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Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy

About a photo we could not withhold from you

Photographs can do a number of things. They can help frame a news story or put it into better context. They can convey details and nuances of a story that might otherwise be lost.

But if we don’t know all the facts surrounding a photograph, some things are left open to interpretation. It is why news organizations are careful in considering the images they run and try as hard as possible to detail what is being displayed.

Today on Page 18 and in digital editions, we ran a picture and a story about a shocking photograph that the Chicago Police Department didn’t want anyone to see. It depicts two white police officers posing with rifles standing over a black man on his stomach who has deer antlers on his head. The police have said that the unidentified man lying on the floor was a suspect in a crime.

RELATED: CPD cops posed for photo standing over black man dressed in antlers

It’s an offensive image, so much so that this newspaper had to think long and hard before publishing it today. When two Chicago Police officers pose like hunters with rifles over a black man with deer antlers on his head, a responsible newspaper cannot withhold the image from its readers, especially when you consider that one of the officers, Timothy McDermott, was fired because of the image and is fighting to get his job back. (Jerome Finnigan, the other officer, was sentenced to prison 3½ years ago for leading a robbery ring and other crimes).

As the story states, the photograph was given to the city by federal authorities in 2013, resulting in the police board voting 5-4 to fire McDermott for discrediting the department, disrespecting a citizen and unnecessarily displaying a gun.

The Chicago Police Department did not want to release the photo, citing the privacy of the unidentified man. But a Cook County judge earlier this year denied the city’s request to seal it. The fact that a police officer who was involved in the incident now wants his job back is reason enough to run the photograph. This is an ongoing news story, not just about one officer’s career but about how a big-city police department commits itself — to this day — to the highest professional standards. For us to hold the photo back would have been no more defensible than the police holding it back.

Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy has been making a strong push to rid the department of a legacy of problems that have strained the relationship between the police and minority communities. Among other steps, he and his top lieutenants have embarked on a “listening tour” throughout the city to hear residents’ concerns about the police.

And by all measures, he acted swiftly in dealing with this photograph once he became aware of it. He told the Sun-Times the photo “is disgusting, and the despicable actions of these two former officers have no place in our police department or in our society.’’

Our newspaper has applauded the steps McCarthy has taken to try to clean up the department.

There is a lot we don’t know, including most importantly, the name of the suspect. We also don’t know exactly when the Polaroid photo was taken, though it is believed that the image was snapped at a West Side police station sometime between 1999 and 2003. Was the man forced to pose? Was he coerced into wearing those mocking dear antlers? Was he the involuntary victim of a sick joke or, in his own mind, in on the joke? We exhausted all avenues before printing the story. We don’t know and the police say they don’t know either.

This photograph will offend people, as it offends us. We also know it can be a tool to raise the level of constructive discourse to make our city better.

In the end, that’s what the residents of this great city and this newspaper all want.

Jim Kirk is publisher and editor in chief of the Chicago Sun-Times.

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