Another Hit Piece

Amazing how these articles just pop up in a timely manner - it's almost like the media is trying to distract people from other scandals:

• Late last year, Judge William Hooks heard the kind of case that occurs at Cook County's main courthouse every day and that, in most instances, ends with a guilty verdict and the defendant headed off to prison. This time, though, the case came to a different conclusion.
  
  At the center was a veteran Chicago police narcotics officer who testified that he and his partner had abandoned an undercover drug surveillance to stop a minivan for failing to signal for a right turn — and discovered about 2 1/2 pounds of cocaine in the vehicle.
  
  Lawyers for the two men arrested in the case said the story did not ring true and asked the judge to throw out the charges before trial. There was no way, they said, that officers from a specialized narcotics unit would break away from their surveillance for a traffic stop.
  
  Hooks agreed.

And guess who is going to get involved now?

• The issue so erodes trust in the criminal justice system that the U.S. Department of Justice, as part of its civil rights investigation into the Police Department, has asked the Cook County public defender's office to refer cases with evidence that officers testified falsely, the Tribune has learned.

And these are slam-dunk cases?

• Determining whether an officer lied on the witness stand or was simply mistaken can be difficult; a judge's ruling does not necessarily mean an officer intentionally testified falsely. Nonetheless, top police officials and prosecutors make little effort to get to the bottom of what some lawyers have come to call "testilying."

Called that by Hollywood, defense attorneys and "defendant judges." Like Hooks maybe?

In any event, officers testify to the best of their recollection. We aren't machines. That's why you're allowed to look at Case Reports and Arrest Reports - to refresh your memory, especially if you're one of those coppers who is doing two, three or more arrests a night at the local dope spot, picking off buyers, chasing the pack, hoping to identify "security" and luck into a gun every so often. That used to be considered good police work and the bosses encouraged it.

Officers err. It happens. If officers deliberately lie, there should be penalties. But now, if you aren't a robot with instant recall and perfect playback ability, you are going to be hung out to dry.

But cheat on a promotional exam, the Tribune will gently push that into the background lest Rahm have to explain away yet another personal choice running afoul of policy....or the law.