HYDE PARK — If you haven’t read Hyde Park journalist Jamie Kalven’s four-year-long reporting project on corruption in the Chicago Police Department, it’s about to become almost unavoidable.
Starting this weekend, Kalven will distribute to 400 locations across the city 40,000 free copies of his 20,000-word, four-part series on an alleged criminal gang of drug dealers operating within the police department for nearly 10 years with the knowledge of police leadership.
Kalven has become the leading voice on problems within Chicago’s police ranks. He has released documents showing officers subject to frequent complaints from the public go unpunished and was an early voice pointing out problems with the shooting of Laquan McDonald by officer Jason Van Dyke.
The latest series published initially by The Intercept tells the story of two officers who tried to out an officer and his unit shaking down drug dealers and controlling the distribution of drugs in Chicago’s former public housing high rises.
The story alleges the “code of silence” of officers protecting other officers in the department from criminal prosecution goes deeper than a corrupt culture. Kalven’s story claims it is now a fundamental part of how the institution works with top brass routinely involved in covering up wrongdoing by officers.
The story will be distributed for free across the city and a map of all the locations will be on Kalven’s web site Invisible Institute later this week.
An additional 10,000 copies of Kalven's story will be distributed in the South Side Weekly this week.
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