…When Asked This Question
By Ken Hare
Chicago Defender Staff Writer
The Police Accountability Task Force, chaired by Lori Lightfoot, just released its 190-page report after a four-months-long inquiry into the practices of the Chicago Police Department. In an hour-long, exclusive interview with our editorial board, the Chicago Defender had the opportunity to ask some rather revealing questions.
One of which is the following:
CD: Lori, did the Task Force look at the issue of policemen carrying individual liability insurance so that the city doesn’t have to continue paying these huge settlements?
LL: “We heard about that, but frankly weren’t able to get enough information about it. We weren’t sure and we didn’t find anywhere that that was a product being offered by insurance companies. It was a concept that was brought to our attention, but to be candid, we didn’t dig down deep on that.”
Currently, Chicago has paid out a whopping $642,000,000 in police-related shootings and misconduct settlements over the past eleven years, according to the Better Government Association. That’s $2,361.00 for every man, woman, and child in Chicago! And, there are over 390 police-related lawsuits currently winding their way through the Cook County and federal courts – and more are sure to come.
So it is only appropriate to start asking the question: Should policemen and women be required to have personal liability insurance as a requirement to discharge a firearm? Or, in this rigged system, as Republican, front-runner, Donald Trump states: Would you like to continue paying for their corruption and misdeeds?
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