Chicago mayor seeks federal probe into racist radio calls

CHICAGO (AP) - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is asking federal and Cook County authorities to look into an outburst of racial slurs that have been broadcast over police department radio frequencies.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports (http://bit.ly/1qgJeOZ) that in a letter to U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, Emanuel says the transmissions were made by an unauthorized private citizen using non-city-issued equipment.

The Chicago Police Department began its own investigation after a male voice was heard on a police frequency on March 13 using obscenities and racial slurs.

In his letter, Emanuel said there have since been three more instances of unauthorized people broadcasting racial slurs over police frequencies

Emanuel says the language used and the racial intolerance expressed "do not represent the values of our police department or our city."

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Information from: Chicago Sun-Times, http://chicago.suntimes.com/