Skeptics doubt new Chicago video policy will rebuild trust
CHICAGO (AP) — Mayor Rahm Emanuel's promise to release videos of police shootings in no more than three months was touted as a way to bring more transparency to Chicago after the city took more than a year to make public the footage of a teenager's death.
Though most of the attention will be on dashcam videos, the policy also calls for the release of any video — public or private — collected by authorities during investigations, as well as audio recordings and police reports.
"The 60 days is so the administration can get ahead of the story, to give them time to come up with a PR strategy ... and cook up a story on how they are going to massage what is on the video and serve it to the public," said William Calloway, a leader in the legal fight with the city over the McDonald video.
"Basically, we wanted to give investigators sufficient time to do what they needed to do in terms of interviewing people and gathering other evidence that would not be tainted by a release that is too early," said Acosta, who is also a member of a task force Emanuel created after the release of the video to make recommendations on how to reform the police force.
The Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates police shootings and police misconduct cases, will release the information, Spector said.