CHICAGO—Homicides and shootings have doubled in Chicago so far this year compared with the same period in 2015, and police have seized fewer illegal guns—more possible signals that officers have become less aggressive in the aftermath of a shooting video released last fall.
Interim Police Superintendent John Escalante said Tuesday that he was so concerned about officers possibly holding back that he filmed a video for the entire department in which he encouraged them to do their jobs and assured them that a federal probe of the force was not aimed at individuals.
“We are aware that there is a concern among the rank and file about not wanting to be the next YouTube video that goes viral,” Escalante said in the video before introducing a segment of his own to remind viewers “why we took this job and swore this oath of office.”
The statistics come almost exactly three months after the city on the orders of a judge released the video of officer Jason Van Dyke firing 16 shots at Laquan McDonald, a black teen killed in 2014. Since that day, Van Dyke has been charged with murder, and Superintendent Garry McCarthy has been fired. The Department of Justice launched a civil rights probe of the police force, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel has sought to regain public trust in the department and his own leadership.
