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Saturday, July 28, 2007

She rips cops, then gets raided

I heard this story on the Saturday morning Rainbow/Push program on CAN-TV this morning. They had this 63 year old grandmother recount her story about how she spoke up against police brutality and was hit with a search warrant in what she believe to be retaliation against her complaint. The person who introduced her sounded off some suburbs such as Winnetka, Wilmette, and a few others to say that this grandmother experience what a granny living in those burbs wouldn't have experience.

Anyway I found this story from the Sun-Times and I wanted to share it. I consider myself a police supporter, but the fact is there are a few police officers who are sadly misbehaving and they must be dealt with. Because if they are the good officers in the police department will suffer because of these bad apples.
Four days after a CHA resident was quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times complaining about the police, her home was turned upside down by officers looking for drugs.

Carol Wallace, a 63-year-old grandmother, has no criminal record and said she has never had any run-ins with the police in her 10 years at the Dearborn Homes public housing complex. She accused the police of trying to silence her.

"They did this just to harass me," Wallace said. "My nerves are shot, and I'm afraid. I feel like I've been violated."

In the Sun-Times, Wallace decried police for demanding Dearborn residents' and visitors' information for "contact cards," including names, nicknames, addresses, tattoos and other physical details. Her complaints also led to a recent tenants meeting with an area police commander, she said.

Wallace is "widely recognized as a strong asset to this development and a community voice," a case manager in the area said. Wallace has worked most of her life, as a medical technician and for the U.S. Postal Service. She's retired now.

The Sun-Times story ran July 19, and a search warrant for her apartment, looking for drugs, was issued three days later. About 11 police officers showed up at her door at 29th and State streets Monday.

Wallace said about six of the officers dumped clothes from a dresser and closet on her bed and floor and rifled through her medications. Police also told a friend at the apartment that visitors weren't allowed, she said.
Wallace filed a complaint of alleged misconduct with the Police Department's Office of Professional Standards on Wednesday.

"They will interview her, others in her building, there will be an official investigation," said police spokeswoman Monique Bond.

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