Inner City Police: The Other Gang in Town

Last week a Chicago judge overturned convictions of fifteen African American men who say that they were framed by Ronald Watt a former Chicago Police Department (CPD) sergeant and his gang. Dare I say it? The group of badge and gun totin' outlaws had apparently been running a protection racket and extortion ring for years in a Chicago housing project. Can you say CPD Gang?

It was called "protection" by the Mafia and extortion by everybody else. The Mafia has been widely recognized as a criminal enterprise. But police departments that have been shaking down black communities Mafia-style for decades are not considered criminal enterprises. Hmm.

The CPD Gang's racket was simple. You pay me and I let you sell your drugs. I also will make sure you competition is kept in check. If you don’t pay me I will simply plant drugs on you and lock your ass up. I might even jack you up in the process for good measure.

The CPD Gang's target was the Ida B. Wells Housing Complex a massive governmentally segregated complex constructed in 1941. (That’s right the federal government required that the project be segregated.) The complex, demolished in 2011, had more than 860 apartments and almost 800 row houses. Over the years the sprawling complex became the turf of various gangs. Apparently the gangs and dealers were able to exist with the assistance of another gang.

The Chicago CPD Gang was different than the others because they had badges, were licensed to carry guns and apparently to violate the rights of African American residents. But this is nothing new to those of us who live or have lived in the America's government segregated communities. Police corruption is just not new. Some things never change.

We continue to fall for fundamentally flawed arguments. Again people it is our thinking. What should be changing is our thinking. Our problem is how we think about things. It is time that we stopped trying to explain our situation using the reasoning of those who have demonstrated their historical unwillingness to protect our rights. They create the problem and then dictate to us how we think about it and respond to it. Here is the programmed response to situations involving so called "bad" cops as distinct from "good" cops.

Most cops are good - There are only a few bad cops.. The argument goes, the vast majority of police are honest protectors of the people. But ask yourself how do we know that? Do you know who the bad cops are? If you do why are they on the force? Isn’t it also true that every bad cop was considered a good cop until he got caught. Moreover, if you are a cop and you know that the likelihood is that nothing will happen to you in the unlikely event that you do get caught what is the real risk or downside of being a bad cop?

Think about it this way. If 10% of the cops are bad and 90% are good why aren’t the bad 10% discovered by the good 90% whose job must at very least be to protect us from bad guys no matter who they are?

According to the Department of Justice Investigation of the Chicago Police Department dated January 13, 2017:

The City received over 30,000 complaints of police misconduct during the five years preceding our investigation, but fewer than 2% were sustained, resulting in no discipline in 98% of these complaints."

In short, although we do complain our complaints are almost never sustained and are rarely even investigated. The DOJ Report also noted that "... the City fails to conduct any investigation of nearly half of police misconduct complaints and that a number of institutional barriers contribute to this fact."

According to an ABC News Report the existence of the CPD Gang was common knowledge on the street. There were also numerous complaints about the gang to authorities. Apparently none of them were seriously investigated. The CPD Gang situation was reported to CPD multiple times. But it wasn’t until the Feds got involved that the CPD Gang was brought to justice. The important thing to remember is that the gang was not caught by the Chicago Police Department. They were not taken down by the people with whom they worked everyday. All those "good cops" did not make the collar. They were caught when they shook down an FBI informant. Do you really think it is even remotely possible that the existence of the gang was not known to CPD? Whistleblowers within the department who informed higher ups that the gang had been extorting drug dealers for more than a decade were reassigned and labeled rats. So much for cops policing themselves.

Police Departments as Slave Patrols

What we need to recognize is that police departments are the direct descendants of the infamous slave patrols. The purpose of the slave patrol was three-fold: (1) to keep slaves confined to the plantation (unless they had a pass signed my massa); (2) to maintain surveillance of slaves and their activities; and (3)perhaps the most important function was to keep slaves intimidated. If the patrollers could make a dollar here or there nobody cared as long as they kept the slaves in check.

The CPD Gang was no more than a modern day slave patrol. Its job is no different than the one it had in the 1800's. I know this is hard for some people to take because they are in law enforcement of have relatives or friends who are. I ask you to ask yourself one question: when was the last time you arrested a fellow officer who you saw breaking the law? Or when was the last time you called for an investigation of criminal activity that you were aware of? Or when was the last time you went public after witnessing a violation of a person's constitutional rights by fellow officers. Most importantly when was the last time you knowingly violated someone's constitutional rights while acting in your official capacity? Finally, "there are only bad cops and silent cops. And staying silent as your fellow officers abuse their power, or not standing up against injustice, still makes you a bad cop."

_______________________________________________________

Johnnie Cordero holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and a Doctorate in Jurisprudence. He is the author of Total Black Empowerment: A Guide to Critical Thinking in the Age of Trump. His new book Theodicy and The Power of the African Will is now available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other on line book sellers.