Chicago Settles Whistleblower Lawsuit

According to former Chicago police officers Daniel Echeverria and Shannon Spalding, when they attempted to reveal corruption bad policies within the Chicago Police Department, they were blackballed and faced retaliation that was, at the least, ignored, if not outright condoned by CPD management.

They filed suit. Now, according to the Chicago Tribune:

The last-minute resolution of the potentially explosive civil rights lawsuit kept Mayor Rahm Emanuel from having to testify about the code of silence within the Police Department — although the mayor later insisted he was not trying to avoid taking the witness stand.

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As mentioned in the story, the city government cannot deny the existence of this code any longer. Mayor Emanuel stood before the city council and declared its existence. Putting that into a court transcript was likely to bring lots of pain. Local news reported that the plaintiffs' attorneys had argued for calling numerous precinct captains and others in the CPD administration to address this. There's LOTS of talk about just how many of them would have taken their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

No criticism of the officers for accepting the settlement. I just wish the CPD had been forced to do exactly that. Own up to their corruption, or show the world (so to speak) how deep this goes, at least in Chicago.

The city fought tooth and nail to keep Emanuel off the witness stand, even taking the unprecedented step of offering to admit to the jury the code of silence existed if it meant the mayor would not have to testify. But the judge ruled a few weeks ago that Emanuel would have to take the stand.

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Yeah. I was looking forward to that, though the settlement did not shock me.