There are Chicago police officers who have done much worse.
Popping popcorn, brewing coffee and lazing around in a congressman’s office while on duty will never make a list of the most egregious offenses committed by a man or woman in uniform.
But the impropriety was particularly appalling since the tactless stunt was carried out in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the national outrage that followed. The culprits were punished but not as harshly as the Chicago Police Department had originally ordered. And most of them were granted leniency after arbitrators got involved, WBEZ’s Chip Mitchell reported last week.
The officers who went inside then-U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush’s South Side campaign office were trying to stay warm during the civil unrest in 2020, Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara has said. One apologetic officer said he only ate Rush’s snacks because he was hungry after the groups’ lunch was stolen.
No matter the excuse, it is more than a bad look when businesses nearby were being looted and ransacked during the several hours the officers were chilling in Rush’s office without his permission.
A lieutenant had his month-long suspension reduced to an eight-day suspension after settling with the city, and the disciplinary process was stalled for two other officers who no longer work for the city.
But 14 of the wayward officers had their suspensions reduced or eliminated through the arbitration process and a reprimand for another officer was thrown out, Mitchell reported.
While these officers didn’t commit the crime of the century, their cases do raise questions about the arbitration process.
“This is a system that has been under the public radar for such a long time,” said Craig B. Futterman, a founder and director of the University of Chicago Law School’s Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project.
Futterman suggested scrapping the arbitration system for police disciplinary matters altogether. Officers have the right to due process, he said, but they could always have their cases presented before a hearing officer appointed by the police board to ensure transparency and accountability.
A 2021 report by the city inspector general’s office found that nearly 80% of CPD disciplinary cases in which a grievance was filed, the punishment was reduced or eliminated, often by an arbitrator. More concerning is that 90% of the completed arbitrations were assigned to just three arbitrators.
Arbitration likely won’t be axed anytime soon, but it’s time the city at least explore possible alternatives that won’t leave some Chicagoans wondering if officers are ever held fully responsible for their misconduct.
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