US DOJ should investigate the cover-up of the murder of Laquan McDonald

Now that City of Chicago has been forced to release the video of Laquan McDonald's killing, the Cook County States Attorney has decided to charge the police officer who killed McDonald (Jason Van Dyke) with murder.

• McDonald was killed on October 20, 2014
• Judge Franklin Valderrama orders video released November 19, 2015
• Van Dyke charged with murder November 23, 2015 

This timeline plus two other facts show intent to protect Van Dykeand deny McDonald justice.

empower next-of-kin to appoint special prosecutors when police kill

Yesterday Cook County Judge Dennis Porter issued a directed verdict that the Cook County States Attorney failed to present enough evidence to justify the charges against Chicago Police Department detective Dante Servin for killing Rekia Boyd. See Chicago Reporter (Adeshina Emmanuel).

As has been noted by numerous people, it's difficult for a county prosecutor to work with the police on many cases and then to prosecute a police officer in other cases. This is especially true in cases where cops kill a person from a marginalized group, eg African-American, mentally ill, etc.

To make things easier for county prosecutors, there should be a system of appointing special prosecutors in cases where police kill (or rape or torture) people. This would include (but not be limited to): shootings, police chases, vehicular homicides, etc.

How would these special prosecutors be chosen?

Requiring police to carry insurance

Under current law & policy when a police officer perpetrates violence he (she) rarely experiences negative consequences even when municipal government pays to settle a civil suit.

If there are no negative consequences, why wouldn't police use excessive & illegal violence? The rules practically encourage police misconduct.

Solution: require police to carry personal insurance that pays the first $20-100,000 of settlement cost in each case.

Police that commit misconduct will see their premiums rise. They will be forced out of police work by insurance companies.

This will also reduce the public's responsibility for paying to settle police misconduct cases & presumably reduce the legal bills over time.

how Congress could reduce police misconduct and unnecessary violence

License people empowered by states (and federal government) to arrest people or carry firearms as part of their professional duties.

The US Constitution creates a duty for the federal government to protect civil rights†, so, it's kinda crazy that there are hundreds of thousands of people who can kill people and deprive citizens of their rights who aren't licensed by the federal government.

The federal government should be supportive of states granting licenses as they see fit with a couple obvious caveats: