September 27, 2007
Crime and Punishment Department
Not a Great Time For the Chicago Police...
Chicago cops complain a lot about the way they're treated in the local media, which seems to give voice to every complaint about the police. If a neighborhood has a high crime rate, the newspapers publish stories about inadequate policing. When an officer shoots someone, the media is full of family members' allegations that the shooting was unnecessary or racially motivated. On the police blogs, officers are full of outrage at what they see as unfair treatment.
But that's not to say there aren't real problems within the department:
[Chicago Police Officer Jerome] Finnigan, 44, already at the center of a widening probe of corruption, kidnapping and robbery in the Police Department's Special Operations Section, was charged Wednesday with plotting the murder-for-hire of a former police officer.
...
In telephone recordings made last week, Finnigan and the officer discussed whether they should hire a member of a Hispanic street gang or a "professional hit man" to kill the officer, referring to the planned hit as a "paint job," authorities said.
The recordings also captured the officers talking about the possibility of killing an additional officer, who they believed was also cooperating with authorities, according to the charges.
Authorities said Finnigan and the other officer discussed killing up to four fellow cops.
Fortunately for everyone except Finnigan, according to the story, the officer he was talking to was wearing a wire for the FBI.
Bad stories like this one have been coming out of the Special Operations Section for the last year. The excellant Chicago Tribune article by David Heinzmann and Todd Lighty gives a recap of some of the ugliness.
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All I know is that when I was in High School the bullies that were in school turned out to be some of the cops in the local small town...I think a lot of police have the personality of liking to bullying people and what better way but to be a cop and have the opportunity to do it legally and you get all these fun toys to use on people too.