Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability determined that the five officers collectively committed 47 violations of departmental rules designed to protect the rights of Chicagoans during two traffic stops and should be suspended for a total of 91 days, records show.

Since the beginning of the year, Chicago police officers have shot five people, killing three, records show. A spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson acknowledged he has not named an interim replacement for Andrea Kersten, who resigned as the chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, known as COPA, on Feb. 13.

Civilian Office of Police Accountability Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten much of the last 12 months at odds with the city’s top cop and the head of the city’s police oversight board.

Finance Committee Chair Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward) failed to hold a vote on the agreement as scheduled Monday, an indication that the deal does not have enough support to advance to the full City Council.

That agreement must be approved by the Chicago City Council by Feb. 10, according to a joint filing from the lawyers representing the city and Reed’s mother, Nicole Banks. That indicates the settlement agreement calls for Chicago taxpayers to pay Reed’s family more than $100,000.

A letter sent to police officials from COPA on March 27, six days after Reed’s death, shows that the agency had evidence that officers were routinely engaging in misconduct that violated Chicago Police Department rules and put Chicagoans at risk of a violent encounter with officers for at least a year. 

In each of the five cases, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg informed Civilian Office of Police Accountability Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten that the agency known as COPA had erred when it closed those cases because they involved serious allegations of police misconduct.

While none of the officers who shot at Reed, who was hit 13 times, have returned to active duty, Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling has refused Civilian Office of Police Accountability Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten’s call to relieve them of their police powers.

The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability has yet to provide the Office of the Inspector General with the evidence that prompted the commission to call for a probe into “the quality and integrity” of the investigations into police misconduct by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, according to a letter obtained by WTTW News.

Irene Chavez died while in police custody on Dec. 18, 2021. Eleven officers are set to be disciplined for failing to prevent her death, as first reported by WTTW News.

The final agreement calls for 11 officers to serve suspensions totaling 275 days for their conduct that led to the death by suicide of a 33-year-old woman in December 2021, records show.

Former interim Chicago Police Supt. Fred Waller objected to the recommendation made by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability that four police officers, a sergeant, a lieutenant and two commanders should be suspended for six months or terminated.

All five officers who stopped Dexter Reed near the border of Humboldt Park and Garfield Park remain on paid administrative leave and have not returned to active duty after completing a mandatory 30-day stint after the shooting, as required by department rules, a department spokesperson told WTTW News.

The five officers who conducted the traffic stop that led to the death of Dexter Reed and the wounding of one officer had been the subject of 36 complaints that they were improperly stopping Chicagoans driving through the city’s West Side, according to records provided to WTTW News by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

Superintendent Larry Snelling’s remarks come nearly two months after the first sign of deep tension between CPD and COPA emerged, and reflect a widening breach between the two agencies, sources told WTTW News.

The rules that govern when — and how — Chicago police officers can use force against members of the public are complicated and subject to interpretation, despite years of efforts to make it less likely that an altercation between an officer and a Chicagoan turns deadly. Those rules face new scrutiny after officers shot and killed Dexter Reed on March 21.