DONALD TRUMP often frets about Chicago’s recent crime wave, calling the city's homicide rate, which has risen sharply this year, a “horror show”. What is the Republican presidential nominee’s solution? In August, Mr Trump said he knew “a rough, tough guy” in the police department who could “stop [murders] in one week” if only he were in charge. The problem contributing to the sharp increase in homicides, Mr Trump said, is that police “right now are not tough”.
A broader perspective tells a different story. In recent years, the Chicago police department has faced mounting scrutiny over incidents that appear to involve the indiscriminate use of violent force toward citizens. From 2010 to 2015, according to the Chicago Tribune, 92 deaths and 170 injuries resulted from 435 police shootings. The most glaring example—sparking heated street protests and calls for Rahm Emanuel, the mayor, to resign—occurred on October 20, 2014 when Laquan McDonald, a black, knife-wielding 17-year-old, was shot and killed by police. Mr McDonald had reportedly been breaking into cars that day, and he was bold enough to slice a tire of the patrol vehicle after the...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/2d6oByO
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