By Steve Rhodes
“Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy held a news conference Monday in which his department ‘put on display several of the firearms seized . . . during the first two weeks of 2013,’ according to a police news release,” the Tribune reports.
“But that wasn’t exactly the case.
“A police spokeswoman said McCarthy had hoped to display 25 weapons from among the more than 300 seized since Jan. 1 – but in fact the ones shown were from last year. Some dated from last summer, according to inventory tags on the weapons.”
Doh!
“Reporters attending the news conference at the Gresham district station, 7808 S. Halsted St., noticed the inventory tags, and McCarthy was asked about them. He said the guns weren’t the actual ones seized in 2013, but were ‘representative’ of them.”
That’s okay, our prisons are full of people who aren’t actually the real killers, but representative of them.
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McCarthy’s press conference was orchestrated to coincide with the appearance of Mayor Rahm Emanuel in Washington, D.C., scoring political points in advance of an ordinance being introduced in city council this week that would require gun owners to report any loss, theft or sale to authorities – like in New York City.
McCarthy said on WGN-TV last week that the reason why Chicago has more murders and guns than New York is because of that reporting law, as well as stricter sentencing for gun law violations.
Perhaps, but Chicago also has always had a more entrenched gang problem than either New York or LA, as well as more severe conditions in public housing and more rigid segregation sealing in the misery. Maybe we should investigate that.
Or maybe McCarthy was just being “representative.”
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That’s okay, many members of our media don’t mind the news being “representative” and approvingly airing anything any official says without vetting the claims or including additional sources
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McCarthy misspoke: He was being misrepresentative.
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CPS is also just being “representative” these days.
At least McCarthy didn’t pull the weapons out of a hidden drawer.
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Speaking of hidden drawers, here’s the problem with the Alton Logan settlement – and, really, all settlements of this nature:
“The 11th-hour settlement with Alton Logan will head off a trial that could have forced Burge to testify in court – via video hook-up from a federal prison in North Carolina – for the first time in 20 years.”
And:
“Last year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel signed off on $7.1 million in settlements that spared former Mayor Richard M. Daley from answering questions under oath about allegations that – as state’s attorney and as mayor – he failed to investigate torture allegations against Burge.”
No one begrudges the victims for taking the money, but taxpayers pick up the bill while being denied a full airing of the cases and no one is really held responsible, which is why a Burge truth commission with subpoeana power remains a good idea but one that city officials will never let happen.
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“The question now is whether Emanuel will deliver the apology that Logan demanded but never heard from Daley, who was serving as state’s attorney at the time of Logan’s arrest.
“There’s only one person whose mouth I want to hear that [apology] come out of, but I know he’ll never say it. Your mayor,” Logan said on the day that a Cook County judge dismissed the charges against him.
Referring to Daley, Logan said, “He was the man [who] signed the death certificate. That’s the only apology I want. But, I know I’ll never get it.”
At the time, Daley responded to Logan’s demand by claiming he couldn’t even remember the case of the man whose legal odyssey was featured on 60 Minutes.
Pressed on whether an apology was warranted, Daley said then, “I have no idea. You know how many cases we had in the state’s attorney’s office?”
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Also on the docket today for the city council finance committee to consider:
“Nearly seven years after Christina Eilman wandered out of a South Side police station and into a catastrophe, her tragic entanglement with the Chicago Police Department began to come to an end Monday – with a proposed $22.5 million legal settlement that may be the largest the city ever offered to a single victim of police misconduct,” the Tribune reports.
See also: She Begged For Help; Guards Said ‘Shut Up’.
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“McCarthy May Turn To Celebrities To Help Combat Police Mistrust.”
Right. Here are a few other people McCarthy could turn to:
A.) Himself. No more “representative” press conferences just because your maniacal mayor orders them. You basically lied to the media and the public.
B.) His own officers. The problems leading to a continual parade of settlements for officers acting badly remain – and that’s why “snitches” don’t want to cooperate with you.
C.) His state’s attorney’s office. And everyone who worked there from the Burge years to the present. Attitude adjustment needed.
D.) His boss. See A.
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Albini Eats, Corgan Cheats
In our Local Music Notebook.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: A click away.
Posted on January 15, 2013