Police Violence: News-Gazette Condemns It in Chicago, OK with It in Champaign

Join the fun and games: Sneak up on a Champaign Police cruiser and slap a piece of Limburger cheese on the exhaust manifold.  That oughta fix their wagon!

My guess is you're referring to this editorial in the NG.
Would have been nice if the editors would have been as strident against the police torture committed by Sgt. William Alan Myers in 2004-5.
As it turned out, the NG was part of the Champaign-Urbana "political establishment."

When we held a press conference with one of Myers' victims, the NG mentioned our event, but nothing about the victim's accusations or even acknowledging the victim was there.

BD

Cop conviction sends big message

The political establishment in Chicago tried but failed to bury a police torture scandal.

An amazing verdict was delivered earlier this week at the U.S. District Court in Chicago, and it stands as yet another tribute to the decision by former Republican U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald to appoint an outsider as chief federal prosecutor there.

For decades, state and local officials first denied and then claimed they could do nothing about the alleged torture of criminal suspects by detectives under the command of Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge. They refused to acknowledge what happened until it could no longer be denied. Then they said there was no way to put a criminal case together against Burge and his confederates.

Of course, after years of inaction, state authorities had a point when they said that too much time had passed to pursue the original torture allegations.

But this week, federal prosecutors under the direction of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (no relation to Sen. Fitzgerald) obtained convictions for perjury and obstruction of justice against Burge for his lies denying any knowledge or participation in torture in the various civil lawsuits filed against him and others.

Burge and his henchman practiced the worst kind of police work. Not only was their physical abuse of criminal suspects morally reprehensible and illegal, but also it was a sloppy way to conduct an investigation. There are perfectly effective, legal means of speaking to suspects in custody without resorting to barbarism.

That Burge was allowed initially to run wild and then escape criminal responsibility for so long speaks volumes about the insider politics so pervasive in Chicago. Remember, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley was the state's attorney when Burge was active. His office never wanted to know much about the widespread allegations of torture. Even as Burge was fired and the city paid out millions of dollars to settle civil lawsuits, the political establishment has minimized what happened.

But prosecutor Fitzgerald, who was in New York before coming to Chicago, has done much to break up the political corruption in Chicago, not only prosecuting corrupt elected officials but corrupt police officers as well.

The Burge conviction certainly comes late in the game, too late to undo much of the damage that has been done. But the appointment of Fitzgerald continues to pay unexpected dividends to the citizens of Illinois.

This is great.  Without the proper disclaimers and adding the quotation marks as coming from this sites creators; what a great statement for slander for both Finney, Rietz and Schweighart.  Great job.  I hope they archive this as soon as possible.