Emanuel says to scrap police review authority

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Friday that he wants to scrap the agency that handles complaints against the police and replace it with a civilian version — just a little over three weeks after he suggested moving slowly on the controversial reform.

Emanuel revealed his decision to take quicker action in an opinion piece published online in the Sun-Times. In it, the mayor indicated that he plans to embrace three key recommendations of the Police Accountability Task Force report that was issued last month.

Emanuel plans to:

• Replace the Independent Police Review Authority with a civilian investigative agency.

• Create a new position, the public safety inspector general.

• Create a Community Safety Oversight Board.

After the task force report was released last month, Emanuel didn’t rule out abolishing IPRA, but the mayor suggested he wanted to consult first with the U.S. Justice Department, which launched an investigation of the Chicago Police Department after the release of the Laquan McDonald video.

Read more:  chicago.suntimes.com/politics/emanuel-says-to-scrap-police-review-authority/