Crime & Law
Interim Top Cop Collecting $142K Annual City Pension While Earning $211K Salary, Records Show
Interim Chicago Police Supt. Fred Waller speaks during a July 5, 2023, news conference. (WTTW News)
Newly installed interim Chicago Police Supt. Fred Waller is collecting an annual city taxpayer-funded pension of $141,608 while he has been earning more than $210,648 per year as a deputy director, bringing his total annual compensation to $352,256, according to records obtained by WTTW News.
Waller, 64, has now twice served as CPD’s interim leader, first leading the department from May 2023 to September 2023 before Mayor Brandon Johnson picked Larry Snelling as the city’s top cop. After Snelling took office, Waller stayed on to advise Snelling, serving as deputy director in the superintendent’s office, records show.
Waller has received pension payments of more than $11,500 per month since he retired on Aug. 15, 2020, and they will continue for the rest of his life, according to records obtained by WTTW News from the Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago. Annually, Waller’s pension increases by 3% to cover any increase in the cost of living, records show. He received a pension payment in June, according to documents obtained by WTTW News through a Freedom of Information Act request submitted to the police pension fund.
It is not yet clear whether Waller will get a pay bump to serve as interim superintendent. Waller and CPD representatives did not respond to a detailed list of questions from WTTW News, including whether it is appropriate for Waller to earn both a taxpayer-funded pension and a government salary at a time when the city is facing a projected budget shortfall of $1.16 billion in 2027.
By comparison, Mayor Brandon Johnson earns $221,052, records show. The city’s highest paid employee is Michael McMurray, the commissioner of the Department of Aviation, who earns $350,000 a year.
CPD spent $162.5 million more than its City Council-approved budget in 2025, records show.
Since 2023, Waller’s salary as CPD deputy director has risen approximately 16%, records show.
Waller is expected to serve as CPD’s interim superintendent through the end of the year, as the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability searches for a permanent leader. The oversight board has until Nov. 15 to recommend three finalists to Johnson, who then gets 30 days to choose one or reject all three, which would force the commission to start over. Johnson’s pick must be confirmed by the City Council.
It is legal in Illinois to simultaneously earn a salary from a government agency and collect a taxpayer-funded pension. Waller is not the first public official to take on a new taxpayer-paid job after retiring from another government position.
In 2017, then-Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a law preventing police officers who retire, begin collecting their pension and are rehired from earning a second pension.
That bill was sparked by Naperville Police Chief Robert Marshall, who retired after 28 years and returned as the department’s top administrator and began earning a second pension.
State law allows those collecting a police pension who return to work at a law enforcement agency to enroll in a 401(k)-style system to save additional money for a second attempt at retirement. It prohibits Waller from earning new pension benefits from his current position at the same time he is collecting the pension he earned by spending 34 years on the job with CPD.
Waller left the department shortly after the protests and unrest triggered by the police murder of George Floyd swept the city. A probe by the city’s inspector general found the department’s leaders botched nearly every aspect of its response, undermining efforts to rebuild the community’s trust in the department.
During the civil unrest, Waller was CPD’s chief of operations, the No. 3 ranking official in the department.
Shortly before his retirement, Waller was suspended for 28 days for saying “grope me, don’t rape me,” while complaining about decisions to move officers from police districts to specialized units in a meeting that included federal monitor Maggie Hickey, charged by a federal judge with overseeing court-ordered reforms.
Waller has not addressed the news media or given an interview since taking over CPD for a second time earlier this month.
“It was the wrong choice of words,” Waller said in May 2023 after Johnson tapped him to replace interim Supt. Eric Carter, who led the department for just two months. “It was an attempt to emphasize how much resources were being taken from patrol, and it was just inappropriate the way I phrased it.”
Waller used banked vacation time to serve the penalty.
As chief of patrol, Waller backed a promotion for an officer with numerous misconduct complaints and close ties to two cops jailed on federal corruption charges.
Waller supported the promotion of Alvin Jones to sergeant in 2012, records show. In 2022, Jones resigned after a report from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability detailed allegations that he engaged in extortion more than 16 years ago as part of a crew of officers that included disgraced former Sgt. Ronald Watts, records show.
Since 2017, 212 convictions tied to Watts have been overturned, records show.
Chicago taxpayers are set to spend $101.3 million to resolve 184 lawsuits filed by Chicagoans who were wrongfully convicted based on what they allege was fabricated evidence gathered by Watts, who was convicted in 2013 of taking bribes, and other officers, records show.
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
Contact Jared Rutecki: @JaredRutecki | [email protected]
