CHICAGO — Aldermen passed a measure Wednesday banning officers with ties to extremist and hate groups from working in the Chicago Police Department.

The City Council voted 28-to-21 to approve the ordinance that requires the Police Department to fire officers with ties to groups like the Three Percenters or Proud Boys. It also prohibits the department from hiring people with ties to such groups, and creates new investigative powers to vet police employees and applicants.

Critics of the measure argued it unfairly targets police and should instead be applied to all city workers during a contentious debate, but chief proponent Ald. Matt Martin, 47th, urged aldermen to finally move ahead on the ban after aldermen mulled a response to reports of extremism within police ranks for years.

“Refusing to act because one proposal is not a silver bullet, that’s a mistake,” Martin said. “We should do what we can, where we can with the legal tools that are available us and we should do it now.”

But Ald. Nick Sposato, 38th, said the measure should only pass if it more broadly applies to the employees of all city departments.

“My big problem is, once again, singling out the po-po,” he said. “Everything’s got to be about the police, the evil police. If it’s everybody, I have no problem with it.”

John Catanzara, president of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, said Wednesday it is “safe to say” his union will take legal action to challenge the ordinance.

“I think it’s ridiculous, it’s unnecessary,” he said. “It’s targeted to the police force with some lame excuse that we’re the only ones who have the ability to take someone’s life.”

Martin forced the vote Wednesday after opponents of the measure delayed a vote last month using a parliamentary maneuver.

He has pitched it as a response to the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and a 2024 report by Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg that determined the city’s handling of extremism in the ranks of its police force “has fallen short” of city and CPD commitments.

The ordinance targets “active participation” in radical groups, such as fundraising, recruiting, getting tattoos and wearing clothing with extremist symbols, Martin said.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, who backs the ordinance, assembled a task force last year focused on digging into extremism after Witzburg’s report.

Johnson said police have “the most important role” in keeping Chicago safe and must face a high standard. The measure will build “real trust” between officers and residents, he said.

“We don’t want a situation where trust between law enforcement and community erodes,” he said. “This is going to ensure that we are moving towards a direction that I believe everybody wants us to go towards.”

Despite the criticism from a minority of City Council members, the city Law Department defended the tailoring of the the measure to target police.

The department concluded last week that any effort to restrict the speech of city employees must be “narrowly tailored” as Martin’s ordinance is to withstand challenges based on the First Amendment, according to a legal analysis obtained by the Tribune.

“Due to law enforcement’s unique and vital role and responsibilities, a law more narrowly focused on the expressive activities of members of the police force and the attendant effect on government operations has a stronger legal basis,” the department determined.

Martin said he initially sought to target a broader group of workers, but determined the focus on police was necessary to make the ordinance legally defensible. He backed the Law Department’s finding, arguing police “occupy a unique role.”

“They carry government-issued weapons, they exercise the power of the state and they are empowered and entrusted to enforce our laws every single day and in every single part of our city,” he said. “This distinction matters.”

The definition of extremist groups is “content neutral,” he added.

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