Crime & Law
Chicago Paid $2.7M for System Designed to Flag Officers With Multiple Complaints: Records
(WTTW News)
Chicago taxpayers have paid $2.7 million for a system designed to alert officials about which officers have been the subject of repeated police misconduct allegations, according to records obtained by WTTW News.
But it is not clear how — or why — Benchmark Analytics was selected by officials in the Johnson administration in the fall of 2024 to create the system required by the federal court order known as the consent decree, which is designed to force the department to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers.
The Chicago-based firm was founded and is led by Ron Huberman, who served as one of Mayor Richard M. Daley’s chiefs of staff. A former Chicago police officer, Huberman also led the city’s Office of Emergency Management Communications, the Chicago Transit Authority and Chicago Public Schools during the Daley administration.
The city’s contract with Benchmark Analytics, signed in November 2024, called for the Chicago-based firm to be paid $1.2 million for a year of work, and allowed for two extensions, each lasting 12 months. In September 2025, the city agreed to a one-year extension, agreeing to pay the firm $1.5 million, bringing the total paid to Benchmark Analytics to $2.7 million, according to documents obtained by WTTW News.
The firm’s website touts contracts with Phoenix, Minneapolis and San Jose, California, to craft similar systems.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by WTTW News, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Procurement Services said it had no records documenting the competitive process that led to Benchmark Analytics’ selection or any other proposals from other firms.
By law, city departments are required to let companies compete for most contracts to ensure that taxpayer dollars are paid to the most qualified firm capable of doing the best work for the lowest cost. Before a contract can be awarded, the city must typically get multiple bids for the same work.
However, city law allows officials to bypass a competitive bidding process in some cases, including for “contracts for the services of individuals possessing a high degree of professional skill where the ability or fitness of the individual plays an important part,” according to the city’s procurement website.
Those decisions, made by Sharla Roberts, the commissioner of the Department of Procurement Services, are required to be documented and posted on the department’s website. There is no record of Benchmark Analytics being authorized to create the early intervention system after officials determined it was the only firm that was qualified to do so, according to the department’s website.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by WTTW News, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Procurement Services said it also had no records documenting Benchmark Analytics being selected to perform work for the city after a non-competitive process.
In addition, the city’s database does not include a copy of the city’s contract with Benchmark Analytics, nor does it list the firm as a city vendor.
WTTW News obtained a copy of the city’s contract with Benchmark Analytics and its extension for an additional 12 months through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Representatives of the mayor’s office, the Office of Public Safety Administration and the Chicago Police Department did not respond to questions from WTTW News about their decision to ink a contract with Benchmark Analytics for the long-in-development system.
Representatives of Benchmark Analytics did not respond to repeated requests for comment from WTTW News, and attempts to reach Huberman were unsuccessful.
Huberman, who lives in Lincoln Square, has not made any financial contributions to Illinois politicians since April 2019, when he gave $3,000 to former Mayor Lori Lightfoot after she defeated Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle in that year’s runoff, according to Illinois State Board of Elections records.
During the first round of the 2019 mayoral election, Huberman contributed $5,900 to former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley, the former mayor’s brother, records show.
City Council Spotlight
Allyson Clark Henson, the executive director of CPD’s Office of Constitutional Reform, told a joint session of the City Council’s Budget and Police and Fire committees on May 5 that the system was on track to launch by the end of June 2027.
The system will use CPD data and “advanced predictive analytics” to identity officers “at elevated risks” and enable supervisors to intervene, Clark Henson told the alderpeople.
The system will not be used to discipline officers or promote them, Clark Henson said.
“The goal of the system ultimately is prevention,” Clark Henson said.
The system will automatically flag a CPD member when their profile exceeds “predefined thresholds” for poor attendance and complaints, Clark Henson said.
Supervisors can also use the system to flag officers “to address a pattern of professional conduct that suggests referral may be warranted,” Clark Henson said.
CPD leaders anticipate that approximately 4% of the department’s 12,312 employees will be flagged annually, Clark Henson said.
Those officers are expected to account for approximately a quarter of all investigations, and approximately 30% of all serious disciplinary cases, Clark Henson said.
Before the early intervention system can be implemented, CPD must draft new policies governing its use and train supervisors to use it. That policy is subject to review by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office and the coalition of police reform groups that sued the city to force it to agree to federal court oversight of CPD, which began more than seven years ago.
The policy must be approved by the independent monitoring team charged by U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer with keeping tabs on the city’s progress in complying with the consent decree, which requires CPD to stop routinely violating Black and Latino Chicagoans’ constitutional rights.
Monthly Updates
The ordinance that implemented the city’s 2026 budget included a provision requiring monthly updates on efforts to craft the system.
Chicago police brass did not update Johnson and three required City Council committee chairs about progress in crafting the system until Feb. 18, two days after WTTW News reported they had failed to comply with the ordinance.
CPD posted those memos online, although the monthly updates for February, March and April consist of a single paragraph that does not offer specifics about the efforts to craft the system.
In April, “progress this month focused on continued advancement of system configuration, refinement of alert thresholds, and validation of data integration across key personnel and operational databases,” according to the most recent memo.
The memo due on June 1 to Johnson; Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward), the chair of the Finance Committee; Ald. Jason Ervin (28th Ward), the chair of the Budget Committee; and Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th Ward), the chair of the Police and Fire Committee, was not posted to the city’s website.
That memo was not provided after a Freedom of Information Act request, with a spokesperson for CPD telling WTTW News it would be posted to the new website when available. As of Friday, no memo was available.
When Johnson announced the requirement for monthly updates about the system, he said it would make it possible for police leaders to offer officers “early, individualized interventions that improve performance, accountability and wellness — reducing misconduct, building community trust, and lowering litigation costs,” according to the mayor’s office.
CPD has fully complied with 25% of the consent decree’s requirements, according to the most recent report from the monitoring team.
Creating a system that flags officers with multiple complaints and lawsuits to prevent incidents is central to the consent decree, which is designed to restore the public’s trust in CPD, which has faced decades of scandals, misconduct and brutality.
Chicago taxpayers have paid at least $198.5 million to resolve lawsuits alleging a wide range of misconduct so far this year, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.
WTTW News reported in September 2023 that officials could have rolled out an early warning system citywide in May 2021, but police brass transferred the department members assigned to run the system to patrol amid a surge in crime that has since abated.
That system, developed by the University of Chicago crime lab at no cost to the city, has been entirely scrapped.
Johnson is the fourth mayor of Chicago to attempt to implement an early warning system.
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
