Chicago Cop: Lies Were Encouraged

[sabra]

Source: CBS News 60 Minutes

Indicted Chicago Police Officer Tells 60 Minutes His "Bosses" Knew Of And Encouraged Lies

(CBS) Indicted Chicago police officer Keith Herrera says his superiors knew and encouraged him to lie on reports so questionable arrests would stand up in court.

In his first interview, Herrera, who also admits to stealing money, takes Katie Couric inside the Special Operations Section, an elite group of officers, some of whom he says profited during their quest to take criminals off the streets in one of the city’s largest police scandals.

The report will be broadcast on 60 Minutes this Sunday, June 1, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Herrera and six fellow SOS members were charged with crimes including armed robbery and aggravated kidnapping - many against suspected drug dealers. They have all pled not guilty. They are also accused of routinely lying on police reports. "Creative writing was a certain term that bosses used to make sure that the job got done," he says. His bosses, says Herrera, wanted the cases to stick in court. "I didn’t just pick up a pen and just learn how to . Bosses, guys that I work with who were older than I was…It’s taught to you," he tells Couric.

The SOS mission was to get drugs and guns off the street, he says, "at any cost."

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/30/60minutes/main4139413.shtml

[georgio1]

1. Chicago is still corrupt

You know this city can still be corrupt, even though they try to give the image they are not. Did you know the city counsel now bans adult clubs from serving alcohol at a club that features nudity. However, people can bring their own. It's just crazy.

http://www.chicagostripclublist.com

[Stuart G]

2. Been studying this city since 1962..

my first research paper in High School, was in 1962, on Chicago Corruption.......


Was corrupt then ....(there was a police scandal then....1960..)

(google is really something,,)... here is a link... ...., look at history, and Summerdale Scandal...



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Police_Department#Summerdale_scandals


And it is corrupt now...

..
Nothing new

[DCKit]

3. I was hauled in and spent eight hours in a very cold room....

I don't know what the definition of torture is in this instance, but I was shivering for two days. Definitely a case of hypothermia.

Sixteen hours incarceration, treated like shit, threatened and shackled. The U.S. of the Republicons. In Washington, DC, of all places.

The cops knew the case would never be prosecuted, but they removed me (us) from a private home and punished me (us) for calling 911, because they could.

I know my neighborhood is full of criminals of every stripe, but I've also seen enough young black men hauled off to court and prison because the attitude of the cops is "if he didn't do THIS crime, it's just a matter of time until he commits something we can (legally) nail him for."

I realize there are good and bad cops, but I (44, couldn't be whiter) have been on the receiving end of bad cops no less than four times in the past 15 years. My favorite (because I survived) was the time an ex and I were jumped by a group of 4 DC cops, guns (to the head) drawn and I said "go ahead, shoot a lawyer" (he'd just passed the bar exam). They (police) have a term for what they did that escapes me now, but it's no less than domestic TERRORISM.

The latest incident (wholly misunderstood by the morans who showed up) could/would have been reconciled had I been allowed to walk out, down two floors of stairs and enter my own apartment. But that wouldn't have given them the numbers they needed for the night.

I don't know any "homies" but am totally on-board with their "Don't Snitch" message. Any involvement with the cops is analogous to borrowing money from the mob - once you're in, they think they own your ass.

When I was beaten by a group of 14 teens and had my nose torn off, I heard nothing, ever, from the police. When Justice Souter was knocked down just a few blocks away (a year later), the police went door-to-door to find out "who dun it".

I expect they were flummoxed when I said "Fuck off, don't EVER come back here". What they didn't report, and what never made it to the news were two calls I made (that hour) to 911 PRIOR to the attack on Justice Souter about the muggings and screams of two women directly in front of my building. CYA much? Pull the records Justice Souter. You got, and we're all being, punked.


'K, I don't know if I'm running out of outrage or just suffering from last night's insomnia, but I welcome your comments in-thread or email. I don't like what's been going on (and it WAS in effect during the (last) Clinton administration, so we can't blame the fascists) so what the hell do we do?