In his most extensive public comments in Chicago since his firing in December, former police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said Monday the city’s spike in violence has a lot to do with an anti-police sentiment that is “empowering criminals” and creating what he called “a culture of legitimizing noncompliance” with the law.
Addressing the City Club of Chicago, McCarthy, a casualty of the fallout over the release of the video of the Laquan McDonald shooting, said the controversial use of force by police in incidents across the country — often captured on video — has caused officers to second-guess themselves while working the streets.
He also pointed to the impact on crime-fighting from the ongoing U.S. Justice Department probe of Police Department practices.
“Why would you stop anyone when the Department of Justice is here looking for civil rights violations?” he asked an audience of a couple of hundred people at a downtown restaurant.
McCarthy defended the withholding of the McDonald video, arguing that the release of evidence risked compromising an ongoing criminal investigation.
