In an about-face, City Hall lawyers acknowledged in federal court Friday that Chicago police observe a “code of silence,” the first time city attorneys have conceded that officers cover up misconduct by fellow cops.

In dozens of police lawsuits across the decades, lawyers for the city have denied the existence of even an unwritten code among CPD officers that dictates Chicago cops turn a blind eye to abuses by their fellow officers. But in recent months, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has acknowledged the code in public statements as he has tried to tamp down public furor over high-profile police shootings and embrace reform of his troubled police force.

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University of Chicago law school professor Craig Futterman, a police accountability expert who also has sued the city said that recognizing the existence of the code of silence could save the city money in the long run — if the city takes concrete steps to stamp out the code.

“They’ve already paid out millions because they have a system that lets the few bad officers run around willy-nilly,” Futterman said. “Admitting there’s a code of silence gives you a defense against lawsuits in the future, if you can say ‘there was a code of silence, and we did something about it.’”

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