Doubt about police in Chicago manifests itself on racial lines in monitor's survey, legal challenges over traffic stops
CHICAGO - Many Black Americans' distrust for police, both in Chicago and around the country, has been highlighted repeatedly in 2020, most recently this week with outrage over the controversial result of an investigation into the death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville.
Chicago had its own watershed moment on policing and racism with the 2014 shooting of Black teenager Laquan McDonald by a white officer later convicted of second-degree murder, touching off efforts for sweeping reform. But a recent community survey on policing that is part of that effort points to a continuing, wide racial divide between how Black and white residents view cops, including a persistent issue: the street stop.
That Black residents are targeted for stops by Chicago police at a higher rate than white residents has been detailed in federal lawsuits, by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, the Justice Department and even a police task force chaired by Mayor Lori Lightfoot herself.
But the problem remains, and continues to have an impact on
