{"id":19069,"date":"2015-10-27T21:00:51","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T02:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=19069"},"modified":"2015-10-28T10:09:59","modified_gmt":"2015-10-28T15:09:59","slug":"addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Addressing police chiefs, President Obama demands gun laws and criminal justice reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jasmine M. Ellis, Harry Huggins, Enrica Nicoli Aldini
\nand Raquel Zaldivar
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

‘I refuse to believe that the only choice we have is to either ignore circumstances of racial bias or make it impossible for police officers to do their job.”<\/div>\n

President Barack Obama called for wide-ranging reforms in gun control laws and criminal justice policies Tuesday, speaking to an international gathering of law enforcement leaders in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice officers often see America at its worst,\u201d Obama said. \u201cBut I want you to know that in you, we often see America at its best.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conference took place near neighborhoods that have made Chicago the focus of national discussions on gun violence.
\n<\/p>\n

\"Task
Cover of the task force on policing report released by the Department of Justice on Oct. 27.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Obama timed his speech to the International Association of Chiefs of Police with the release of a Department of Justice guidebook on reducing crime and improving community trust toward police. The guidebook came from Obama\u2019s Task Force on 21st Century Policing<\/a>, and the president used much of his speech to outline the recommendations the report made.<\/p>\n

Throughout the conference halls, posters and whitewalls displayed personal stories from police officers with the hashtag #WhyIWearTheBadge. The president reflected this pride in policing, highlighting the need to support \u201cthe men and women who walk that thin blue line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToo often, law enforcement gets scapegoated for the broader failures of our society and criminal justice system,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n

The president listed his priorities for supporting law enforcement, including increased funding to retain and hire more officers, investment in equipment and data sharing to spot crime patterns. He made special mention of a new national network linking police radio spectra.<\/p>\n

Obama spoke in a city that has seen more than 2,500 shooting victims in 2015, or more than nine shootings per 10,000 residents. The president said that police know the need for increased gun controls.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know that more guns on the streets do not make you or your communities safer,\u201d he said. \u201cCops should not be out-armed by the criminals they\u2019re pursuing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama mentioned his old South Side neighborhood, where he said adults are too afraid to discipline misbehaving kids because \u201cyou don\u2019t know if they\u2019re armed\u201d and guns are easier to get than it is \u201cto get fresh vegetables at a supermarket.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president repeated previous calls for \u201ccommonsense gun safety reforms\u201d and background checks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know we won\u2019t all agree on this issue,\u201d Obama said. \u201cBut it\u2019s time to be honest. Fewer gun safety laws don\u2019t mean more freedom, they mean more danger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama noted that lawmakers must support reducing violent crimes by addressing overcrowding in prisons.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those who do break the law,\u201d Obama said, \u201cwe should take another hard look at whether in all circumstances the punishment fits the crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘The effort to fix society\u2019s crimes can\u2019t be solely on the police.’
\u2014 Chicago Police Sgt. Larry Snelling<\/div>\n

The president praised the Senate\u2019s recent bipartisan measures to reduce mandatory minimum prison sentences and offer incentives to inmates that participate in programs to reduce recidivism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something I don\u2019t get to say very often. I am encouraged by what Congress is doing\u2026work,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n

The president also stressed the importance of fostering a trusting relationship between police and the communities they serve.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur divides are not as deep as some would like to suggest,\u201d Obama said. \u201cI don\u2019t know anyone in the minority community who does not want strong, effective enforcement. Everybody should understand that police officers do a dangerous job. Nobody wants to see police officers hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama lauded a Chicago Police Department program that trains new officers by dropping them off in neighborhoods without cars on their first day.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause they knew the communities they were serving,\u201d Obama said, \u201cThey were able to distinguish between the drug dealer and the good kid, even if they were both wearing a hoodie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama also blamed the media \u2014 especially cable news and attention-seeking candidates \u2014 for perpetuating a public safety storyline of \u201cus\u201d and \u201cthem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI reject any narrative that seeks to divide police and communities they serve,\u201d Obama said. \u201cInstead of having debates over talk radio, we have to listen to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

After reminding the audience that he no longer worries about reelection, Obama spoke frankly about racial bias in law enforcement. He said that when he was younger, before he had a motorcade, he would be pulled over without reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you aggregate all the problems,\u201d Obama said, \u201cyou have to say there is some racial bias in the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president underlined his belief, however, that police safety and racial equality are not mutually exclusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI refuse to believe that the only choice we have is to either ignore circumstances of racial bias or make it impossible for police officers to do their job,\u201d Obama said.
\nSome police officers who attended the speech echoed Obama\u2019s call for joint efforts between the police and community members to prevent crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe effort to fix society\u2019s crimes can\u2019t be solely on the police,\u201d said Sgt. Larry Snelling of the Chicago Police Department. \u201cWe all have to work together as a team, the police, community members, families who need to be able to give kids what they need to not become criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Constable Ruben Davis, from Missouri City, Texas, said that hiring more minority officers will bring the police closer to certain communities. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to convince the people that there\u2019s a trust factor,\u201d he said. \u201cThat we want their safety, that they\u2019re protected, and we\u2019re their friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

PHOTO AT TOP: President Obama at International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago on Oct. 27, 2015. (Raquel Zaldivar\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jasmine M. Ellis, Harry Huggins, Enrica Nicoli Aldini and Raquel Zaldivar ‘I refuse to believe that the only choice we have is to either ignore circumstances of racial bias or make it impossible for police officers to do their job.” President Barack Obama called for wide-ranging reforms in gun control laws and criminal justice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":19091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[509,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2015","category-public-affairs"],"yoast_head":"\nAddressing police chiefs, President Obama demands gun laws and criminal justice reforms - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Addressing police chiefs, President Obama demands gun laws and criminal justice reforms - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jasmine M. Ellis, Harry Huggins, Enrica Nicoli Aldini and Raquel Zaldivar ‘I refuse to believe that the only choice we have is to either ignore circumstances of racial bias or make it impossible for police officers to do their job.” President Barack Obama called for wide-ranging reforms in gun control laws and criminal justice […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-28T02:00:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-28T15:09:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/potus-iapc-zaldivar.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/\",\"name\":\"Addressing police chiefs, President Obama demands gun laws and criminal justice reforms - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/potus-iapc-zaldivar.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-28T02:00:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-28T15:09:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/potus-iapc-zaldivar.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/potus-iapc-zaldivar.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":733,\"caption\":\"President Obama at International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago on Oct. 27, 2015. (Raquel Zaldivar\/Medill)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Addressing police chiefs, President Obama demands gun laws and criminal justice reforms\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Addressing police chiefs, President Obama demands gun laws and criminal justice reforms - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Addressing police chiefs, President Obama demands gun laws and criminal justice reforms - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Jasmine M. Ellis, Harry Huggins, Enrica Nicoli Aldini and Raquel Zaldivar ‘I refuse to believe that the only choice we have is to either ignore circumstances of racial bias or make it impossible for police officers to do their job.” President Barack Obama called for wide-ranging reforms in gun control laws and criminal justice […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2015-10-28T02:00:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-10-28T15:09:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":733,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/potus-iapc-zaldivar.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/","name":"Addressing police chiefs, President Obama demands gun laws and criminal justice reforms - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/potus-iapc-zaldivar.jpg","datePublished":"2015-10-28T02:00:51+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-28T15:09:59+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/potus-iapc-zaldivar.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/potus-iapc-zaldivar.jpg","width":1100,"height":733,"caption":"President Obama at International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago on Oct. 27, 2015. (Raquel Zaldivar\/Medill)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/addressing-police-chiefs-president-obama-demands-gun-laws-and-criminal-justice-reforms\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Addressing police chiefs, President Obama demands gun laws and criminal justice reforms"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}