local context
Police brutality is a growing issue in the city of Chicago. Evidence can be seen through the large amount of money being spent to settle cases of police brutality. On February 3, news emerged that the city of Chicago is issuing over $ 100 million in bonds to settle cases of police brutality (Warner Todd Huston, 2014). What this means is that the city of Chicago will pay the victim and his or her family money for being abused.
However, even with this large number of formal complaints, some police officers and police commanders lie and say they have never tortured any of their suspects in custody. Here in Chicago, in 2013, a federal appellate court unanimously ruled to uphold the 2010 perjury conviction of Jon Burge, a former police commander, who lied under oath about torturing suspects in his custody (Bellware, 2013).
The Chicago Police Department and the mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, are well aware of the police brutality that takes places in Chicago. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued an apology after the City Council approved $12.3 million in settlements to two men who said they were tortured by a former police commander employed during previous city administrations (Reuters, 2013). A 32-year-old documentary filmmaker alleges that Chicago police beat him and sodomized him with the barrel of a gun in order to intimidate him into acting as an informant. Vice magazine spoke to Angel Perez against the advice of Perez’s lawyers, but the police brutality survivor said that he wants to keep what happened to him from ever happening to anyone else (David Ferguson, 2014).
Further evidence of police abusing their power can be seen through the example of Cassandra Feuerstein of Skokie. Also, a Chicago woman, Feuerstein, 47, is suing the town of Skokie, Illinois, claiming she was a victim of police brutality. After asking a police officers if she can call her husband, she is removed from her cell. Moments later she is thrown face first into a concrete bench, shattering her face. The lawsuit claims the incident caused shattered bones in Feuerstein's face and that she required reconstructive surgery (Paul Farrell, 2013). This is terrible. I dont understand why police officers have the nerve to put their hands on an innocent person. Especially a woman. No man should ever lay a finger on a woman.
However, even with this large number of formal complaints, some police officers and police commanders lie and say they have never tortured any of their suspects in custody. Here in Chicago, in 2013, a federal appellate court unanimously ruled to uphold the 2010 perjury conviction of Jon Burge, a former police commander, who lied under oath about torturing suspects in his custody (Bellware, 2013).
The Chicago Police Department and the mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, are well aware of the police brutality that takes places in Chicago. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued an apology after the City Council approved $12.3 million in settlements to two men who said they were tortured by a former police commander employed during previous city administrations (Reuters, 2013). A 32-year-old documentary filmmaker alleges that Chicago police beat him and sodomized him with the barrel of a gun in order to intimidate him into acting as an informant. Vice magazine spoke to Angel Perez against the advice of Perez’s lawyers, but the police brutality survivor said that he wants to keep what happened to him from ever happening to anyone else (David Ferguson, 2014).
Further evidence of police abusing their power can be seen through the example of Cassandra Feuerstein of Skokie. Also, a Chicago woman, Feuerstein, 47, is suing the town of Skokie, Illinois, claiming she was a victim of police brutality. After asking a police officers if she can call her husband, she is removed from her cell. Moments later she is thrown face first into a concrete bench, shattering her face. The lawsuit claims the incident caused shattered bones in Feuerstein's face and that she required reconstructive surgery (Paul Farrell, 2013). This is terrible. I dont understand why police officers have the nerve to put their hands on an innocent person. Especially a woman. No man should ever lay a finger on a woman.