Chicago is the second worst city in the nation when it comes to complaints about the police force. In both the amount of actual reports filed last month in Chicago, in addition to the sheer number of complaints for Illinois, our city and state ranked in 2nd place, a close 2nd to New York City.
Local residents said that they have either experienced or knew someone who experienced unnecessary force when dealing with local officials. They said that in their confrontation by an officer, the officers were irritable, overly-authoritative, rebellious of conduct regulations, and most of all—abusive of their privileges granted through their position. According to National Police Misconduct Statistics, 51 people in Illinois reported feeling harassed by city officers in the month of October alone.
A 28 year-old Caucasian Des Plaines resident had a first hand account of such lawlessness. She said that her father served in the police force since she was a child. She talked of childhood memories with her father, riding with him in his police car. Sometimes, she remembered, “...he would turn on his lights in a busy intersection, speeding through in order to avoid sitting in traffic.”
Another woman, a 20-year old female, said that her dad, also an officer, was racist. “If you're black, you're guaranteed a ticket. If he finds one thing wrong, he'll use it as an excuse to write them a ticket.”
These aren't the only times residents have witnessed police men and women abusing their position. Catherine Simmons, a 20 year-old white female student of Northeastern Illinois University on the city's north side, observed an officer “...in his squad car, texting while driving!! I couldn't believe it! They constantly remind us of the little things we have to obey under penalty of law, but they turn around and do the same thing!”
The same resident reported being sexually assaulted earlier this year. Ms. Simmons, her friend, and her boyfriend were on their way to the Midway Airport on Chicago's south side, heading down Cicero Ave. “The directions said it would be faster, so we dodged the highway,” Simmons reported, “but, we ended up getting pulled over by two officers for 'swerving'. They made us put our hands up, screaming at us as they approached the car—the whole nine yards. They thought we had drugs. The one officer, a rugged white male in his 30s, made me get out of the car and threatened to take myself and my friends to jail and take away my friend's car if we had something and I didn't tell him where it was.” Chris Daimroseh, a 22 year-old white male who was driving the vehicle, told reporters that the second officer, a Hispanic male also in his 30s, asked if they picked up Simmons for prostitution on the way to their destination. This infuriated Ryan Mathiotte, boyfriend of Simmons. “I wanted to get out and hit the guy, but I stayed in the car because I knew fighting him would only guarantee me jail time.” Simmons explained that the whole situation was a terrible experience, which left her “..feeling humiliated and violated.”
This type of behavior in Chicago's police force is seemingly more and more common. With Chicago incidents in October accounting for 20% of the state's total, local neurological health officials decided to investigate what may be causing the obviously elevated levels of aggression. Experts from the Neurological and Orthopedic Hospital of Chicago decided to form a team and research local officials. Headed by Dr. Inga Alno, the team conducted a study of the neurological and psychological reactions of police officers to different tests. After the study, they came to a very shocking conclusion:
“About 53.64% of the 13,400 sworn police officers of Chicago are infected with what we have labeled as the 'Jerk Flu', named after its side effects. It is a new type of Influenza, very much like that of the Spanish Flu in 1918 in its likeliness to the affects it has on the brain. Recent studies of the Spanish Flu cited that the severity of the disease was due to its rapid lethal affect on the brain. Likewise, the Jerk Flu infects the Limbic section of the brain, specifically in the Amygdala portion which controls emotions such as anger and aggression. We also found imbalanced levels of Serotonin and MAOA, genes that help balance the brain's levels of these emotions. Fortunately, the Jerk Flu is thus far believed to be only infectious, not fatal. Effective treatment to fully eliminate the disease has not yet been discovered, but our teams should have findings within the next few weeks.”
The cause of the disease, however, has not yet been found. According to Dr. Inga Alno, head of the research team, “we have not yet found the source of the disease, but we believe it to be coming from the bacteria in training facilities; although, it is also possible that it is being spread from the older officers as they train new recruits. We have several research subcommittees testing everything from ticket booklets, to squad cars, to batons, in order to find the cause. Wherever it's coming from, we'll find it.”
Health officials also said that if left untreated, the Jerk Flu could have permanent effects on the brain, causing disorders like IED (Intermittent Explosive Disorder). According to Bio Medicine articles, IED is “marked by outbursts of anger that far outweigh the provocation and that lead to aggressive or destructive acts.” Patients that suffer from this psychological disorder report having trouble: identifying facial expressions properly, picking up social cues, stopping disadvantageous decision making, and controlling aggression no matter what the consequences.
Side effects of the newly discovered flu include: moodiness, irritability, memory loss, rebellious actions, aggression, unnecessary anger, and feelings of elitism (feeling that they are a higher status than someone); which explain the complaints received from residents about the aggression and violence in police encounters. Many Chicago residents were rejoicing when the news went public this afternoon, telling reporters that officers, “...had it coming to them,” and that they could now finally feel “avenged”.
The real question is how Chicago will deal with these violent officers. Reporters asked Mayor Daley what he intends to do on the matter, and he replied, “The first thing we have to do is gather the infected so that they can be tested and treated once we find a cure. We decided renovate one of the downtown area buildings to be the headquarters in which officers can be tested, and, if highly infectious, quarantined. A quarantine of even the most slightly infected officers may be necessary in the future, but we don't want to jump to any rational actions. We are furthering research to develop a cure. Until then, we will have to deal with the cut in available healthy officers.”
So, if you find yourself pulled over on your commute to work this week, you just might want to jot down the badge number of the officer, and make sure to keep a good distance away from him.
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