It took thirteen months for video to surface of Laquan McDonald, a 17 year old black teenager, being gunned down by a policeman in Chicago. Why did it take so long, and how will authorities in Chicago be held accountable? MacDonald's killing is putting into sharp focus issues of transparency in city police departments as well as how police handle suspects who are on drugs. Tom speaks with Jamie Kalven, a Chicago writer and the executive director of the Invisible Institute, which has been instrumental in making internal police documents about police misconduct cases available to the public, including the police dash-cam video and the autopsy report in the McDonald case.
Neill Franklin, a retired Baltimore police officer, also joins us by phone from San Francisco. He is the executive director of LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. He was undercover in the early 1980s and was also the commanding officer of Drug and Criminal Enforcement on the Eastern Shore. He grew up in Reservoir Hill, and worked in Baltimore City as the head of training for the Baltimore City Police Department.
Neill Franklin will be speaking along with Leonard Campanello police chief of Gloucester, Massachusetts at the 2640 Space (St. John’s Church) at 2640 St. Paul Street, from 7 to 9 p.m. The event is coordinated and sponsered by the Open Society Institute.
