Politics

Mayor Johnson to Form Task Force to Rid CPD of Extremist Groups, After 8 Month Delay

Mayor Brandon Johnson will form a task force to examine how to rid the Chicago Police Department of officers with ties to extremist and anti-government groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, officials announced Friday.

Johnson’s decision to launch the effort comes nearly eight months after Inspector General Deborah Witzburg urged him to take that step as part of an effort to “implement a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to preventing, identifying and eliminating extremist and anti-government activities and associations within CPD.”

Witzburg told WTTW News Thursday evening that it was “very good news” that Johnson had finally accepted the recommendation her office made in July, after the third investigation of CPD members with ties to right-wing extremist groups since 2022 ended without any of the officers being disciplined.

Johnson agreed to form the task force “because he believes that white supremacists and extremists have no place in our city’s law enforcement or in any city department,” according to a statement released by his office Friday morning in response to an inquiry from WTTW News. “Public servants must be held to a higher standard and this task force will ensure that our city’s workforce are aligned with the values of Chicago.”

It was unclear why Johnson waited so long to form the task force, which his office did not announce publicly and only acknowledged after the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression announced a Sunday town hall that would detail plans for the new task force.

In December, Johnson’s office publicly trumpeted his decision to form a task force to examine ways to reduce the disproportionate violence faced by trans Chicagoans, including trans women of color.

Ald. Matt Martin (47th Ward), the chair of the City Council’s Ethics and Government Oversight Committee, introduced a measure Wednesday that is designed to allow officials to terminate city employees, including police officers, who support “the overthrow of any local, state or federal government by violence or other unlawful means.”

The measure defines active participation in an extremist organization as paying dues, attending meetings, recruiting others or posting and sharing content online that promotes extremist activities.

A task force is very needed, Martin said.

“I’m glad they decided to change course,” Martin said. “We need to take tangible steps.”

Martin said he would ask his colleagues to approve his ordinance even as the task force starts its work, noting that there is no deadline for it to finish it work.

“Every city leader should be taking extremism in government very seriously,” said Martin, who said the mayor’s office had not consulted with him before moving forward with the task force.

Martin also introduced a measure on Wednesday to block those who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol from working in city jobs after most were pardoned by President Donald Trump. Members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys participated in the insurrection, and leaders of both groups were convicted of seditious conspiracy before being pardoned by Trump.

Johnson declined to immediately ban those convicted of participating in the insurrection from city employment on Feb. 4, after Gov. JB Pritzker banned those who were pardoned for their role in the insurrection from state employment.

Approximately 50 Illinois residents were pardoned by Trump after being convicted of offenses connected to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including former Chicago Police Officer Karol Chwiesiuk, who was convicted of four misdemeanors for entering the Capitol. He was sentenced to three months of home detention.

A policy approved in November 2023 by the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability bans officers from belonging to “biased organizations” or engaging in “active participation” with them, which is defined as recruiting new members, fundraising, organizing events or promoting them on social media.

There are no public allegations that city workers in any other department other than CPD have documented ties to anti-government or extremist groups.

The task force will include representatives from CPD, the Law Department, the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, the Office of Public Safety Administration, the Department of Human Resources, and the mayor’s office, officials said.

Led by Deputy Mayor of Community Safety Garien Gatewood and Chief Equity Officer Carla Kupe, the task force will examine “the city’s existing policies and make appropriate recommendations to root out anyone who belongs to a hate group,” according to the mayor’s office.

Gatewood declined to commit in July to forming such a task force, according to his response released by the inspector general’s office.

Witzburg’s office has declared several investigations into officers with documented ties to extremist groups to be “materially deficient” and asked investigators with CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs to reopen those probes. The outcome remained the same, despite the watchdog’s criticism.

Supt. Larry Snelling promised in October 2023 that he would rid CPD of officers with ties to hate groups and far-right extremist organizations after “stringent” and “thorough” investigations.

The most recent probe examined eight Chicago police officers who appeared on a leaked Oath Keepers membership list. That investigation found no evidence they “actively participated” in the far-right, anti-government extremist group, but investigators did not interview anyone other than the eight officers, according to the 30-page report.

Those interviews were “deficient” because investigators failed to take additional investigative steps and “failed to document an analysis of whether association with or membership in the Oath Keepers may have brought discredit upon the Department or failed to promote the Department’s efforts to implement its policy or accomplish its goals, in violation of CPD’s Rules of Conduct,” according to a letter from Tobara Richardson, the deputy inspector general for public safety, to Chief Yolanda Talley, the head of the Bureau of Internal Affairs.

Snelling has defended the probe, prompted by a series of stories by the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ, to reporters as thorough.

In October 2022, police brass rejected a recommendation from Witzburg to terminate an officer who lied about his ties to the far-right Proud Boys extremist group. Instead, that officer served a 120-day suspension.

Witzburg said CPD brass could have fired that officer, who has returned to active duty and earns more than $100,000 annually, because he lied to investigators, regardless of whether he belonged to the Proud Boys. Department leaders declined to follow her recommendation.

In January, police brass rejected a separate recommendation from Witzburg to terminate one of the officers on the membership rolls who admitted belonging to the Oath Keepers. That officer remains on active duty with the CPD and earns nearly $109,000 annually, according to a city database.

Witzburg has told police and city leaders that membership in extremist organizations like Oath Keepers and Proud Boys constitutes a violation of CPD policy that could warrant termination. Department leaders declined to follow that recommendation.

Had Snelling accepted Witzburg’s interpretation of CPD policy, he could have recommended that all of the officers who admitted joining the Oath Keepers or associating with the Proud Boys while a member of the Chicago Police Department be disciplined or fired.

That represents an “apparent reticence to apply existing rules to extremism allegations, despite historical precedent for doing so and the plain language of the rules,” Witzburg said.

In “a departure from 50-year-old precedent, CPD has taken the affirmative position that memberships into organizations in itself is not a rule violation,” Witzburg wrote, noting that CPD has used the rule prohibiting officers from bringing discredit to the department to terminate officers who associated with the Ku Klux Klan as well as street gangs.

Johnson has referred to the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys as “unconscionable hate groups” but said there are “very few courses of action that can be taken” if investigators do not gather evidence of wrongdoing by the officers.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone| (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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