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Police Supt. McCarthy Insists 'We Can Do Better' on Community Policing

By Ted Cox | May 20, 2015 11:01am
 Police Supt. Garry McCarthy talks with an attendee at the City Club breakfast Wednesday.
Police Supt. Garry McCarthy talks with an attendee at the City Club breakfast Wednesday.
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DNAinfo/Ted Cox

RIVER NORTH — Calling it "the most challenging time for policing in this nation's history," Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy told the City Club on Wednesday his department is making progress, but "we can do better."

McCarthy acknowledged mistakes made by other departments that have led to a rash of public protests across the nation.

"There is a big anti-police sentiment both locally and nationally," he said.

Yet he said Chicago had largely avoided that for good reasons.

"Police can turn a demonstration into a riot," McCarthy said at the City Club breakfast. "Confrontation begets confrontation."

McCarthy cited the "complete lack of transparency" in Ferguson, Mo., and granted that "enormous mistakes" were made. He allowed that "mass incarcerations" were an issue for the community, especially the African-American community.

McCarthy called the war on drugs "a wholesale failure," and also cited the damage done by Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and his "midnight crew" that engaged in police torture for two decades. He said that, more than 20 years after Burge was fired, "we're still paying for that in a number of ways," both literally in torture settlements and in lowered police prestige.

Yet he insisted Chicago's "community-relations strategy" was sound, adding that it had reduced the number of police shootings.

According to McCarthy, police engaged in five shootouts in the first quarter of this year, compared with 21 at this time of 2011. One person had died in those shootouts this year, compared with nine in the 21 shootouts in 2011.

He said the key was open engagement with communities and residents, adding, "I'm good at honest and frank conversation."

McCarthy said community policing means asking the community, "What is it you want us to do?" He said the consensus was, "Don't arrest everybody, arrest the right people, because that is what the community wants."

He pointed to the "historic lows" in crime and violence last year.

"We've reduced crime by arresting less people," McCarthy said, commenting on the irony.

He said it was unfair to compare the racial breakdown of police traffic stops to the general population, adding that in fact it was consistent with the racial breakdown of where crime exists and those it victimizes.

Yet McCarthy acknowledged that arrests for gun violations were up, with 692 in the first quarter of this year, and he called for strengthened gun laws to end the "catch and release" system that tended to place those illegally possessing guns right back on the streets.

He insisted improvements had been made in the Police Department, but pounded the theme: "We can do better."

He also called for improved sports programs, like Little League, in troubled areas like Englewood, which he called "the most violent community in the city."

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