CHICAGO — Echoing concerns from Chicago police, officers nationwide said controversial shootings have made their jobs harder — but they also think bad police aren't being held accountable, according to a new survey.
Three-quarters of surveyed officers said police shooting people in high-profile incidents has increased tensions between police and black community members, according to a new survey from Pew.
The majority of those officers also say they're now less willing to stop and question suspicious people, Pew said, and 86 percent said their work has become harder because of high-profile shootings.
In Chicago, officials have complained that officer morale has plummeted — and with it police stops and arrests — in the wake of the Laquan McDonald shooting.
McDonald was 17 when he was shot 16 times by Officer Jason Van Dyke in October 2014. It was more than a year before the city released video from the incident and Van Dyke was charged with murder. The release of the video led to protests throughout the city for weeks.
Police stops and arrests fell dramatically in the wake of the video's release. At the same time, gun violence and murders rose. Many pointed to lowered morale among Chicago Police as the cause.
"Maybe [police are] doing their job by some definition, but it’s the bare minimum. The data shows they’re not engaging in proactive policing,” a source told DNAinfo in January 2016, just a few months after the video of the McDonald shooting was released.
“I wouldn’t accuse them of being willfully irresponsible. But in this environment why would an officer make a stop unless they see a gun or witness a shooting? It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” the source said.
Dean Angelo, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said in June that officers were facing an "anti-police movement" and a "level of disrespect we have not seen."
Even Garry McCarthy, the police superintendent who was fired after the McDonald video release, recently said backlash against police was to blame for Chicago's large spike in murders in 2016.
Lori Lightfoot, president of the Chicago Police Board, said Wednesday the city's officers have come under intense scrutiny, but officers and their superiors need to learn that scrutiny isn't going away in the near future.
"It's hard to make categorical assessments. I think, clearly ... this is a very difficult time for officers to do their work. They're under probably the greatest level of scrutiny that they've been in a generation if not maybe ever," she said. "That kind of scrutiny has costs and consequences, for sure.
"But it's the reality and I think what's important is for officers and their superiors to figure out the best way to navigate in this new normal because the work still needs to be done."
Local enforcement leaders should tell officers "this is a reality," but officers need to keep doing their job and not fear cameras or social media, Lightfoot said. Officers should also receive training and should know they won't be "hung out to dry" if they make an "honest mistake," Lightfoot said.
The surveyed police also told Pew poorly performing officers aren't being held accountable: 72 percent of officers said they disagreed that police who consistently do a poor job are held accountable.
That lack of accountability can also contribute to low morale about officers, Lightfoot said.
"We have to hold underperforming and poor-performing officers accountable because I think that undermines the morale of those officers who are doing their job and working very hard," Lightfoot said. "It is unfair to officers who are doing their job the right way to have to carry the load, literally and figuratively, for officers who are just not doing their job the right way."
Police need a system that identifies problem officers who aren't up to standards, Lightfoot said, and supervisors need to be trained to look for red flags and intervene. Lightfoot said officers also need to be given "the support [and] resources they need to be successful."
The Pew survey found only 31 percent of the surveyed officers said they think their department "has done very well" when it comes to preparing officers for their job.
The city and Police Department have pushed for reforms meant to hold police accountable, like expanding the police bodycam program, changing the use of force policy and replacing the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates police use of force.
The U.S. Department of Justice is also probing the Police Department.
But activists say they want more changes and have pushed for a civilian board to review use of force.
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