Police board head makes case for reforms

Police Board President Lori Lightfoot argued Wednesday for increased training and changes to both the police contract and to the way police supervisors are chosen to restore public trust in the Chicago Police Department shattered by the police shooting of Laquan McDonald.

Lightfoot laid out an ambitious and costly reform agenda while testifying at the second and final subject matter hearing on Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to abolish the Independent Police Review Authority and replace it with a new multilayered system of police accountability.

Instead of confining her testimony to how the new system should be structured, Lightfoot took a more expansive view.

She talked about training so "woefully insufficient," the "only mandatory annual" requirement for police officers once they graduate from the police academy is firearms qualification that simply requires "firing 30 bullets into a paper target."

She homed in on a system of choosing police supervisors that "makes no sense whatsoever because they are not tested or selected for their ability to actually supervise."

For the full story, click here.