"I believe that the police work very hard to support our community,ll to bring peace in our community," said Rep. Davis.
After expressing her own belief that Chicago police are doing their best to quell street violence, Davis says when she spoke on a Detroit radio station about Chicago's high percentage of unsolved murders, she was only repeating what some people in her district believe about some of the killings.
"Some people in my community believe the police may be involved in some of these murders," said Rep. Davis.
"I think it's absurd, I think it's inflammatory. I think it's also insulting," said Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.
Supt. McCarthy dismissed the Davis observations and said they were not worth repeating or more discussion, but South Side resident Allen Lee says he's heard the rumors.
"I ain't going to say it is, I am not going to say it ain't, cause I've seen some cops do some wicked stuff, man," said Lee.
And Karen the hairdresser says she hears clients all the time talk about unsolved murders the cops may have committed.
"People do think that, a lot of people think that. A lot of people in these neighborhoods like the Englewood neighborhood. We have clients from all over. I don't think she said anything out of the ordinary. That's a conversation that people have," said Karen, who did not provide a last name, a South Side hairdresser.
Davis says the incident is proof that the public image of Chicago police is still not recovered from high-profile brutality cases, and that she should not be condemned for saying what people think.
"I was repeating what has been said to me many times by the people of the community that I represent," said Rep. Davis.
Davis says police need to work more on improving their image in her community.
ABC7 talked to more than one person, several people actually, who told us they'd had discussions of the kind Rep. Davis described.
