Police Supt. Brown tells first recruits since March: Resist blue wall of silence

The first batch of police recruits since March listen to Chicago Police Supt. David Brown on their first day at the academy. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

In a brutally honest and scathing review of the worst parts of police culture, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown told the first class of recruits to enter the police academy since the nation saw video of George Floyd’s death that they need to stay true to the values they learned in childhood, eschew the blue wall of silence and stop all crimes — including ones committed by fellow police officers.

“You know why we hired you? Because your background said you knew right from wrong. You won’t learn that in the academy, your parents taught you that,” Brown said.

“The people that love you taught you the things that we hired that you know right from wrong. That you never would have let another officer, no matter how much time you have on, sit on someone’s neck until they pass away, till they die. That you know that’s wrong, regardless of your training, that you wouldn’t let someone commit a crime in front of you no matter how veteran or senior they are.”

Brown addressed the class of 40 recruits Tuesday at the Near West Side police academy, which reopened in July after closing in March due to the pandemic.

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown elbow bumps recruits at the police academy Tuesday.

“There’s likely a cop on this police department, and other departments across the country, that we never should have hired. And then there are some cops, like yourselves, who are the right people the day they started and then somewhere along the way they lose their way and they stop doing the job the right way, for the right reasons, and they shouldn’t be cops anymore — small percentage, but big enough to define us all ... and you have to discern which is which,” he said.

“You may have a trainer or a senior veteran officer that you’re assigned that we never should have hired ... and their advice to you is the worst advice you’ll take ... and you’ve got to discern, until they get in trouble and I can separate them from employment, you have to discern not to take their advice without even fully knowing the whole job,” he said.

Brown said people who criticize police raise valid questions such as why don’t the good cops tell on the bad cops? Why don’t the good cops run the bad cops out of the business?

One main reason: a good cop could owe his or her life to a bad cop, he said.

“It’s difficult for us to hold each other accountable because, likely, someone that needs to be run out of this profession did something extraordinary, courageous, brave, likely did something to save you personally from, you know, from an a-- whipping from some criminal,” he said.

“Nobody got up and left yet? Anybody want to change their mind?” Brown asked the recruits.

“It’s the most difficult job right now to be a cop that it’s ever been,” he said, noting the pandemic and civil unrest stemming from police abuse. “But it is the most rewarding job if you do it the right way.”