Chicago's much-criticized police review authority replaced with civilian agency
Source: The Guardian
Embattled Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Friday that he would abolish the much-criticized independent police review authority (IPRA) and replace it with a civilian agency.
Emanuel’s approval ratings have been plummeting in recent months following the release, after a year of clamor and denial, of the video showing Chicago police shooting unarmed black teenager Laquan McDonald – a video that Emanuel claimed not to have seen until just before its release.
Laquan was shot 16 times by a Chicago police officer in November 2014, a shooting that police at first claimed was in self-defense, though when the footage was eventually released it showed that the 17-year-old was facing away – and walking away –from the officer when he was killed.
In an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune released on Friday afternoon, Emanuel said it was “clear that a totally new agency is required to rebuild trust in investigations of officer-involved shootings and the most serious allegations of police misconduct”.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/13/chicago-police-review-rahm-emanuel-officer-shootings
Nicky Woolf in San Francisco
Saturday 14 May 2016 01.25 BST
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Related: Rahm Emanuel op-ed: Next steps on our road to reform (Chicago Tribune)
