CPD supervisors can be investigated for anonymous misconduct complaints, arbitrator says

The change in longstanding CPD policy came as part of negotiations between the city and the three bargaining units that represent sergeants, lieutenants and captains.

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A Chicago police star on a wall at headquarters.

Chicago police sergeants, lieutenants and captains will soon be subject to misconduct investigations even if their accusers remain anonymous.

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Chicago police sergeants, lieutenants and captains will soon be subject to misconduct investigations even if their accusers remain anonymous.

The change in longstanding policy comes after an independent arbitrator — overseeing four years of contract negotiations between the city and the three bargaining units that represent CPD supervisors — announced his award in a 106-page ruling Friday, largely finding in favor of the city in several contentious areas that have been placed under renewed scrutiny in the wake of several high-profile killings by police officers across the country.

“This lays the groundwork for institutional reforms that we all knew were necessary that were part of the work that’s been done by civil rights lawyers, the [Police Accountability Task Force] and others around really making sure that these police contracts are not a roadblock, but a road map towards reform,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Friday.

Lightfoot, while serving as president of the Chicago Police Board — the body that metes out discipline to officers found guilty of misconduct — chaired the Police Accountability Task Force. In a report released in 2016, the PATF wrote that the lack of investigations into anonymous complaints “may discourage some people from bringing perfectly legitimate complaints.”

“Accepting anonymous complaints allows a police department to use an additional set of data as a management tool for proactively addressing performance problems,” the PATF wrote.

About 1,500 CPD supervisors are represented by the three collective bargaining units. The arbitrator’s award is binding and does not require ratification by any of the three.

The three supervisors’ collective bargaining agreements expired in June 2016, and the new CBAs are expected to be brought before the City Council in July. Last year, the city and the three units agreed on a 10.5% raise over five years.

The sergeants’ unit declined to comment on the arbitrator’s award Friday. Representatives for the lieutenants’ and captains’ units could not be reached.

Along with anonymous complaint investigations, CPD supervisors accused of misconduct will no longer learn the identity of their accusers until they are interviewed by investigators, which typically occurs near the end of any given investigation. Interrogators will now be permitted to note when a supervisor consults with their attorney during an interview.

Misconduct records must be preserved, as well. Previous contracts stipulated that misconduct complaints more than five years old were to be destroyed. Last week, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that misconduct complaints against rank-and-file officers, represented by the Fraternal Order of Police, must also be preserved.

Supervisors with outside employment will now be required to disclose to the CPD where they work and for how long. The arbitrator’s ruling also allows the CPD “to impose a 16-hour cap on working any job within a 24-hour period unless ordered by the Department,” Lightfoot’s office said in a statement.

The arbitrator’s ruling comes as the city is in contract negotiations with the FOP, by far the largest of the four bargaining units that represent CPD officers and one that has been highly resistant to reform efforts in recent years.

“It’s gonna be hard-fought, obviously, because the new leadership, particularly the new president, has a very, very, very different view of the necessity of reform than I do … but we’re up for the challenge,” Lightfoot said. “Reform is coming and it would be grateful if the FOP were a partner in this work and were working on strengthening support for their members. But being obstructionist and a roadblock, it’s not going to carry the day. I have great confidence in that.”

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