http://chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0112180243dec18.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed

Please say it aint so!  Over 71 cases in the last 10 years?  How many still are under the rug?

it use to be that you told kids that a man in a cops uniform is a person you can trust, if the thing has a chicago flag on it, dont bet on it!

Two weeks ago, the Illinois Appellate Court threw out the confession of another 14-year-old, Ezekiel McDaniel. He alleged that Chicago police slapped him and put a gun on a table, the barrel pointing at him. The court criticized detectives for preventing his mother from being with him and concluded that a youth officer responsible for protecting McDaniel's rights "showed no interest" in doing so.
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Gee, a agent of the state not interested in protecting a kid's rights, would they care about my rights?  

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In Lake County, a 10-year-old girl questioned by Waukegan police confessed to the 1995 murder of a toddler she was baby-sitting. Police interrogated the girl twice within 12 hours. The first interrogation lasted from about 10 p.m. until 3 a.m., during which time police kept the girl and her grandmother apart even though each asked to see the other, according to an appeals court ruling.

The girl was allowed to go home, but police picked her up again hours later, hurrying her to the station without letting her change out of her pajamas. The girl was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, but the Illinois Appellate Court reversed her conviction in 1997, saying her confession was not voluntary and should be thrown out.

"Unquestionably, [the girl] was a child of extreme youth, tired, hungry, frightened, and, most likely, humiliated to be wearing her pajamas in a police station while being questioned by adult authority figures," the court wrote. "The coercive potential of questioning her under these circumstances is obvious."
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What's next, beating and torture?  That's right CPD has been just doing that to adults, kids are next year.

c-rock

Marcus Wiggins, 13 years old when he confessed to murder in 1991, alleged that police tortured him with electric shock. A judge threw out Wiggins' confession the following year, and the charges were dismissed. Eddie Huggins, then 15, confessed in 1998 to fatally stabbing a woman. But the autopsy showed no stab wounds, and Huggins was acquitted. Donald Olmetti, then 16, confessed in 1997 to killing a schoolteacher. But attendance records and witness statements placed Olmetti in another school more than a mile away, and the charges were dropped.

And in one of the most heavily publicized cases in Chicago police history, two boys, ages 7 and 8, confessed to the 1998 murder of 11-year-old Ryan Harris. But lab tests detected semen on the victim's underwear, eliminating the boys as suspects. Using DNA evidence, police subsequently charged a 30-year-old man with the murder.

More often, youth officers get criticized for performing their jobs with utter indifference. "In a serious felony investigation, they're like a potted plant. They're just there," said Steve Drizin, a law professor and supervising attorney of the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University.

In some cases, an apathetic youth officer makes it easier for police to keep parents out of the interrogation room.

Ezekiel McDaniel was 14 years old in 1996 when Chicago police said he confessed to firing shots at a passing car, killing another teenager. McDaniel alleged that Detective Kriston Kato slapped him and placed a gun on the table, the barrel pointing toward McDaniel. Kato denied those allegations in court.

McDaniel was tried as an adult and convicted of murder, but earlier this month, the Illinois Appellate Court threw out his conviction. Although it made no findings concerning the alleged brutality, the court said McDaniel's confession had been coerced. The prosecution's options now include appealing that decision, retrying McDaniel or dropping the charges.

Detectives "clearly frustrated" attempts by McDaniel's mother to see him before questioning, the appellate court said. McDaniel's mother was at the police station from about 2:30 a.m. until 8 a.m. while her son was questioned. But Kato testified that she didn't ask to see her son.

The appeals court called that "not believable" and added, "if Detective Kato was not truthful regarding Ms. McDaniel's efforts to see defendant, then the rest of his testimony is suspect as to believability . . . "

The court also chastised the youth officer, saying she "showed no interest" in protecting McDaniel's rights. The youth officer testified that she saw McDaniel's mother in a hallway at the police station prior to McDaniel's interrogation but never spoke with her.

The youth officer also never spoke with McDaniel, court records show. The officer was in the interrogation room but never said a thing.

Chi-town, Philly, DC and New Orleans, all great cities to be a cop. Oh forgot Tokyo. In Japan, they only arrest guilty perps as well.

Gotta hand it to NYC, they've done what they needed to do. Any NYC cops out there want to let us in on the secret. What a turn around.

Luck
Alac

Oh - edited to add parts of LA to the former list. Boston to the latter. Ill criticize those who have earned it but lets not paint with a broad brush here. Most LEO's are straight up, but like all groups (gunowners for example) you get the asses as well.  

Is not Chicago a bastion of the Democratic party? Police are usually a patronage job, I see it all the time arouind here. Cops are hired that should never have been because they know someone.
MMMM seems like the problem traces back to polititions?