This is actually a very good statement by Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling, and I encourage you to watch the entire video.
Before the video, at the beginning of the presser, he emphasized that he is not political and is not addressing any politics.
He then went on, in the video below, to defend the use of force by federal agents who are being boxed in or even followed by citizens. He reprimanded those who do this and said they are putting their lives in danger. And he was emphatic about it.
Watch below:
Now you might be wondering how this great statement by Snelling squares with what happened on Saturday, with officers being told to stand down from going to the aid of border patrol agents.
I didn’t find video of that yet, and will post it if I do. But Jonathan Turley remarked on it, explaining what Snelling said below:
Snelling just admitted that there “were some communications” and “I am not sure of the exact language.” He said that the Chief of Patrol
“was concerned about officers showing up at the scene.” He added that “these federal agents can handle themselves.” He did not deny the communication. Usually, there is no delay in responding to fellow officers in peril…
…Snelling says that he has to confirm the details on those communications. Why was the Chief of Patrol “concerned about officers showing up at the scene”? ICE agents were describing a dangerous situation where officers were at risk…
…He insists that officers “were not told to stand down.” The question is whether they were told to delay in going to the scene. There remains a contradiction between the statements of CPD and those recorded communications.
…There is a 41-minute gap that will remain the focus of this controversy…
…FOP President in Chicago John Catanzara says “someone is lying here” and just accused the CPD of “lying.”…
…Catanzara insists that it has been 72 hours since this incident and they clearly knew what happened despite the denials by the Superintendent.
Snelling did say that he’d know by tomorrow exactly what happened. From what I heard him say, he claimed the Chief of Patrol was not aware that anyone was at risk, but that he’s still investigating it.