Chicago task force says the city's police department has ‘no regard’ for minority lives

Mayor Rahm Emanuel's task force says that the Chicago Police Department is plagued by systemic racism

Demonstrators protest the shooting of Laquan McDonald on November 27, 2015. (Joshua Lott/Getty)

A task force appointed by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has produced an 18-page review of the city’s police department warning that it must acknowledge its racist past.

The report states that the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014 was just a “tipping point” to police mistrust in the community. The task force said the teenager “posed no immediate threat to anyone” despite being shot by police 16 times.

“Racism and maltreatment at the hands of the police have been consistent complaints in communities of color for decades,” the report states. “The community’s lack of trust in CPD is justified.”

According to the Associated Press, the task force recommends extensive reforms including: dismantling the existing Independent Police Review Authority with a transparent civilian agency, hiring an inspector general for public safety to monitor the department, overhauling collective bargaining agreements, creating a mental health response unit to deal with emergency situations, creating a deputy of diversity position, using data to identify problem officers earlier, ensuring officer complaints and histories are available online, and expand the use of officer-issued body cameras.