. We need a more aggressive and effective police force. But we need a force that is more respectful of constitutional rights, as well.

These goals are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, they are one and the same.

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