Aldermen Grill Police, Union Officials In Hearing
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago's City Council today began its own fact-finding effort into the crisis of confidence involving Chicago Police and introduced an ordinance to require officers to undergo new training in the use of force every year.
The hearing went on until after 9 p.m., lasting more than 11 hours.
CBS 2's Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports Chicago's top cop and the heads of agencies who police the police were all grilled by aldermen who themselves were feeling the heat over the use of deadly force.
They introduced an ordinance requiring an annual four hour refresher course on the appropriate use of force, while also digging into the alleged code of silence. Acting Superintendent John Escalante vowed to end it. FOP chief Dean Angelo said it doesn't exist.
"We have kids, we have bills, we have families; and to think in 2015, with all the cameras that are around, and all the videotaping that's going on, that a police officer is going to risk his livelihood for his family is ridiculous," Angelo said.
Angelo's response drew a heated outburst from West Side Alderman Emma Mitts.
"You've got some bad ones out there and we've got to get rid of them," Mitts said. "Them snakes got to go. We ought to cut their heads off and I don't care if they call themselves police officers."
WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports Sharon Fairley, the newly appointed head of the Independent Police Review Authority, was the first to testify at the joint hearing. She outlined how IPRA investigates allegations of police misconduct.
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Alderman Carrie Austin asked why cases take so long to review. Fairley says she is reviewing the whole process.
"I actually will be looking at the process to make sure that it is as robust as it should be," Fairley said. "With regards to the expediency of our investigations, I know that that is also a concern."
But she frustrated alderman in nearly four hours of testimony when she couldn't immediately answer detailed questions about the job she has held for about four days.
There was sure-footed testimony from Police Board head Lori Lightfoot though, who is on the mayor's task force on police accountability. She tried to reassure aldermen community input won't be ignored.
