City inspector general finds Chicago Police Department employs dozens of cops who knowingly lied

The departments cannot commit to firing Rule 14 violators because officers have rights to due process guaranteed by collective bargaining agreements that prohibit predetermining discipline without considering the specific circumstances of each case, according to responses affixed to the report.

The departments pushed back on several of the report’s recommendations, arguing they were not possible or already in place. The Police Department agreed to conduct an annual review of where Rule 14 violators were assigned, create a new training for internal investigators to recognize violations and said it is working to better notify prosecutors of violations.

CPD has taken the IG’s recommendations into consideration and is progressing on implementing some recommendations, the department wrote in a statement Thursday.

“Chicago Police Department members are held to the highest standards. Our sworn and civilian members are expected to act with integrity as we work to build and maintain credibility and trust among the communities we serve,” the department wrote.

Officers lying erodes public trust in policing, hurting its ability to function, COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten wrote in a statement Thursday.

“COPA is firm in its stance that officers found to have willfully lied in an official report or statement must be held accountable. These actions not only negatively impact the Department’s reform efforts but can also undermine the integrity of our criminal justice system,” Kersten wrote.

In its response, the Police Board said it has been five years since it ordered a penalty less severe than discharge for a violation. A May 2018 case in which two officers were found to have violated Rule 14 cited by the IG’s office involved an incident that took place 12 years before in 2004, the board’s leaders wrote.

The officers were early in their career and got “unusually compelling character witness testimony,” the board wrote, all factors that contributed to its more-lenient decision to suspend them for three years. The board has since ordered 21 officers fired for Rule 14 violations, it reported.

While the departments can’t commit to specific predetermined discipline now, the IG’s office could recommend City Council pass legislation to require any officer found guilty of a Rule 14 violation be fired, the board and COPA said.

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