Shocked politicans and rights groups demand investigation of Chicago Police after Guardian article

[davidn3600]

The US Department of Justice and embattled mayor Rahm Emanuel are under mounting pressure to investigate allegations of what one politician called “CIA or Gestapo tactics” at a secretive Chicago police facility exposed by the Guardian.

Politicians and civil-rights groups across the US expressed shock upon hearing descriptions of off-the-books interrogation at Homan Square, the Chicago warehouse that multiple lawyers and one shackled-up protester likened to a US counter-terrorist black site in a Guardian investigation published this week .

As a second person came forward to the Guardian detailing her own story of being “held hostage” inside Homan Square without access to an attorney or an official public record of her detention by Chicago police, officials and activists said the allegations merited further inquiry and risked aggravating wounds over community policing and race that have reached as high as the White House.

Caught in the swirl of questions around the complex – still active on Wednesday – was Emanuel, the former chief of staff to Barack Obama who is suddenly facing a mayoral runoff election after failing to win a majority in a contest that has seen debate over police tactics take a central role.

Emanuel’s office refused multiple requests for comment from the Guardian on Wednesday, referring a reporter to an unspecific denial from the Chicago police.

But Luis Gutiérrez, the influential Illinois congressman whose shifting support for Emanuel was expected to secure Tuesday’s election, joined a chorus of colleagues in asking for more information about Homan Square.

“I had not heard about the story until I read about it in the Guardian,” Gutiérrez said late Wednesday. “I want to get more information, but if the allegations are true, it sounds outrageous.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/shocked-politicians-and-rights-groups-call-for-probe-of-gestapo-tactics-at-chicago-police-black-site/

A woman who says she was shackled to a bench within Chicago’s secretive interrogation facility for 18 hours before being permitted access to a lawyer described the ordeal as being “held hostage’’ in the police compound that has been likened to a CIA black site.

Vic Suter, a protester arrested before the 2012 Nato summit in Chicago, has told the Guardian about her experience of being detained inside Homan Square, a warehouse where multiple detainees allege they have been unable to contact legal counsel. Suter described a situation in which she was neither booked nor permitted a phone call – in defiance both of Chicago police procedures and a statement by police on Tuesday attempting to deny the Guardian’s reporting.

Suter’s account echoes that of Brian Jacob Church, whose story of extended detention without public notification and delayed legal access was featured in a Guardian’s exposé on Tuesday.

At the nondescript warehouse on Chicago’s west side, lawyers and arrestees say police detain suspects and witnesses for hours without booking or otherwise posting public notifications of their whereabouts, preventing their relatives and attorneys from knowing where they are.

---
Arrested alongside Church on 16 May, 2012, Suter found herself taken to the same warehouse, only kept by herself in a different cell.

“You’re going to get a tour of hell in Homan,” she said the police officer who drove her to the warehouse told her.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/26/chicago-police-homan-square-vic-suter

[Rex]

1. At least we don't live in a police state.

[Octafish]

13. Thank Moon. And the Chicago Police especially have a history of integrity.

Chicago Cops Who Exposed Department Corruption, Threatened with “Going Home in a Casket”

by Matt Agorist
Free Thought Project on February 15, 2015

Chicago, IL — Two Chicago police officers have launched a federal lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department. The allegations made against the department make the Gestapo look like the boy scouts.

Shannon Spalding and her partner Daniel Echeverria uncovered a massive level of corruption in their department, leading to the arrest of other officers.

After the first two cops had been initially arrested in their investigation, the department pulled the plug before any more officers could suffer the consequences of their actions.

“At one point, we were actually told the investigation was too big,” Spalding said. “There were allegations of other supervisors as well, that we were never allowed to investigate.”

“I think that the public should be very angry that corruption is allowed to continue, and that officers who want to report it are retaliated against,” said Spalding. “The code of silence is so strong, the fear of what will happen to you is so strong, that nobody wants to come forward.”

Echeverria and Spalding were subsequently blackballed and labelled as “IAD Rats.”

SNIP...

A third officer came forward and has given a sworn affidavit that corroborates the officers’ allegations. Twenty-year department veteran, Janet Hanna, says she witnessed the harassment these two officers faced after they were reassigned to her unit.

“They were given dead end jobs that would lead to no arrests,” she said. “I couldn’t continue to see that kind of treatment.”

Hanna explained how she was approached by her commander, who warned her about the two officers, whose only “crimes” were trying to stop corrupt cops.

CONTINUED...

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/chicago-pd-cops-call-department-corruption-threatened-home-casket/

[Fumesucker]

2. I've heard of the Tribune, I had no idea Chicago has a paper called the Guardian..

[ChisolmTrailDem]

3. You see, to get true journalism in today's oligarchic America, you must get it abroad. nt

[davidn3600]

4. Tribune is obviously in bed with the corrupt police

Can't trust them anymore.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

8. It's theguardian (US) that you have heard of

http://www.theguardian.com/profile/spencerackerman

Anyway, great timing! I like it better than before the election.

[truebrit71]

14. The Tribune is s right-wing fish wrap...

The Guardian is a highly respected British newspaper. I assume you are an American, hence your confusion as to what actual journalism looks like....

[Katashi_itto]

5. Why? 59% of Americans think torture is ok. Whats the big deal?

Its called a slippery slope.

Hopefully the police will get around to waterboarding people.

[truebluegreen]

6. Maybe Chicago PD already did.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/18/american-police-brutality-chicago-guantanamo

[Katashi_itto]

7. Start waterboading? Maybe they can raise more revenue by starting "The Torture Channel"

[Octafish]

9. Isn't Chicago where Rahm Emanuel went after his work in Washington?

Wonder how he's doin'?

[The Blue Flower]

10. Inadequate, unacceptable response from Emmanuel

First rule of pr is to get out ahead of the blowback from a story this explosive.

[damnedifIknow]

11. They have to get past this guy first

[Stuart G]

12. Rahm Emanuel had better answer questions about that "detention hole"..or face the consequences .

During the huge 79 snow storm, the Mayor, Bilandic, said everything was ok..nothing amiss in the snow removal and public transit from that huge storm. He said the trains were running, so, people would look out the window at the tracks on the el, and see no trains for hours..So those people called in the stations, and were interviewed on TV, and said no trains were running and the mayor had lied.
But, there was an election in April, and his lies came back to haunt him. He was an easy victor before the storm, but because of his lies, Jane Byrne,, was elected mayor instead.

Emanuel might think about telling the truth. It will be easy to see. He may say that the facility doesn't exist, or some shit like that. Or maybe, "he didn't know." But a lot of people will hear about this, one way or another. We will see, it is really up to him

[Lurks Often]

15. This will probably put a stake through Emanuel's political career

The lack of response from the Mayor's office and the fact that senior Chicago PD officials are still employed, does not bode well for the run off election or any other elected position in the future for Emanuel.

I'm guessing Emanuel and his advisors are brainstorming like mad to find a way out of this for him.

[angrychair]

16. connection maybe

DUer Marym625 posted this the other day:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026279868

[Stuart G]

17. Here is the responce from the Chicago Police Department:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-police-guardian-story-met-20150224-story.html

second link below, a link from the Chicago Sun-Times

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news-chicago/7/71/393084/homan-square-site-chicago-police-deny-report-secret-interrogation-compound
____________________________________________________________________________________________________


The Chicago Police Department in a statement Tuesday night denied accusations in a story by a British newspaper that alleged people have been illegally detained, beaten and denied access to counsel in a Homan Square facility..


The Police Department issued a statement in response to the Tuesday story in The Guardian. The department said violence does not happen as a part of interviews with suspects or anyone else and that lawyers have access to any clients at the West Side facility. The site also houses the department's Bureau of Organized Crime, SWAT unit evidence technicians and the CPD ballistics lab, the department said.



"CPD abides by all laws, rules and guidelines pertaining to any interviews of suspects or witnesses, at Homan Square or any other CPD facility," department spokesman Martin Maloney said in a statement. "If lawyers have a client detained at Homan Square, just like any other facility, they are allowed to speak to and visit them. It also houses CPD's Evidence Recovered Property Section, where the public is able to claim inventoried property."

Someone is not telling the truth..??

[PumpkinAle]

18. Shocked no, sad they were found out, probably yes. <n/t>

[Scuba]

19. Why are elected officials shocked when every DU member has known about this for years?