February 10, 2016 The Skanner Page 9
News
Critics Contend a Code of Silence Keeps Police from Disclosing Peers’ Abuses
CHICAGO — For more
than a year aft er an of-
fi cer shot and killed a
Black teen named Laquan
McDonald, the Chicago
Police Department had
video footage that raised
serious doubts about
whether other offi cers
at the scene tried in their
reports to cover up what
prosecutors now con-
tend was murder.
Not until 15 months lat-
er was one of those offi -
cers and a detective who
concluded the shooting
was justifi ed put on desk
duty. At least eight other
offi cers failed to recount
the same scene that un-
folded on the video. All
of them remain on the
street, according to the
department.
The lack of swift action
illustrates the diffi culty
of confronting the “code
of silence” that has long
been associated with
police in Chicago and
elsewhere. The obsta-
cles include disciplinary
practices that prevent
the police chief himself
from fi ring problem offi -
cers and a labor contract
that prevents offi cers
BRIAN JACKSON/CHICAGO SUN-TIMES VIA AP, FILE
DON BABWIN
Associated Press
In this Dec. 29, 2015, fi le photo, Chicago Police Offi cer Jason Van Dyke leaves the Criminal Courts Building in
Chicago after pleading not guilty to murder charges in the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
For more than a year after Van Dyke killed McDonald, the Chicago Police Department had video footage
and autopsy results that raised serious questions about whether other offi cers on the scene tried in their
reports to cover up what prosecutors now contend was murder.
from being held account-
able if a video surfaces
that contradicts their tes-
timony.
“If they are not going
to analyze offi cers’ re-
ports and compare them
to objective evidence like
the video, why would the
offi cers ever stop lying?”
asked Craig Futterman,
a University of Chica-
go law professor who
helped force the city to
release the video.
Of the eight offi cers, six
said they did not see who
fi red, and three depict-
ed McDonald as more
threatening than he
appeared. One claimed
the teen tried to get up
with a knife still in his
hand. The footage clearly
showed him falling down
and lying motionless on
the pavement.
Van Dyke, who emp-
tied his entire 16-round
magazine into McDon-
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liefs.
ald, is now awaiting trial
on fi rst-degree murder
charges. He has been
“
stop offi cers from lying
to protect colleagues.
Chicago isn’t the only
major city where offi cers
sworn to tell the truth
are suspected of cover-
ing for each other. In Los
Angeles, three sheriff ’s
deputies were convict-
ed last year of beating a
handcuff ed jail visitor
and then trying to cover
it up. In that case, a plea
bargain with two former
deputies helped prose-
cutors expose what they
said was a code of silence.
The head of Chicago’s
police union dismisses
talk of a code.
“It’s not 1954 anymore,”
Dean Angelo said. “With
cameras everywhere, in
squad cars, on everyone’s
cellphone ... offi cers ar-
en’t going to make a con-
scious eff ort to engage in
conduct that puts their
own livelihoods at risk.”
as lies.
The code of silence also
fi gured into another vid-
eo: footage of off -duty
offi cer Anthony Abbate
pummeling a bartender.
Offi cers who responded
to the 911 call did not in-
clude in their reports the
bartender’s contention
that she was attacked by
an offi cer named Tony,
according to testimony
in federal court. A jury
in 2012 awarded her
$850,000 and concluded
there was a code of si-
lence.
Like other police de-
partments,
Chicago’s
police force has long in-
sisted that it doesn’t tol-
erate dishonesty. When
allegations surface about
offi cers lying in a report,
they are stripped of their
police powers and as-
signed to desk duty pend-
ing the outcome of an
If they are not going to analyze offi cers’ re-
ports and compare them to objective evidence
like the video, why would the offi cers ever stop
lying?
suspended without pay
while the department
tries to fi re him.
City offi cials say they
are cracking down on tra-
ditions associated with
the code and even ques-
tioning applicants for
police superintendent
about how they would
But the scrutiny that
followed
McDonald’s
death reveals a system
that makes it diffi cult
to fi re problem offi cers
and reduces their pun-
ishment or delays it for
months or years aft er
their reports are exposed
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internal probe, depart-
ment spokesman Antho-
ny Guglielmi said.
If the investigation de-
termines the offi cer was,
in fact, dishonest, the de-
partment says it moves,
without exception, to
have that person fi red.
However, unlike New
York, Baltimore and oth-
er cities, Chicago’s police
superintendent cannot
independently dismiss
an offi cer. That decision
belongs to the Chicago
Police Board, whose nine
civilian members are ap-
pointed by the mayor.
It is not unusual for
the board to reject rec-
ommendations of the
superintendent and the
city’s Independent Police
Review Authority, which
investigates police shoot-
ings.
That happened when
former Superintendent
Garry McCarthy recom-
mended sergeant and a
lieutenant be fi red for ly-
ing in their reports about
the accidental discharge
See COPS on page 10
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