Policing

Justice report rips Chicago police for excessive force, lax discipline, bad training

In perhaps the most damning, sweeping critique ever of the Chicago Police Department, the U.S. Department of Justice concluded Friday that the city's police officers are poorly trained and quick to turn to excessive and even deadly force, most often against blacks and Latino residents, without facing consequences.

The 164-page report, the product of more than a year of investigation, paints the picture of a department flawed from top to bottom, although many of the problems it cites have, for decades, been the subject of complaints from citizens, lawsuits by attorneys and investigations by news organizations.

As such, the report is an indictment of sorts of city officials who, the report said, have paid lip service to the community's complaints as well as the need for reform of the Police Department and the various city agencies responsible for its oversight.