CHICAGO – It’s a chance to reflect after multiple days of protests.
“We watched these officers go through it. We saw people yelling in their faces, yelling obscenities, and they maintained their cool throughout. They didn’t take the bait,” Superintendent Larry Snelling said.
Snelling gave his police department a round of applause, lauding them for their handling of the mostly peaceful marches, though they weren’t without a few scuffles.
On Monday night, a small part of a larger protest took down fences near the United Center.
On Tuesday, police declared a mass arrest when, according to Snelling, his officers were attacked outside the Israeli Consulate.
In all, 74 people were arrested during the protests, and just eight complaints were filed against CPD with the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
“We set out to make sure that we kept the city safe while protecting First Amendment activity and we did just that,” Snelling said.
Volunteers like Brad Thomson, who serves as an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild, watch police during protests, document arrests and represent those arrests pro-bono. Thomson didn’t like what he saw outside the Israeli Consulate.
“After preventing the crowd from marching, they corralled people, started arresting people indiscriminately without giving proper orders to disperse,” Thomson said.
However, Deputy Special Agent in Charge Derek Mayer of the Secret Service Chicago Field Office had nothing but praise for the CPD.
“I’ve been in law enforcement 24 years, I’ve traveled the world and I’ve lived in cities all over the country. I have never seen anyone better than you,” he said.
WGN News also filed a Freedom of Information Act request with Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) to try and learn more about those eight complaints filed against CPD. We do know there are a few allegations of excessive force and civil rights violations.
WGN News will provide more information once we learn more.
The Democratic National Convention in Chicago concluded Thursday night with Vice President Kamala Harris accepting the party’s nomination to the land’s highest office.
DNC Highlights:
Chicago has hosted Democrats 12 times, the last being nearly 30 years ago when President Bill Clinton was nominated for a second term.
WGN Cover Story: Why Chicago has hosted more presidential conventions than any other city.