My brother in law said the cops in Chicago were just another gang.
True? Well, the above story isn't evidence that he is wrong.
I grew up in Chicago. I had an uncle who was a lieutenant in the CPD, and a neighbor who was a detective, so I heard . . . stories.
Decades ago it was well known that gangs were infiltrating the Chicago Police Department in a planned and organized manner. They were recruiting youngsters into the gang at an early age, and keeping them "clean" by avoiding actual criminal activity. Make no mistake, these kids WERE gang members, but by being kept at arm's length from the gang's business (mostly drugs) they had clean records when they became legal adults. They were also "encouraged" to do well in school by the gangs. So . . . once they turned 21 . . . off to the Police Academy they went, often as part of a diversity or affirmative action hiring program.
And a good portion of them became members of Chicago's Finest. And they still were/are actively helping the gangs by doing things like making sure that when on patrol, they're at the far end of their patrol area when their gang does something. Sometimes they do something more overt and occasionally get caught . . . but the gangs have more working for them. With nearly 12,000 sworn officers and nearly 1000 "other" employees, the CPD is the 2nd largest in the nation, and some estimates put gang membership at a couple of hundred.
But nobody official wants to admit this or talk about it.
