Deaths and Injuries in Police Custody

[Andrea]

Video release of police shootings, incidents marks seismic shift in Chicago's secrecy

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-police-videos-met-20160603-story.html

The Emanuel administration posted evidence online Friday morning from more than 100 pending investigations of police shootings and other incidents, marking a watershed moment for a city that fought for decades to keep videos in excessive force cases hidden from the public.

The document dump comes more than six months after video of a Chicago police officer shooting Laquan McDonald 16 times changed the landscape for the embattled Police Department.

As many as half of the 100 cases still under investigation by the city's police oversight agency include dashcam videos, surveillance footage and audio, including a handful deemed "sensitive" because they depict citizens being beaten or shot, city officials said.

The move marks the official rollout of a new policy to release video of shootings by police within 60 days of most incidents — an unprecedented shift toward transparency that even longtime critics of the secrecy of the Police Department have praised as an important step.

"I think this is a big thing," said Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor who has studied police misconduct. "We are experiencing a sea change, and lots of credit should go around for that."

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