CHICAGO (CBS) — Mayor Rahm Emanuel neither praised nor criticized two police officers seen kneeling with a community activist in an Instagram picture.
The mayor said he’s not taking sides on the image of two African-American police officers taking a knee inside the Gresham District station, flanking community activist Aleta Clark, all three holding their fists in the air.
Clark posted the picture of the officers kneeling on Instagram. She said she walked into the Gresham District police station, asking the officers if they were against police brutality and racism, and if they stood with former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who started the kneeling movement last year. Both officers reportedly said yes, and then took a knee with Clark.
The department has said the officers have been reprimanded for violating a policy prohibiting police from engaging “in any type of political activity” while in uniform.
Emanuel said the good news is Clark trusted the officers enough to ask them to join her in protesting injustice.
“We encourage community policing in all its aspects of that trust. We also have a principle about not taking, in any way, showing favoritism of political views,” he said.
The mayor said he will not second guess what the officers should have done or what police officials will do to discipline them.
from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2wUgrlU
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