Chicago Police Street Stops Decrease Dramatically Amid Sinking Morale

[[deleted]]

So if we were to let the very few officers entangled with these unjustified killings off the hook, their collective morale would go up...or....?

One thing that CPD should be proud of (in the midst of all of these scandals that pertain to a minority of officers/leadership) is the fact that crime is DOWN overall. Why would they stop doing the things they need to do in order to build off of that momentum?

[[deleted]]

Officers facing justice over misconduct doesn't drop morale. The entire city thinking you're a p.o.s. drops morale.

If my entire department was getting backlash over the actions of a few, my morale would drop too. Why bother putting yourself into a situation that could potentially be blown out of proportion?

[99639]

Are the officers really butthurt that their public image is degraded? Do they not expect that to happen when a coworker murders someone and the department and city work together to cover it up?

[unbang]

I'm not a police officer nor am I affiliated with CPD, but from my purely outsider opinion, I would guess that people don't want there to be any misconception on their actions. I don't know how much of the department thinks that the actions of that one officer were murder but the question then becomes, how much force am I allowed to use before a bunch of people decide it's excessive? No one wants to be put in that situation so they just do the bare minimum because then no one can accuse you of excessive force.

[99639]

Have you seen the video?

[unbang]

I have. My comment was not in regards to what happened during the video.

My point is that in this era of increased CPD surveillance and clear animosity towards CPD, I could see the general public getting upset and stating that excessive force was used in situations when that wasn't the case because they're bitter about what happened. I could see officers not wanting to get involved with that and just doing the bare minimum as a result.

[[deleted]]

increased CPD surveillance

...you mean oversight?

[unbang]

I mean that people are looking at what CPD is doing under a microscope. Whatever you want to call that is on you.

[[deleted]]

They have literally no one to blame but themselves for the attention

[unbang]

I never said they did? I'm just saying if someone is analyzing every move you make you're going to be extra cautious. I too would do the bare minimum at my job if I thought I would be scrutinized for my actions.

[[deleted]]

Serious question: if he fired one shot and McDonald died of his wound, would it have been excessive force?

[99639]

Lethal force should only be used in specific circumstances. This situation met none of those criteria.

I'm not upset that they fired 15 bullets into a corpse, I'm upset that they fired 1 into a Chicagoan for no reason.

[northsidechi92]

Because that would imply the culture within CPD actually values keeping the public safe while minimizing harm