Department of Justice Announces Investigation into Chicago Police

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced on Monday that the Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation into the Chicago Police Department amid the fatal shooting of black teenager, Laquan McDonald, which happened last year.

"What we are looking at is whether or not the police department has engaged in unconstitutional policing," Lynch said reported by ABC News. "It's in the interest of the people of Chicago, who deserve a world-class police department and constitutional policing,"

Tensions have been boiling in Chicago after video surveillance on the shooting of McDonald was released. The clip revealed that Police Officer Jason Van Dyke shot at McDonald's back 16 times. Some of the shots were fired after McDonald was already on the ground. Since the clip was released, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel had asked the Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy to resign.

"We understand that the same systems that fail community members also fail conscientious officers by creating mistrust between law enforcement and the citizens they are sworn to serve and protect," Lynch said.

She added that if the investigation finds unconstitutional behavior, federal officials will help the city create and enforce reforms.

"We will let the Department of Justice address what action they will or will not choose to take, but as was made clear last week, we welcome the engagement of the Department of Justice as we work to restore trust in our police department and improve our system of police accountability," Adam Collins, a spokesman for Emanuel, said in a statement reported by The Washington Post.

This is not the first time that the DPJ has opened an investigation related to police shootings of black teenagers. In Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore, MD, similar civil rights investigations were opened to see if police action was excessive and unnecessary and whether to not the department's responded to alleged misconduct and other actions properly.

These investigations also examined whether or not the effect of racial and ethnic disparities between the police and the victims influenced the situation.

There is another ongoing federal investigation into the shooting.