Chicago’s largest police union is asking a judge to issue a ruling in favor of an arbitrator’s controversial decision that the most serious police disciplinary cases can be heard behind closed doors.
The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police filed a motion seeking a summary judgment on Friday — just a day after alderpersons voted again to reject arbitrator Edwin Benn’s finding that cops facing dismissal or suspensions over one year have the right to circumvent the Chicago Police Board.
The filing comes amid a flurry of activity in a high-stakes lawsuit the FOP filed in January that seeks to implement Benn’s ruling, which stems from lengthy contract negotiations with the city.
Benn has held that state labor law affords the union’s rank-and-file members the right to seek “final and binding arbitration,” like other public sector employees.
In its filing, the union urged Judge Michael T. Mullen to adopt the decision. It argued that city officials failed to formally contest Benn’s decision within a 90-day period that ended on Jan. 17.
The arbitrator’s finding set off a political firestorm, with city officials and activists warning it undercuts transparency and accountability and threatens to further erode public trust in the police department.
Mayor Brandon Johnson, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, echoed those concerns and urged his colleagues to vote against Benn’s ruling.
The City Council initially voted 33-16 in December to reject Benn’s decision, which he then reaffirmed in a scathing ruling the following month. In it, Benn harshly criticized Johnson and the alderpersons who dissented and warned that litigation over the issue “may well go on for years” with “no possibility” of the city prevailing.
The council again rejected the decision, 32-18, last Thursday after an emotional debate that forced Johnson to call for decorum four times.
In a court filing ahead of that vote, city lawyers insisted the court battle “is not about whether serious disciplinary cases should be submitted to arbitration. Rather, it is about the procedures that should apply to such arbitration.”
They pointed to a series of proposals that Benn allegedly “failed to consider,” like making the arbitration proceedings public, requiring arbitrators to receive training, and allowing Police Supt. Larry Snelling to suspend cops without pay while they face dismissal.
The city argues that the union’s effort to compel the city to accept Benn’s decision “is inconsistent with the parties’ contract and Illinois law,” noting that it hasn’t been ratified by the council as required by the contract.
City officials didn’t respond to questions.
Judge Mullen effectively shut down the police board late last month in anticipation of the final council vote, sending all the pending cases into limbo. The move most notably delayed the trial-like proceedings for Officer Eric Stillman, who fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo during a foot chase in Little Village in 2021.
The stay is set to expire on Feb. 25, with a hearing set for the next day to readdress the issue.
However, the FOP on Tuesday requested those matters be expedited and called for a continued halt to police board proceedings as the case plays out. The union insists officers with pending cases “will be irreparably injured by being force to proceed” before the board.
During a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, the union is expected to present its motion for summary judgment and the city is primed to file its latest response to the complaint.
FOP President John Catanzara said the mayor and his allies “have all but dared the judge to do something at this point,” though he predicted that both sides will ultimately appeal any unfavorable rulings.
“I’d prefer to just get the court battle on and to the appellate court and on to wherever it’s going after that,” Catanzara said in an interview. “Let’s just see where the chips fall, but that’ll be up to Judge Mullen tomorrow.”
