This really puts the Community Leaders on the spot:
What are they supposed to do -
complain that the police need to ProtectAndServe harder
by shooting
more members of the Community?
From the language used, the Chief would
like us to believe that
something sketchy was going on beyond failure to act.
Probably wasn't cops having this unfold coincidentally in the middle of taking a bribe,
or selling drugs, or transporting drug money.
Hopefully wasn't cops who had been paid to ignore a hit,
or who were providing security for a hit.
Maybe was the gunfire waking up cops who were in the middle of cooping,
and literally didn't know what had just happened.
Maybe the gunfire coincidentally interrupted passenger department banter
about how the captain is an asshøle;
and the cops panicked that the tape would be reviewed.
Whatever reason why they jackrabbitted,
if the victim didn't go down,
I presume this would never have been reported or discovered.
The fact that the cops saw a body in the rear-view
is probably what made them U-turn,
because that wasn't going to escape notice.
Everyone in the rank and file will shortly have heard
some rumor
about what was going on. (Rumors
may vary).
And someone will leak it to the brass.
It would be interesting to know whether the union
merely defends the patrolmen,
or ends up actually defending their actions.
Interesting to evaluate under two of the sets of Second City Cop rules.
- First set:
- Look.
- Point and laugh.
- Leave.
- Second set:
- Unless a violent felony unfolds right in front of your eyes, or there is a victim requiring medical aid,
- Just take a report and file it.
(Keep in mind that those aren't intended as rulebook job actions,
to spice up union contract negotiations. They're distillations of
Chi-prudence For Cops. The CPD brass will cancel any cop who
"gets proactive" in a way that causes the slightest heat to emerge from
race hustling Community Leaders. First they sic Internal Affairs on the cops,
and if they can't find a way to get them fired w/ loss of pension,
then they unleash the Community Civilian Oversight Board
who goes over every single interaction in the cop's entire career).
Ironically, in
Chicago virtually all if not absolutely all hot pursuits
are now forbidden. So a slick cop might well be able to manipulate
the situation to let the shooters escape with almost no chance of taking incoming fire.