Chicago just missed taking a major step toward reforming the police culture, which in turn could restore some trust in the police and help stem our horrendous murder epidemic.
The single most pernicious aspect of the police culture is its code of silence. It protects the small minority of criminal and brutal police officers, giving them license to repeat their offenses. Worst of all, it turns most of the 95 percent majority of otherwise honest and honorable cops into silent collaborators — sometimes liars and perjurers.
OPINION
At the same time, police complain that lack of cooperation from residents of crime-ridden communities — mainly black and Latino — prevents the police from solving or even preventing shootings. In many cases the community fears gang retribution, but for the most part it stems from basic mistrust of the police, who, everyone understands, are protected by the code of silence.
Thus, “omerta” exists on both sides.
None of this is new stuff, but as more about police omerta comes to light, there’s still not enough sunshine to cleanse it. We need more exposure to begin to end it, but police officialdom, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s new top cop, Eddie Johnson, denies its existence.
A couple of years ago, in a case where an off-duty cop brutally beat a woman bartender, his fellows worked to protect him, but a judge found him guilty and made reference to the code of silence in his written decision. Emanuel’s law department tried unsuccessfully to get the reference removed, fearing it would be invoked in more lawsuits against the police, resulting in more multimillion-dollar settlements.
Then, last year, in the wake of the police execution of Laquan McDonald, a shaken Emanuel referred openly to the code of silence before City Council. Corporation Council Steven Patton now acknowledges the code, but pleads it “doesn’t happen every time or all the time.”
A major breakthrough in public exposure, however, was recently averted in a case dating back to 2011 in which two officers who, working with the FBI, bravely helped convict a corrupt police crew that shook down drug dealers for cash and pinned false cases on those who didn’t pay.
Instead of being lauded as heroes, Officers Shannon Spaulding and Daniel Echeverria were shunned and harassed by their fellow officers and supervisors who threatened their safety because they were “rats.” They sued the city in federal court. As the case was coming to trial a few weeks ago, Emanuel was ordered to appear as a witness to answer penetrating questions about the code.
His testimony would have shed needed light, possibly forcing Johnson to initiate actions to against omerta. Unfortunately, Spaulding and Echeverria settled the case at the last minute and Emanuel did not have to testify. Wasn’t that lucky for him and Johnson?
Currently, Johnson vaguely says he wants officers to report police misdeeds but doesn’t “want them to be ostracized by their fellows,” suggesting “big penalties” for doing so. But he should be ordering clear, tough regulations with consequences — and Emanuel should press him. If they really give a damn about reform.
Political consultant Don Rose writes for the Chicago Daily Observer, where this was posted.
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