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Garry McCarthy tells ’60 Minutes’ that Chicago Police Department is in ‘crisis’

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Another day, another Garry McCarthy interview laying into the tactics of the Chicago Police Department.

This time, it’s for a national audience. And the former police superintendent again doesn’t hold back, telling CBS’s “60 Minutes” that the city’s police are in a “crisis.”

Due to be broadcast Sunday, the “60 Minutes” segment repeats a narrative that has been repeatedly told locally since Mayor Rahm Emanuel in October 2015 said cops had gone “fetal” in the face of protests about police violence.

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It focuses on the 80 percent decline in street stops by police and fall in arrests this year, even as the homicide rate soars to more than 750 people killed — a drum McCarthy has been banging for weeks in a series of speeches and interviews.

“When you have activity falling off the way it is and crime skyrocketing, that’s a huge problem,” McCarthy told reporter Bill Whitaker in a preview released by CBS. When Whittaker suggested that there was a policing crisis, McCarthy responded, “When people are dying, yes, there’s crisis. No two ways about it.”

“The police activity is horrific. Honestly. And there, and there’s not an excuse that could be made in my book,” he said. “The noncompliance of the law is becoming legitimized. And the police are on their heels. … We’re reaching a state of lawlessness,” McCarthy said.

Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, who may or may not be tiring of answering the barbs of his predecessor while facing an ongoing federal probe of his department, allowed that his officers have been more “cautious.” He also was interviewed for the “60 Minutes” piece.

“Well, you know, there may be some” officers who are more reluctant to police aggressively, Johnson told Whitaker. But he disputed the link between the crime rate and the dropoff in stops and arrests, blaming stricter policies and increased paperwork for the decline in stops.

“It’s not what the police officers are not doing,” Johnson said. “It’s more about what these … criminal offenders are doing.”

kjanssen@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @kimjnews