Chicago Could Learn From Other Cities The Feds Scrutinized
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Baltimore is the latest city to get a personal visit from US. Attorney Loretta Lynch, announcing a consent agreement that mandates reform of the city's police department.
"We are at the beginning of this process," Lynch said. "We all know that it requires a great deal of work and the leadership and the officers of the Baltimore police department."
Lynch, who will be in Chicago on Friday with a similar announcement, has held press conferences like these in nearly 20 cities throughout the last several years. As a result, she said she has seen the culture change in some of these police departments, adding that there's value to these investigations.
Samuel Walker, a criminologist professor at the University of Nebraska, was also a consultant to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's task force on police intervention, also saw improvements, specifically in public perception.
Cleveland serves as one example. According to a recent report from the team that monitors that city, "To date, there has been tremendous progress toward a core use of force policy that provides clear, specific direction on when force may be used."
Reforms won't happen overnight, some say. It could take as long as two years, one expert predicts.
"You're really looking at a small number of officers over a period of time," Chris Malette says.