Deval Patrick will serve as senior advisor to Chicago police accountability task force
Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick will serve as senior advisor to a task force charged with reviewing and improving accountability in the Chicago Police Department.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the creation of the five-member task force on Tuesday, the same day he fired the city’s police superintendent, Garry McCarthy.
The changes come amid unrest following the release of a video last week showing a white police officer fatally shooting Laquan McDonald, a black teenager, last October. the officer, Jason Von Dyke, was charged with first-degree murder the same day the video was released.
“The shooting of Laquan McDonald requires more than just words,’’ Emanuel said in a statement announcing the task force. “It requires that we act; that we take more concrete steps to prevent such abuses in the future, secure the safety and the rights of all Chicagoans, and build stronger bonds of trust between our police and the communities they’re sworn to serve.’’
Patrick, a Chicago native who also served as the U.S. assistant district attorney for the Civil Rights Division under President Bill Clinton, will advise the group, which will review accountability, oversight, and training in the police department.
The group is expected to present its recommendations by March 31, 2016.
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