They celebrated him as a hero.
After Lt. Joe Gliniewicz died from a gunshot wound suffered in a marsh in Fox Lake, Illinois, he became an avatar of a burgeoning "Police Lives Matter" movement, which seems to place itself in ideological opposition to the "Black Lives Matter" movement protesting police violence. The scenes of community members standing in tribute to the fallen officer were stark and sober, and the enthusiasm that poured into the manhunt for his two killers, one black and one white, seemed to ensure that they would be caught, despite leaving a dearth of evidence.
Turns out, there was no evidence and there were no killers.
Fox Lake police announced today that Gliniewicz's death was actually a suicide at the tail end of a crime spree. According to the Daily Beast:
Fox Lake police on Wednesday said Gliniewicz's death was a "carefully staged suicide" and "intentionally left a staged trail of police equipment at the crime scene." Gliniewicz had been stealing and laundering thousands of dollars from the police department’s explorer program for personal purchases, the department said. The purchases included gym memberships, porn websites, and mortgage payments.
“Gliniewicz committed the ultimate betrayal to the citizens he served and the entire law enforcement community," said George Filenko, commander of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force. “Personally this is the my first time as a police officer that I’m ashamed by the actions of a member of law enforcement.”
Gliniewicz, known as "G.I. Joe" by many community members, used his extensive career in investigating crime scenes to cover up his crimes. Fittingly enough, the stolen money came from the department's explorer program, which is used to train and identify young people interested in careers in law enforcement. He also used his skills to deceive fellow police into the the belief that he was following a lead on suspects when he was killed. It was a grand deception.
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That story doesn't quite add up, according to details released today. Gliniewicz's name became a rallying cry for several pundits pushing back against calls to reform police. His death—allegedly at the hands of a black criminal—became fodder for proponents of the "Ferguson effect" and a crowd of people who advanced the agenda that black activists were calling for and leading to the deaths of police officers. Even as these developments occurred and as the police department took part in rallies with "Police Lives Matters" signs, the Daily Beast reports that officers knew there were discrepancies at the crime scene the whole time.
Police knew from the start that Gliniewicz had been the only person to touch his gun and that the fatal bullet came from his gun, a fact that the local coroner corroborated and was then blasted for corroborating by Major Crimes Task Force commander George Filenko last month. The announcement confirming Gliniewicz's suicide came both long after the evidence was in hand and long after the rhetorical ground establishing him as a hero and face of a pro-police faction had solidified.
This is a mess. Plain and simple. Suicides are always tragic and generally the result of mental health issues, and painting Gliniewicz as a monster for embezzling a couple thousand dollars doesn't seem quite right either. The evidence seems to point toward a scenario where he knew that his death would yield a hero's parade (and potentially be used as fodder for the cable news climate), and it appears that department actions helped grant him that wish.
There's no real point in calling pundits to task for using his death as a dogwhistle, even though department inaction allowed the story to build. There will always be dogwhistles, and unfortunately even though policing is by and large a very safe job by the numbers, enough police will die in the line of duty to provide fodder to demonize black activists. But perhaps the story and backtracking can provide some understanding. Police are humans and they lie and mislead just like other humans, with far more latitude and potential for abuse of power than other people. Understanding Gliniewicz's death means understanding that.