Chicago police dept hit with host of allegations

A former chief of detectives was arrested on charges that he ran a nationwide jewel theft ring while he was still in the department.

There have also been claims of brutality, wrongful prosecutions and botched investigations.

The allegations aren’t new in Chicago. But the recent flurry has hurt the reputation of the United States’ second-largest police department, which has tried for years to shed its corrupt reputation.

‘‘This police department does not hold itself accountable to the public in a way that allows the community to believe they respect human rights,’’ said Nancy Bothne, regional director of Amnesty International, which has investigated allegations of brutality by Chicago police.

The department has fired three officers involved in the shooting of an unarmed woman and added training designed to ease racial tensions.

Critics say more needs to be done.

‘‘I think that the distrust of the police department and the lack of confidence in the department is probably at an all-time high,’’ said Laura Washington, editor and publisher of The Chicago Reporter, a monthly which reports extensively on racial issues.

Even Police Superintendent Terry Hillard says confidence in the police ‘‘probably has’’ eroded.

Chicago isn’t the only major city with police problems.

Los Angeles is mired in its largest police corruption scandal in its history.

New York has had to deal with the fallout from the police torture of Abner Louima and the shooting of an unarmed immigrant, Amadou Diallo. In Cincinnati, rioting erupted over the shooting death of an unarmed man by a police officer.

Detroit police are accused of arresting witnesses.

But since before the days of Al Capone, Chicago has battled the perception that its police are quick to take a payoff, swing their billy clubs and frame the innocent.

The department’s reputation is tarnished each time stories of past problems resurface.

When Governor George Ryan imposed a moratorium on the death penalty last year, it was a reminder that five of 13 overturned death sentences were Chicago police cases.

In March, jurors needed only two hours to decide they didn’t believe officers who testified that they’d been assaulted by a man who had prevailed in a separate brutality case against other officers.

The department has made changes that could revamp its image.

On Hillard’s recommendation, three officers were fired following the 1999 shooting death of an unarmed woman by an officer who mistook her cell phone for a gun.

Last May, Hillard announced that officers would undergo training to better handle the first seconds of their encounters with the public, focusing on minorities.

After a number of officer-involved shootings, he dramatically limited when officers are allowed to shoot at suspects’ vehicles.

Hillard also has promised to make changes aimed at preventing racial profiling and turning more cases of police brutality and corruption over for prosecution.

‘‘From the folks I’ve talked to there is a confidence in him that I haven’t seen in the 26 years I’ve been here,’’ said the Rev Michael Pfleger, a community activist who’s been critical of police in the past.

‘‘Before when they were confronted by problems they kind of blew them off,’’ said Pfleger, who is pastor of a Roman Catholic Church in Chicago’s South Side.

"Hillard is a guy much more ready to say there are problems here and we have to deal with it."

Anton Valukas, a defence lawyer and former federal prosecutor, said the department is ‘‘rooting out its own problems and getting rid of miscreants and not protecting them.’’

He contrasts that with the 1970s, when federal authorities didn’t trust the Chicago police enough to tell them about their own investigations.

‘‘I think it is a sea change,’’ Valukas said.

However, Washington said some changes come too late.

‘‘There is still the feeling that they do the right thing,’’ she said. ‘‘but only after somebody has died.’’