Spencer Ackerman in the Guardian reported that Chicago police set up a "secret" warehouse called Homan Square where they brought people "snatched" off the street and interrogated them for hours or days, without giving them access to lawyers, or letting their family know where they were. According to this amazing Guardian website, most of the people they took there were black, and according to the report, they were treated badly. I found that this past March 2015, the Chicago Police Department published a "fact sheet" that disputed all of the claims against Homan Square, and claimed that it was not a "secret" location, and that they treated all people brought there for questioning fairly and in accordance with the law. Around that same time, Nicholas Roti, the Chicago Police commander who managed the Homan Square site abruptly quit (see this article). It is difficult to figure out if the Guardian is just simply sensationalizing a reasonable effort being done by the police, or if, in fact, Chicago Police may have overstepped the law in their attempt tocontrol crime. If so, what they are doing sounds like something that is done in foreign countries to rival political parties.
Somehow this sort of treatment goes against everything I thought America stood for. According to the article, it appears that most of the interrogation involved suspicion of production, sale, transporting or using illegal drugs. The Chicago Police Department is trying to crack down on drugs as part of our country's absurd "war on drugs." I'm sure the police probably think they are doing their city a service, and I suspect that they don't think much of the people they drag in for questioning. Many of them may deserve harsh treatment. But in addition to being illegal to bring people in for questioning without booking them and giving them access to lawyers, it also alienates the citizens against the police department. If I, or a relative or friend had undergone such a treatment, I would probably harbor a resentment against the police for the rest of my life. I would no longer assist them, I would not respect them and I might do what I could to interfere with them doing their job. Likewise, if the police are, in fact, breaking the law by what they are doing, they also should be punished for doing it. I would expect that the police have video of all interrogations, and can produce all of the proper booking information to dispute the charges from the Guardian. I would expect also that the Illinois Attorney General, and/or the US Attorney General would have investigated, since this has been in the news for quite a while. It will be interesting to see how this story progresses.
What worries me is that if the Police can treat citizens for relatively minor suspicion of illegal drugs, what would they do for suspicion of terrorism? Could police round up and "disappear" large numbers of our citizens for demonstrating against a war or some other policy and treat them as suspected terrorists?
Somehow this sort of treatment goes against everything I thought America stood for. According to the article, it appears that most of the interrogation involved suspicion of production, sale, transporting or using illegal drugs. The Chicago Police Department is trying to crack down on drugs as part of our country's absurd "war on drugs." I'm sure the police probably think they are doing their city a service, and I suspect that they don't think much of the people they drag in for questioning. Many of them may deserve harsh treatment. But in addition to being illegal to bring people in for questioning without booking them and giving them access to lawyers, it also alienates the citizens against the police department. If I, or a relative or friend had undergone such a treatment, I would probably harbor a resentment against the police for the rest of my life. I would no longer assist them, I would not respect them and I might do what I could to interfere with them doing their job. Likewise, if the police are, in fact, breaking the law by what they are doing, they also should be punished for doing it. I would expect that the police have video of all interrogations, and can produce all of the proper booking information to dispute the charges from the Guardian. I would expect also that the Illinois Attorney General, and/or the US Attorney General would have investigated, since this has been in the news for quite a while. It will be interesting to see how this story progresses.
What worries me is that if the Police can treat citizens for relatively minor suspicion of illegal drugs, what would they do for suspicion of terrorism? Could police round up and "disappear" large numbers of our citizens for demonstrating against a war or some other policy and treat them as suspected terrorists?
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