Thank you for the recent story about the Chicago police officer resigning after last year’s altercation on North Avenue Beach. But the following questions remain unanswered:
Are cops duty-bound to arrest anyone/everyone in the park after closing hours? If so, why have we not seen a raft of such arrests? The outcome of the confrontation suggests it is not the case, even when the police department is not undermanned as it is currently.
Officer Bruce Dyker had 25 complaints against him (three sustained). How many are needed to remove him from the job? If 25 or fewer, why was he still with the department last August when this happened?
Much like Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara, who came to his defense, Dyker seems to have a problem with people of color. Why does the Chicago Police Department continue to hire cops with racial bias that virtually guarantees this outcome?
It risks bad publicity as well as possible lawsuits and animosity with communities of color.
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The top brass must be insensitive to this vulnerability in the hiring process, which leads to wasted resources spent training hires like Dyker. How dense and irresponsible can top management get?
There are psychological tests that flag such personalities. Evidently, our police department does not use the most revelatory ones or ignores the findings.
It would behoove the Sun-Times to launch a study of the police department’s hiring protocols. Also needed: to compare it to that of other big-city police departments. Is CPD using the most effective test battery? Are they heeding the findings? Do other factors sabotage this function?
The more bad apples who are rejected in the first place, the fewer the lawsuits and the lower the costs to the taxpayers long-term.
Not to mention that flawed cops sour good cops.
Ted Manuel, Hyde Park
Ending the war in Ukraine
Americans’ wide support and appreciation for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people needs to be tempered by two realities. There will be no victory. The only ultimate way forward is by diplomacy.
I do not suggest that Ukraine give up any land. I believe they should consider a neutral status. This means agreeing to not join NATO, though open to some affiliate relationship with the European Union. Finland and Sweden should be persuaded to not join NATO as well.
In exchange, Russia would agree to remove all troops from Ukraine, with Crimea’s status to be determined by separate negotiations. Ukraine would be offered protection, by treaty, with both western powers and Russia.
I do not speak out of the blue, but seek to carry out the vision of distinguished and legendary American diplomat George Kennan, who opposed the expansion of NATO fearing the negative impact on our relations with Russia.
Let us return to a Ukraine that is the breadbasket of much of the world. Let us help stop this war, end the carnage, bury the dead, comfort the survivors, and then commit to helping rebuild and restore this suffering nation.
Rev. Martin Deppe, Edgewater
