Chicago Police Say 27 of Their Officers Were ‘Affected’ By Tear Gas Used By Feds: ‘Communication Is Key’

Chicago Police on Monday revealed that at least 27 officers were affected by tear gas deployed by federal agents amid ongoing immigration raids and clashes.

Under the directive of President Donald Trump, the agents have maintained a presence in the city in an effort to curb crime and identify illegal immigrants. Similar to the situation that unfolded in Los Angeles earlier in the year, tensions between law enforcement and residents eventually turned violent.

As noted in a report from Newsweek, local police and federal agents have not been entirely on the same page. Chicago police have been accused of refusing to help the agents and even not answering calls for backup, but the police have denied those reports.

As federal agents sought to disperse crowds of protesters, however, police officers have been caught in the crossfire. A video posted on social media showed a pair of them fleeing the area after having just been hit with tear gas.

In a Monday afternoon press conference, Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling pushed back on the “narrative” that police have refused to help the federal authorities. Additionally, Snelling confirmed that more than two dozen of his officers were hit by tear gas and urged for better communication between agencies:

When our officers arrived on scene, they met with the federal agents who were out there. The federal agents had deployed chemical agents. They deployed chemical agents while our officers were there. Those who will tell you that our officers weren’t there, say that to the 27 officers who were affected by the chemical agents that were deployed by federal agents. There were 27 reports done to document our officers who were affected by that gas.

I’ve since had a conversation with federal agents; and on that particular day, I spoke with the leadership of the federal agency. We talked about things as to how we were going to work this out. You see, communication is the key here. Communication does not mean collaboration. This had nothing to do with immigration enforcement. What it had to do with [was] a scene where someone in our city was shot and we, as CPD, are responsible for showing up, documenting that, even when the shooting and the investigation has been taken over by the FBI.

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