The Intercept published a massive four-part investigation exposing corruption and cover-up within the Chicago Police Department.
The Chicago Police Department fiercely covered up officer misconduct after it was exposed by two cops working with the FBI, according to a four-part investigation published by The Intercept on Thursday.
A team of officers working in public housing developments in the South Side would bribe drug dealers to keep them out of jail and sabotage the rival gang, the whistleblowers told The Intercept.
They were “major players” in the drug dealing scene in the South Side, and the ringleader, Sergeant Ronald Watts, may have been involved in the death of two dealers. Many cops were complicit, The Intercept reported.
“The payoffs were known on the street as the ‘Watts tax,’” wrote The Intercept.
“If a dealer paid the tax, his operation was protected from police interference. Watts, according to (Ernie) Brown (former head of the public housing development), was protecting dealers allied with him, while targeting the competition and redirecting seized drugs to his own dope lines.”
When the whistleblower officers, Shannon Spalding and Danny Echeverria, tried to initiate a “complaint register” investigation against the department, the head of internal affairs, Chief Juan Rivera, repeatedly refused and instead outed them.
Rather than punish the cops involved, the department demoted and abused the whistleblowers. They were verbally threatened and Spalding even received excrement one day in her mailbox. When they sued over the retaliation, the department settled with US $2 million to keep the case hushed. The department kept its “code of silence” intact—but tried to eliminate the words from the proceedings on the case.
“The code of silence is only silent to the outside world,” The Intercept quoted Spalding as saying. “For cops, it’s a constant ringing in your ears from the day you enter the academy to the day you retire.”
Intercept story Part 1 : Operation Smoke and Mirrors: In the Chicago Police Department, If the Bosses Say It Didn’t Happen, It Didn’t Happen
Part 2: Operation Brass Tax: Corrupt Chicago Police Were Taxing Drug Dealers and Targeting Their Rivals
Part 3: House of Cards: How the Chicago Police Department Covered Up for a Gang of Criminal Cops
Part 4: Watch Your Back: Chicago Police Bosses Targeted Cops Who Exposed Corruption
#1: Deckard To: Gatlin, misterwhite, Roscoe, nolu chan (#0)
There's your War on Drugs.
Well done, LE! < /sarcasm >
Rather than punish the cops involved, the department demoted and abused the whistleblowers. They were verbally threatened and Spalding even received excrement one day in her mailbox.
Is this how you think honest police who blow the whistle on in-house corruption should be treated?
Deckard posted on 2016-10-07 15:55:11 Reply Private Reply
#2: Roscoe To: Deckard (#1)
Roscoe posted on 2016-10-07 16:13:15 Reply Private Reply
#3: Deckard To: Roscoe (#2)
Of course you do.
That really isn't the topic of this article, maybe you have an opinion about the rampant corruption by cops who protect drug gangs operating in Chicago with the apparent blessing of the higher-ups within the department.
Yeah - I know, they were just "doing their jobs".
Deckard posted on 2016-10-07 16:22:59 Reply Private Reply
#4: Roscoe To: Deckard (#3)
Roscoe posted on 2016-10-07 16:24:48 Reply Private Reply
#5: ConservingFreedom To: Roscoe (#2)
Philippine President Duterte Challenges Donald Trump To A Fistfight
ConservingFreedom posted on 2016-10-07 16:30:53 Reply Private Reply
#6: Gatlin To: Deckard, misterwhite, Roscoe, nolu chan (#1)
Furthermore, I have no reason to place faith in an “investigation by The Intercept.”
In the interest of saving time I ask that you link directly to the federal charge sheet for the “corruption and cover-up within the Chicago Police Department” and show the trial date.
Thank you.
Gatlin posted on 2016-10-07 16:55:00 Reply Private Reply
#7: Roscoe To: ConservingFreedom (#5)
Roscoe posted on 2016-10-07 17:06:27 Reply Private Reply
#8: misterwhite To: Roscoe (#7)
What's wrong with a little singing:
misterwhite posted on 2016-10-07 17:17:42 Reply Private Reply
#9: misterwhite To: Roscoe (#2)
Six words you don't hear in the Philippines: "The War on Drugs isn't working".
misterwhite posted on 2016-10-07 17:20:49 Reply Private Reply
#10: nolu chan To: Deckard (#0)
There is one truly screwed up claim.
The officers gave money or something of worth to the drug dealers.
Because bribing the drug dealers will accomplish that.
Some anonymous idiot assertedly told another idiot who published it.
The author should buy a dictionary.
nolu chan posted on 2016-10-07 18:58:37 Reply Private Reply
#11: Roscoe To: misterwhite (#9)
I suspect even the resident expats are abstaining from the shabu. It's "A Dangerous Life" in the Philippines nowadays.
Roscoe posted on 2016-10-08 07:17:49 Reply Private Reply