Chicago Law Department spokesperson Jennifer Hoyle told reporters that the city was "disappointed" and would "do our best to minimize any damages the taxpayers of the city of Chicago would have to pay out."

That same statement could have come from any number of administrators of big cities and reflect a situation that is killing the confidence of the people for law enforcement. In this case, the statement referred to the $15 million recently awarded to James Newsome, a man who spent 15-years of a life sentence in prison for a crime he did not commit.

The fact that he did time was bad enough, but the insult to this injury is that two Chicago Police detectives allegedly set him up for the fall. The detectives, however, deny the charges.

Newsome was convicted for a 1979 murder. An eyewitness to the crime recently testified that the detectives encouraged him to identify Newsome as the murderer in a police lineup.

Chicago�s police department is trying to overcome a legacy of misdeeds that have convicted innocent people�most notable is the history of Commander John Burge, who tortured suspects, some with electrodes to the testicles, into confessions. Also, there is the case of the detective who tricked two pre-puberty boys into confessing that they killed 11-year-old Ryan Harris. The public was outraged to later find out that a rag with semen on it was stuffed down the young girl�s throat, exonerating the "confessed" killers.

Every year Chicago doles out millions of "tax payer dollars" to pay for law enforcement abuse. More than $10 million was awarded earlier this year to the family of Latanya Haggerty, who was killed following a police chase as she emerged from her car. Millions more are expected to be paid in the upcoming civil trial for Robert Russ, who was shot by police the day after the Haggerty shooting.

We could recall the horrendous treatment of New York Police toward innocent citizens�Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo�or forces in Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami and other big cities, but we won�t.

Suffice it to say that, if big cities really want to save taxpayers� dollars, then proper training, monitoring and punishment of violators of the rights of citizens would be the place to start. Teach them that they cannot execute justice or rush to judgment on any case, that�s for the criminal justice process.

As hard as it may be to believe, things actually could have been worse for Newsome. He could have been sentenced to death. And though the appeals process in death penalty cases generally takes years, it is not out of the realm of possibility that he could have been executed prior to his 1994 release. Newsome�s case is yet another strong endorsement of the moratorium on the death penalty enforced by Illinois Gov. George Ryan.

A signal of real change coming from law enforcement would be to take strong steps toward reform, such as Gov. Ryan�s halt to executions until the process is proven fair and impartial. Such reform of law enforcement officers would refuel the Black community�s trust beyond the emotional support we all feel for law and fire officials who lost their lives on Sept. 11.

And it would clear up for better use the millions of taxpayer dollars paid out for wrongful injury and incarceration.