Podcast: A reporter in Chicago took on the police department’s alleged code of silence on misconduct. He produced a memorable story and poses some provocative questions to go with it.
The integrity of police officers and the departments they work for have come under considerable scrutiny in the past several years. In few cities, however, has that scrutiny been more intense than in Chicago, where reporter Jamie Kalven has broken a number of important and disturbing stories.
Kalven has worked in Chicago for decades as a human rights activist, and across those years he has written about conditions in the city’s public housing, as well as the broader lives of its residents.
His reporting on the police killing of Laquan McDonald earned him the 2015 George Polk Award for Local Reporting.
Kalven’s dogged pursuit of the details in the shooting death of the 17-year-old turned up evidence of an effort by police to mislead the public.
"The accumulating denials, you know, as the denials came in and as I cataloged them in the legal documents, I have to say that actually built my confidence in the story. Because remember this is a story about official denial; this is a story about the code of silence."
Listen to this podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud or Stitcher. For more, read Kalven's series, Code of Silence.
The integrity of police officers and the departments they work for have come under considerable scrutiny in the past several years. In few cities, however, has that scrutiny been more intense than in Chicago, where reporter Jamie Kalven has broken a number of important and disturbing stories.
Kalven has worked in Chicago for decades as a human rights activist, and across those years he has written about conditions in the city’s public housing, as well as the broader lives of its residents.
His reporting on the police killing of Laquan McDonald earned him the 2015 George Polk Award for Local Reporting.
Kalven’s dogged pursuit of the details in the shooting death of the 17-year-old turned up evidence of an effort by police to mislead the public.
"The accumulating denials, you know, as the denials came in and as I cataloged them in the legal documents, I have to say that actually built my confidence in the story. Because remember this is a story about official denial; this is a story about the code of silence."
Listen to this podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud or Stitcher. For more, read Kalven's series, Code of Silence.
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