City must end shameful history of bad cops now
City must end shameful history of bad cops now
BY CAROL MARIN
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times Columnist
March 28, 2007
Enough already. We don't need one more promise. Or one more policy to protect us from wayward police officers.
Or Police Supt. Phil Cline assuring us last night that he is "disgusted to witness" his cops clobbering innocent citizens and then covering it up.
Chicago, be clear.
The whole world is watching.
From Mexico to Moscow, CNN has shown the international community the shameful videotape of off-duty Chicago Police Officer Anthony Abbate trying to beat the living daylights out of a female bartender less than half his size. In what appears to be an alcohol-soaked rage, Abbate showed us Chicago's Finest at their lowest. And the cops who were called in to stop Abbate's pounding of Karolina Obrycka at Jesse's Short Stop Inn once again cause us to ask whether Chicago Police would rather close ranks to protect a brother officer than protect the public from a crazed cop.
If you had any doubt that some in the Police Department remain unmoved by this outrageous conduct, you need only consider what happened Tuesday when Abbate appeared in court. A dozen of his police pals blocked reporters and cameras, ticketed vehicles, threatened one news team with arrest and made sure Abbate was whisked in and out of the building through private entrances out of public sight.
So exactly what is it that these cops don't get? In defending "a few rotten apples,'' are they really willing to trash the whole damn orchard?
Let's review the list, shall we?
Jon Burge and Torture (1973-1991):
To this very day, Mayor Daley and the city Law Department continue to pay the fees of a raft of lawyers, expensive outside legal counsel, to defend the indefensible. Even though the city already has paid millions in settlements for what Burge and his boys did to force murder suspects to confess (electrodes on testicles, suffocation and cattle prods), even though the city admitted years ago that "an astounding pattern of torture" existed, the city still defends Burge in current federal cases. And Daley, who was the Cook County state's attorney for many of the years when Burge and his gang were brutalizing suspects, has yet to have a candid conversation with the public or the courts about how it could have happened under his and other public officials' watch.
Oh, one other thing.
Not a single solitary police officer, prosecutor or judge has ever come forward to testify about what Burge did to make his cases. Make no mistake, a number of them knew.
Joseph Miedzianowski, Cop, Dope Dealer, Gun Runner:
One of the worst officers ever to wear a badge was also one of the department's shining stars and most protected players. No less than Raymond Risley, head of Internal Affairs during Meidzianowski's ruthless reign, defended him in the face of growing evidence he was a violent, corrupt, menacing thug. Even though Miedzianowski went to prison, it took 15 years and a federal jury to acknowledge the damage that this one cop did to, among others, two federal agents who desperately tried to get the city to investigate the danger he posed to the community. As a result, for years Miedzianowski terrorized those agents. Last month, the jury awarded them $9.75 million in damages, obligating us taxpayers to pony up for the city's failure.
SOS -- The Still Growing Special Operations Scandal:
Last summer, the elite Special Operations Section of the Chicago Police Department saw the indictment of four highly decorated cops. Police Officer Jerome Finnegan and members of his unit are charged with home invasion, robbery and the ripoff of drug dealers they were investigating. Along the way, they allegedly robbed and terrorized people who were not drug dealers but simply immigrant workers who kept cash in their homes. Did Internal Affairs know about the allegations? You bet. Did it promptly and aggressively investigate? Absolutely not. Is the scandal going to get worse? Count on it.
The New Ticking Time Bomb:
There is another videotape out there that the Police Department has not released. It shows six off-duty cops beating four businessmen at a downtown bar in December. One of the victims had to have reconstructive surgery. When police were called to investigate, the off-duty officers waved them off. Supt. Cline, last night, stripped the cops of their police powers.
In addition, Cline declared that Abbate's beating of the barmaid "tarnished our image worse than anybody else in the history of the department."
He's dead wrong.
If Jon Burge or Joe Meidzianowski had ever been caught on tape, Chicago might have qualified for the International Court at the Hague by now.
BY CAROL MARIN
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times Columnist
March 28, 2007
Enough already. We don't need one more promise. Or one more policy to protect us from wayward police officers.
Or Police Supt. Phil Cline assuring us last night that he is "disgusted to witness" his cops clobbering innocent citizens and then covering it up.
Chicago, be clear.
The whole world is watching.
From Mexico to Moscow, CNN has shown the international community the shameful videotape of off-duty Chicago Police Officer Anthony Abbate trying to beat the living daylights out of a female bartender less than half his size. In what appears to be an alcohol-soaked rage, Abbate showed us Chicago's Finest at their lowest. And the cops who were called in to stop Abbate's pounding of Karolina Obrycka at Jesse's Short Stop Inn once again cause us to ask whether Chicago Police would rather close ranks to protect a brother officer than protect the public from a crazed cop.
If you had any doubt that some in the Police Department remain unmoved by this outrageous conduct, you need only consider what happened Tuesday when Abbate appeared in court. A dozen of his police pals blocked reporters and cameras, ticketed vehicles, threatened one news team with arrest and made sure Abbate was whisked in and out of the building through private entrances out of public sight.
So exactly what is it that these cops don't get? In defending "a few rotten apples,'' are they really willing to trash the whole damn orchard?
Let's review the list, shall we?
Jon Burge and Torture (1973-1991):
To this very day, Mayor Daley and the city Law Department continue to pay the fees of a raft of lawyers, expensive outside legal counsel, to defend the indefensible. Even though the city already has paid millions in settlements for what Burge and his boys did to force murder suspects to confess (electrodes on testicles, suffocation and cattle prods), even though the city admitted years ago that "an astounding pattern of torture" existed, the city still defends Burge in current federal cases. And Daley, who was the Cook County state's attorney for many of the years when Burge and his gang were brutalizing suspects, has yet to have a candid conversation with the public or the courts about how it could have happened under his and other public officials' watch.
Oh, one other thing.
Not a single solitary police officer, prosecutor or judge has ever come forward to testify about what Burge did to make his cases. Make no mistake, a number of them knew.
Joseph Miedzianowski, Cop, Dope Dealer, Gun Runner:
One of the worst officers ever to wear a badge was also one of the department's shining stars and most protected players. No less than Raymond Risley, head of Internal Affairs during Meidzianowski's ruthless reign, defended him in the face of growing evidence he was a violent, corrupt, menacing thug. Even though Miedzianowski went to prison, it took 15 years and a federal jury to acknowledge the damage that this one cop did to, among others, two federal agents who desperately tried to get the city to investigate the danger he posed to the community. As a result, for years Miedzianowski terrorized those agents. Last month, the jury awarded them $9.75 million in damages, obligating us taxpayers to pony up for the city's failure.
SOS -- The Still Growing Special Operations Scandal:
Last summer, the elite Special Operations Section of the Chicago Police Department saw the indictment of four highly decorated cops. Police Officer Jerome Finnegan and members of his unit are charged with home invasion, robbery and the ripoff of drug dealers they were investigating. Along the way, they allegedly robbed and terrorized people who were not drug dealers but simply immigrant workers who kept cash in their homes. Did Internal Affairs know about the allegations? You bet. Did it promptly and aggressively investigate? Absolutely not. Is the scandal going to get worse? Count on it.
The New Ticking Time Bomb:
There is another videotape out there that the Police Department has not released. It shows six off-duty cops beating four businessmen at a downtown bar in December. One of the victims had to have reconstructive surgery. When police were called to investigate, the off-duty officers waved them off. Supt. Cline, last night, stripped the cops of their police powers.
In addition, Cline declared that Abbate's beating of the barmaid "tarnished our image worse than anybody else in the history of the department."
He's dead wrong.
If Jon Burge or Joe Meidzianowski had ever been caught on tape, Chicago might have qualified for the International Court at the Hague by now.
posted by Carlos T Mock @ 6:19 AM
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