Politics
Recommendations From Task Force Charged With Ridding CPD of Extremist Groups Coming in ‘Due Time,’ Johnson Says
Mayor Brandon Johnson fields questions from the news media on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (WTTW News)
Recommendations from a task force charged with examining how to rid the Chicago Police Department of officers with ties to extremist and anti-government groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are coming “in due time,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said Tuesday.
Johnson formed the task force five months ago. The effort has yet to show any sign of public progress.
Johnson said he met with department leaders Monday to discuss the task force’s work, which he said was not limited to the Chicago Police Department. There are no public allegations that city workers in any other department other than CPD have documented ties to anti-government or extremist groups.
“There are some recommendations that are coming through,” Johnson said. “In due time, we’re going to release some of those recommendations.”
Johnson said the effort was focused on city employees’ behavior, not their affiliations with extremist and anti-government groups.
“Look, you may not be a part of an official group that has been known to be extreme, but your behavior could still be biased or racist,” Johnson said. “And we’re working to root that out across our systems.”
That approach is similar to the one adopted by the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, which voted unanimously in November 2023 to ban officers from associating with hate groups and extremist organizations.
That policy focuses on officers’ conduct and bans them from belonging to what it calls “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.
A year ago, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg publicly urged Johnson to form a task force and “implement a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to preventing, identifying and eliminating extremist and anti-government activities and associations within CPD.”
Witzburg found three investigations conducted by CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs into ties between police officers and far-right extremist groups that have clashed with the United States government to be lacking, and demanded they be reopened. None of those probes resulted in any of the officers being disciplined.
The task force is led by Deputy Mayor of Community Safety Garien Gatewood and Chief Equity Officer Carla Kupe and charged with examining “the city’s existing policies and making appropriate recommendations to root out anyone who belongs to a hate group,” according to the mayor’s office.
The task force also includes 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.
Witzburg’s recommendation, made in July 2024, after the third investigation of CPD members with ties to right-wing extremist groups since 2022 ended without any of the officers being disciplined, urged the task force “to make regular public reports on its activities.”
Witzburg told WTTW News she had not been informed of any activity by the task force, but warned it is impossible to craft reforms that enjoy widespread public support if the process is not transparent.
That is especially crucial when dealing with sensitive issues like the presence of police officers affiliated with groups that have expressed antisemitic and anti-LGTBQ sentiments, Witzburg said.
Ald. Matt Martin (47th Ward), the chair of the City Council’s Ethics and Government Oversight Committee, told WTTW News he is still gathering feedback and support for an ordinance crafted that would 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.
Like Witzburg, Martin said he had not been included in any of the task force’s work, or updated on its progress.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
