Chicago police officers who have been recommended for firing or suspensions of more than a year will have the option of going around the Chicago Police Board and putting their fate in the hands of an independent arbitrator under a new ruling Mayor Brandon Johnson called a “major setback” for police reform.
Independent arbitrator Edwin H. Benn has handed down multiple rulings over the years involving disciplinary cases against Chicago police officers and firefighters. He also has ruled on police and fire contracts that could not be hammered out at the bargaining table.
This week’s ruling threatens to turn at least a portion of the disciplinary process on its ear and deprive the Chicago Police Board of one of its most powerful tools. That board’s nominees are recommended by a civilian oversight panel and chosen by the mayor.
The decision will allow police officers accused of the most serious wrongdoing — and recommended for firings or suspensions longer than a year — to bypass the board and take their cases to an independent arbitrator, who might be more sympathetic to their arguments.
Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara called it a “huge victory” for the rank-and-file.
He argued that the city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which investigates police shootings and serious cases of misconduct, has a long, documented history of being a kangaroo court.
“Many times, they have proven themselves extremely biased and onesided — especially with the more notable cases, and they just can’t wait to get the pitchfork and torch out along with the rest of the mob out there,” Catanzara said in a YouTube video posted Friday.
“We have example after example where COPA has excessively recommended discipline beyond anything they have done prior.And, when it goes to arbitration, it almost always gets reduced. ... Discipline is supposed to be corrective in behavior — not punitive.”
Johnson and Ghian Foreman, the president of the police board, called the arbitrator’s ruling a “major setback for police accountability and reform.”
“While we recognize police officers’ right to arbitration, it is crucial that disciplinary cases be handled in a manner that allows for public transparency and true accountability,” the mayor’s office said in a written statement.
If the arbitrator’s ruling is “allowed to take effect,” the most serious police disciplinary cases will be driven “behind closed doors” at the worst possible time, Foreman said.
“It has never been more important to increase the public’s confidence in the process for handling allegations of police misconduct and to build greater trust between the police and the communities they serve,” Foreman said.
City Hall Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said Benn’s ruling underscores the need to shine a much brighter light on what she has long complained is a complex and byzantine disciplinary process for police officers that breeds public distrust.
Saying the police board “serves an important transparency function in adjudicating” disciplinary cases, Witzburg said, “If some of those cases are to be resolved by arbitration instead of the police board, then we must improve the transparence of the arbitration system. We cannot have those cases resolved in a windowless room.”
After taking a closer look at disciplinary grievances for police officers, Witzburg said she found there is “a lot the city could do that it hasn’t done” to inform the public about the process.
“What is most important here is that this adjudication phase of the disciplinary process happen in a transparent way. If that’s not gonna be in front of the police board, then we must shine a brighter light on the arbitration process,” she said. “There must be a better public view into those cases and their outcomes.
Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th), a former Chicago police officer now chairing the City Council’s Police and Fire Committee, said an independent arbitrator would be “more independent than someone that’s appointed by the mayor, as the police board is.
“That gives an officer some options. But, at the same time, it does seriously undercut the authority of the board and the reason why this board sits in that place.”
Taliaferro said the board’s powers are established by an ordinance approved by the City Council, and he questioned whether an independent arbitrator can overrule that.
In his ruling, Benn addressed head-on the issue of his past and potentially future involvement in the arbitrations his ruling makes more likely.
“This arbitrator has had no problems upholding disciplinary actions against police officers (including discharges) where the facts warranted such actions,” Benn wrote. “Similarly, this arbitrator has had no problems reducing disciplinary actions where the facts did not support the charged penalty for alleged misconduct.
“I am not hired by parties to tell them what I personally feel and rule on those personal feelings or to show them that I am afraid of making the correct decision.”
