Welcome to what AmeriKa has been for a long time -- despite the lectures from the government.
"Ex-officer accused of torture faces trial" by Associated Press | May 24, 2010
CHICAGO — For decades, black men across Chicago described torture at the hands of former police lieutenant Jon Burge and his officers, and for decades no one listened.
Suspects landed in jail and even on death row for crimes they say they didn’t commit after Burge and his men coerced confessions using terrifying methods including suffocation, a form of waterboarding, and electric shocks.
Finally those complaints from the 1970s and 1980s are being taken seriously....
Authorities have, to a degree, acknowledged that Burge may have committed these acts, but he does not face torture-related charges because the statute of limitations has run out....
Un-flipping-real!
Maybe some of those African war criminals should look into that.
The allegations of torture and coerced confessions eventually led to a moratorium on the state’s death penalty and the emptying of death row — moves credited with reigniting the global fight against capital punishment. But they also earned Chicago a reputation as a haven for rogue cops, a place where police could abuse suspects without notice or punishment....
"Ex-Chicago officer convicted of perjury in torture trial" by ASSOCIATED PRESS | June 29, 2010
CHICAGO — A decorated former Chicago police lieutenant accused of suffocating, shocking, and beating confessions out of scores of suspects was convicted yesterday of federal perjury and obstruction of justice charges for lying about the alleged torture of suspects.
Jurors deliberated for parts of three days before finding Jon Burge guilty. Burge faces 45 years in prison.
Burge’s name has become synonymous with police brutality and abuse of power in the country’s third-largest city. For decades, dozens of suspects — almost all of them black men — contended that Burge and his officers tortured them into confessing to crimes ranging from armed robbery to murder.
Former governor George Ryan of Illinois released four condemned men from death row in 2003 after Ryan said Burge had extracted confessions from them using torture.
The allegations of torture and coerced confessions eventually led to a still-standing moratorium on Illinois’s death penalty and the emptying of death row — moves credited with re-igniting the global fight against capital punishment....
In 2006, a special prosecutor’s report found that dozens of men had credible claims of abuse but that the statute of limitations had run out on any relevant crimes. It was not until Burge’s 2008 indictment that any officer was criminally charged in relation to the alleged torture.
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Ever hear the expression "can dish it out but can't take it," coppers?
"Ill. police, firefighters hit with fireworks" by Associated Press | July 7, 2010
ALTON, Ill. — An unruly mob lured emergency personnel to a housing complex near St. Louis with reports of a blaze, a shooting, and other crimes, then attacked them with fireworks and bottle rockets, authorities said.
No one was injured in the onslaughts against firefighters and police in Alton on Sunday night and early Monday.
The attackers apparently intended the assaults as entertainment for a hundreds-strong crowd of adults and children who had gathered at the Oakwood Housing Complex to watch, said Mark Harris, a deputy fire chief who witnessed the attacks....
There was no immediate word on any arrests or charges in the attacks.
Police Chief David Hayes said officers tried to control the assailants by using guns firing pepper balls. He said the assaults turned his stomach.
“I’m so angry,’’ Hayes told the newspaper. “This type of conduct is not supposed to happen in civil society.’’Neither is torture, but....
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And now they want to take your gun away?
"Residents, group sue over Chicago gun rules" by Associated Press | July 8, 2010
CHICAGO — Four Chicago residents and a gun sellers group have sued the city over a tough new gun control ordinance put in place after the US Supreme Court made a decades-old ban on firearms unenforceable.
The federal lawsuit contends the new ordinance, which city officials say is the strictest in the country, infringes on residents’ constitutional right to bear arms. The plaintiffs want the measure declared void and the city barred from enforcing it.
Gun rights supporters had predicted a flood of lawsuits after aldermen unanimously approved the ordinance Friday, four days after the Supreme Court ruled that Americans have the right to have handguns anywhere for self-defense....
The lawsuit’s plaintiffs include a trader on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, an educator who lives near a high-crime neighborhood, a veterinarian who owns a clinic, and her husband....
--more--""Chicago sets strict rules for handguns" by Associated Press | July 13, 2010
CHICAGO — An ordinance allowing Chicago residents to own handguns took effect yesterday, two weeks after the US Supreme Court made the city’s handgun ban unenforceable — but people may still be four months and a couple hundred dollars away from having one legally.
Oh, that i$ what thi$ is about!
Police Superintendent Jody Weis said that those who want guns must be fingerprinted, submit to a background check, pay a $100 application fee plus $15 for each gun they register....
Under the ordinance, residents must take and pass a four-hour class and one hour of training at a gun range, and submit affidavits signed by state-approved firearms instructors. Gun rights advocates were quick to criticize the process that the police department is implementing. “The purpose of all this is to simply prevent civilian firearm ownership, [and] it doesn’t make anybody safer,’’ said Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association. “When was the last time local gang-bangers went through a background check and firearm training?’’
Right.
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How come all the TOUGH GUN CONTROL CITIES have HIGHER CRIME RATES?
When GUNS are OUTLAWED only OUTLAWS have GUNS!
"Elderly couple found buried alive under trash in Chicago home" by Associated Press | May 26, 2010
CHICAGO — Fire crews investigating a mysterious stench found an elderly couple buried alive under mounds of garbage in their Chicago home, authorities said yesterday....
The Fire Department team forced in the door of the South Side home and found an overpowering smell, piles of food waste, and trash....
Police had initially been called to the two-flat apartment building by neighbors who had not seen the couple in some time and wondered about their welfare. Police called in the Fire Department because of the stench; the team that entered wore hazardous-materials suits.
An 83-year-old neighbor, Hattie Fields, said she used to see the man going out and getting in his truck to go to work in the morning, although not lately.
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