Busy Week for Chicago PD


It has been a busy week for Chicago Police.  They have arrested and charged R. Kelly.  They have investigated an incident involving actor Jussie Smollett and have charged him with mischief. 

I wish the world could be more peaceful and less complicated.  I love napping with my grandson.  He looks particularly angelic while he is sleeping.  I hope he never has reason to worry and can always sleep soundly.  I know that is not realistic or even healthy.  We learn resiliency and character from strife. 

I confess I have a personal bias against the police.  I don't like it, but it is part of my reality.  I really wish I didn't automatically have a suspicion of the police.  I know better than anybody that everyone makes mistakes.  However, rightly or wrongly, we know a great of the police mistakes as they are often public.  It makes people like me have a hard time trusting.

The R. Kelly situation is particularly troubling. I admit he was not on my radar, but people in the know had been whispering loudly about his behaviors for decades.  If you read the history, it is really troubling and hard to understand how he escaped prosecution.  If it wasn't so tragic it would be actually funny.  If you watched the Lifetime Series on Surviving R.Kelly, you likely were screaming at the tv.  Why wasn't this man in jail?   How was a documentary series able to force the hand of the police?  How could they unearth this evidence and these witnesses when the police were unable.  Lack of trust to the police leads to many societal problems.  Maybe there would not be so many victims if the police built more bridges. 

I have to admit I was very impressed by the Chicago PD news conference when they announced they would be charging Jussie. I was impressed with the human emotion they displayed.  I was impressed when they were asked about what they would consider justice in this situation.  They felt that Mr. Smollett needed help and justice wouldn't be served by having him in jail, however, they felt justice was for the City to be paid back all the hours of the many officers who were investigating the case.  They noted that a 2 year old boy had been killed the same day of the allegation and his killer had not been caught and they wish they could have focused more on that.  I was impressed with this show of humanity. 

However, that news conference that impressed me has turned out to be a mistake.  Jussie Smollett has hired one of the top defense lawyers in America, Mark Geragos.  He has immediately indicated that all Americans have the presumption of innocence and based on that news conference, Jussie may never receive a fair trial as he is already been found guilty in the court of public opinion. 

The police are trained to be overly confident and feel omnipotent.  They need this in order to do their jobs.  It is just sad that this training leads them to be overly confident and omnipotent.  It leads to many mistakes. 

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