2016-06-02 – A couple months ago we heard Dean Angelo, president of Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police, whine that efforts to break the force’s code of silence would hurt morale of the city’s cops. Mayor Emanuel’s task force had blasted the city’s police oversight system as “riddled with legal and practical barriers to accountability.” And its report said that the police collective bargaining agreement turns “code of silence into official policy.”

So I was happy to hear that the judge in a lawsuit brought by whistle-blowing cops against the city over retaliation had cleared the way for Mayor Emanuel’s testimony on the code of silence.

Except that the lawsuit has now suddenly been settled. Rahm is off the hook for $2 million. He says it was cheaper than going to trial.

The City of Chicago has paid out more than half a billion dollars over the last decade to settle police misconduct cases. And these are just the ones where plaintiffs were alive and not scared to take on the city. Rahm is paying out the small bucks to keep the code of silence going. It’s hush money.

I voted for Rahm Emanuel in his first election mostly because I thought he was going to put the police force in order. Boy was I fooled.