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Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show

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Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show

#181

Post by 0xffff2 »

MCRed wrote: post #80
bbarn wrote: post #74

Let's see.. in the 20 odd years here in Chicago, the sum of my police interactions are: Hit by a white shirt (supervisor) who came out of an alley on clark st while in a bike lane - somehow my fault, detained. Hit on foot, by a car with no lights on in a residential neighborhood while crossing at a crosswalk - somehow my fault for being outside while there was "a suspect being hunted" Watching officers on foot in 7-1…

Unfortunately, where to move? The situation is like that all over the USA. The increasing militarization of the police in the past 20 years (one thing about being "old" is you can see these things happen before your eyes) have produced a very bad scene. I spent a couple years in Chile. They cops there walk around with machine guns (they're called "carabineros") but are professional, uncorrupt and trustworthy. The dif…

I think just about anywhere in the US would do. I've lived all over California in the last decade, and while the police out here aren't perfect, they are saints compared to the description of the Chicago PD in this thread.

Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show

#182

Post by mbesto »

finid wrote: post #164
bilbo0s wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll be honest with you... Chicago is very much a place where you take your chances. You can live in Streeterville for example, as rayiner alluded to in another post... but what happens when you go out with friends??? What if they want to go someplace in say... Wrigleyville... some night??? You're walking back to your car, or trying to get a taxi back to the loop, and you cross too close in front of a police officer,…

If it's that bad in Chicago, then what you have is not a police force, but a criminal organization. Who's overseeing them? Are your elected officials powerless to do any thing?

Heh, the elected officials are exactly the problem:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_history_of_Chicago#C...

I grew up in Chicago, my family is still there, and most of my colleagues are based there. There is weird pseudo-Stockholm syndrome phenomenon where people just accept that the corruption is widespread and unavoidable.

Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show

#183

Post by CWuestefeld »

pjc50 wrote: post #8

Until police are jailed for this, nothing will improve. What's the US equivalent of the Independent Police Complaints Commission?

But the only public protests I hear about these things are from #BlackLivesMatter people. And when pursuing it from their perspective, it gets treated as a racism problem rather than a problem of institutional power being out of balance. We can't look at how the police routinely abuse power when we've got the lens focusing on how the police abuse black people.

(Lest I be accused of racism and/or insensitivity: yes, racism adds another dimension to the problem. But I think that a proper solution to the broader problem would also serve to curtail race-related abuses. Yet it seems impossible to suggest this in public discourse without being attacked by SJWs.)

Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show

#185

Post by dragonwriter »

pjc50 wrote: post #8

Until police are jailed for this, nothing will improve. What's the US equivalent of the Independent Police Complaints Commission?

Some states or localitis have things that might be parallel, but there is no single US equivalent.

Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show

#186

Post by sixothree »

bdisraeli wrote: post #9
pjc50 wrote: post #8

Until police are jailed for this, nothing will improve. What's the US equivalent of the Independent Police Complaints Commission?

There is no national body that oversees police, but Chicago has the Independent Police Review Authority. However IPRA rarely upholds complaints against police (it's staffed by ex-cops and other people connected to the police), and recently an investigator was fired after finding a shooting unjustified[1]. [1] http://www.wbez.org/news/city-fires-investigator-who-found-c...

I think it is clear we need a national body to oversee police.

Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show

#187

Post by sosborn »

branchless wrote: post #154
bbarn wrote: post #74

Let's see.. in the 20 odd years here in Chicago, the sum of my police interactions are: Hit by a white shirt (supervisor) who came out of an alley on clark st while in a bike lane - somehow my fault, detained. Hit on foot, by a car with no lights on in a residential neighborhood while crossing at a crosswalk - somehow my fault for being outside while there was "a suspect being hunted" Watching officers on foot in 7-1…

I have to say America just seems like a dreadful mess.

If all you go by is media reports, then sure, it sounds awful. But let me tell you something about the media: in general they look for the stories that inspire outrage and that are extraordinary. They do not reflect the normal life.

Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show

#189

Post by rhino369 »

branchless wrote: post #154
bbarn wrote: post #74

Let's see.. in the 20 odd years here in Chicago, the sum of my police interactions are: Hit by a white shirt (supervisor) who came out of an alley on clark st while in a bike lane - somehow my fault, detained. Hit on foot, by a car with no lights on in a residential neighborhood while crossing at a crosswalk - somehow my fault for being outside while there was "a suspect being hunted" Watching officers on foot in 7-1…

I have to say America just seems like a dreadful mess.

Americas biggest problem in the inner cities. They are literally ghettos were gangs and violence run rampant. The schools are pure shit. The kids have no future. The cops crack down hard (half because they have to in order to maintain any semblance of peace, half because they become jaded).

But that part of America is shockingly isolated from the rest of us. Chicago is a great example. There are blocks where on side of an intersection it's gang territory and the other is totally safe.

There are huge swaths of Chicago that are rich, peaceful, and probably the best city living in America. There are also huge swaths of pure poverty and gang warfare.

If you are born on the right side of the tracks, it's a great place. If you aren't, well, good luck.

Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show

#190

Post by ceejayoz »

golergka wrote: post #162
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lifelong Chicagoan here. I've never, ever had these issues and all my run-ins with cops have been fairly uneventful, if not pleasant. Chicago cops have better things to do than give traffic tickets usually and the last time I got pulled over (blew through red from a fast yellow) and I was just let go with a warning. Recently, there is a mentally unstable person in my neighborhood and he decided to sit on my porch and…

Genuine curiosity: why is this comment downvoted?

Probably for "Also, not to attack the GP", followed by "the GP sounds like one of these people" who "do dick moves with their bikes, cause accidents, never obey any traffic law, scream at pedestrians, have unbelievable senses of entitlements, kick/punch cars, and constantly pretend to be innocent and are often incredibly confrontational when criticized."
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