Beleaguered Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Monday that he “welcomed” the Justice Department’s investigation into his city’s police practices, hours after it was announced by the attorney general, Loretta Lynch.
The pressure from Washington comes amid calls for his resignation following the release of dashcam footage that showed a white Chicago police officer fatally shooting a black teenager, Laquan McDonald, 17.
Earlier on Monday, Lynch launched the federal investigation into whether the city’s police department was guilty of a pattern of deadly violence against the African American community. She said the inquiry – initially resisted by Emanuel – would proceed with or without cooperation from the city, which has alreadysacked its police superintendent, Garry McCarthy.
The announcement of the sweeping DoJ investigation came after similar responses to police killings in Ferguson, Baltimore and New York. That prompted Lynch to issue a rare warning about the danger of collapsing trust in policing.
“When suspicion and hostility is allowed to fester, it can erupt into unrest,” said the attorney general during a press conference to unveil the latest so-called “pattern and practice” investigation.
