Chicago’s inspector general has asked the city’s police oversight board to turn over the evidence that prompted the board to request the city’s watchdog open a probe into the city’s police misconduct agency, according to a letter obtained by WTTW News.
The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability voted unanimously July 15 to ask the Office of the Inspector General to probe “the quality and integrity” of the investigations into police misconduct by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, better known as COPA, as well as “the quality and integrity of COPA’s disciplinary recommendations, and retaliation against COPA employees who raise concerns about COPA’s investigations and recommendations.”
As required by city ordinance, the inspector general’s office responded to that request within 10 days and did so in a letter dated July 18. WTTW News obtained that letter through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The letter from Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety Tobara Richardson makes no commitment to opening a probe, as requested by the board. Led by Deborah Witzburg, the Office of the Inspector General, or OIG, does not typically confirm or deny whether it is probing specific city agencies or people and only reports on the results of closed investigations in general terms once they are completed.
“As with any complaint of misconduct OIG receives, OIG will assess the information received from (the police oversight board) to determine whether to launch a misconduct investigation into any individual under OIG’s jurisdiction,” Richardson’s letter said. “Any reports resulting from such an investigation are governed by the confidentiality provisions set out in (the city code.)”
The inspector general already has the authority to review and audit COPA’s operations and probes.
Anthony Driver, president of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, told WTTW News that “concerning information” was brought to the board’s attention that warranted asking the inspector general to open a probe.
“The evidence was compelling enough to want to figure out if the allegations are true,” Driver said Friday, adding that he planned to send over that evidence in the “next couple of days.”
The police oversight board, which is also known as the CCPSA, has the power to review the performance of Andrea Kersten, COPA’s chief administrator, as well as to fire her and select her replacement.
The police misconduct agency will cooperate with the inspector general’s office if it decides to open a probe, “to further public trust,” said Ephraim Eaddy, first deputy chief administrator of COPA.
“COPA stands by the quality and integrity of our investigations,” Eaddy said in a statement. “Consistency and fairness in the disciplinary recommendation process is also an area that COPA continues to work with the deputy public safety inspector general, the independent monitoring team of the federal consent decree and the CCPSA to improve. As the agency tasked with investigating allegations of misconduct and making policy recommendations to improve the Chicago Police Department, COPA will continue to conduct our work with integrity and transparency as we serve the city of Chicago.”
CPD has fully complied with just 7% of the court order known as the consent decree designed to require the police department to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers.
The police oversight board’s vote to publicly question the integrity of COPA’s investigations and disciplinary recommendations follows Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling’s decision to blast COPA’s efforts to hold officers accountable for misconduct.
Snelling said in February that COPA treated Chicago police officers so unfairly that they are at risk of suicide. He also said the agency’s probes compromise public safety.
That breach widened in the aftermath of the police shooting of Dexter Reed on March 21 during a traffic stop on the West Side.
Snelling said it was “irresponsible” for Kersten to question whether the four officers who fired 96 shots in 41 seconds at Reed lied about why they stopped his car shortly before the fatal shooting.
Although Kersten urged that all four officers who shot at Reed, hitting him 13 times, be relieved of their police powers, Snelling has yet to act on that request. All four officers remain on administrative leave, and have yet to return to active duty, more than four months after they shot and killed Reed.
Driver said the decision by the police oversight board to ask the city’s watchdog to probe COPA had nothing to do with Snelling’s criticism. However, Driver acknowledged his public statements appear to give credence and credibility to the top cop’s condemnation of the city agency charged with investigating the most egregious cases of suspected police misconduct.
The breach between Snelling and Kersten was a “complete non-factor” in the board’s decision to ask the inspector general to probe COPA, Driver said.
“It’s our duty to follow up, and it’s our duty to do it publicly and transparently,” Driver said, noting that the CCPSA has twice asked the inspector general to probe the Chicago Police Department. “This is not about attacking COPA.”
The board’s decision to publicly question the integrity of COPA’s investigations as the Chicago Police Department — which has faced decades of scandals, misconduct and brutality — comes as CPD continues to struggle to reform itself and hold officers accountable for misconduct.
Driver acknowledged the board’s action could “undermine COPA.”
“None of us took this vote lightly,” Driver said, adding that the agency would only be “strengthened” if the complaints are determined to be unfounded.
However, there is no provision of city law that would allow the inspector general to announce a decision not to open a probe, as requested by the CCPSA, or to clear COPA or Kersten of wrongdoing after an investigation.
That means the board’s action could amount to a permanent cloud over COPA that supercharges the opprobrium lobbed at the agency by John Catanzara, the police union president who often describes his officers as struggling to do their jobs amid unfair and biased treatment by COPA.
In fact, before the board’s vote to ask the inspector general to probe COPA, Catanzara urged the police oversight board to “do something about” the agency’s “insane discipline recommendations.”
Driver said he would release as much information to the public as possible after the inspector general’s office completes its assessment and any potential probe.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]