By Tom McKay December 30, 2015
In the wake of searing criticism
alleging Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel turned a blind eye to — and in some cases
allegedly covered up — a series of bloody police shootings under his tenure,
the mayor has announced the Chicago Police Department will begin requiring all
officers to be trained in the use of and equipped with Taser technology.
"The policy changes center
around de-escalation tactics to reduce the intensity of a conflict or a
potentially violent situation at the earliest possible moment, emphasizing that
the foremost goal is to protect the safety of all involved," Emanuel said
in a press conference on Tuesday, according to USA Today.
According to ABC 7, other changes
include encouraging officers to call backup before heading into dangerous
situations and extending the minimum amount of time an officer has to spend on
desk duty following a shooting from 72 hours to 30 days.
The change of policy is motivated
by more than a desire to protect Chicago citizens from unnecessary police
violence. Chicago officers shot a man named Ronald Johnson in the back on Oct.
12, 2014. Days later, on Oct. 20, city Officer Jason Van Dyke shot a black
teenager, Laquan McDonald, 16 times in the back — and Emanuel's office fought
to keep the dashboard camera video, which would later prove crucial in bringing
murder charges against the officer, under wraps for 13 months.
Earlier this month, the mayor
publicly apologized and called McDonald's death "totally avoidable"
around the same time his job approval ratings plummeted to 18 percent. Emanuel
was up for re-election during the timing of the investigation into McDonald's
death, leading some to argue he covered it up for political gain and call for
hisresignation.
This weekend, Chicago officers
shot and killed 19-year-old Quintonio Legrier and 55-year-old Bettie Jones, a
mother of five and a bystander. Both victims were black.
Though Tasers and other
less-lethal weapons offer an alternative to firearms when dealing with
suspects, they have also been linked to hundreds of deaths between the years of
2001 and 2013 in the United States.
Experts also say the devices can
be abused by departments with lax rules on when the devices can be deployed.
"I think the biggest problem
with stun guns is because they are perceived as not-so-deadly force, the
constraints on using them are less," Donna Lieberman, executive director
of the American Civil Liberties Union's New York City chapter, told the Los
Angeles Times. "The reluctance to use them is far less."
"These should be restricted
to only those situations where an officer is protecting himself from
violence," Justin Mazzola, Amnesty International deputy director of
research, told Mic. But instead, they're "being used as a compliance
tool" against suspects who are not necessarily dangerous but are
disobeying officers' commands.
Simply introducing a new type of
weaponry to the police force is also far less than many members of the Chicago
community are asking for, especially considering Chicago police have been
linked to lethal Taser abuse before.
"This community is under
siege, and the police department has two sets of rules, one for blacks and one
for whites," Greater St. John Bible Church pastor and local activist the
Rev. Ira Acree told USA Today. "It's not just as simple as 'Let's put
Tasers on police officers.' But because of the erosion of trust in the
community, [Rahm]'s always in a reactionary mode."
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