Chicago Justice Podcast

Chicago Justice Podcast


CPD’s Broken Grievance System

June 29, 2021

The Chicago Police Department's broken grievance system has allowed abusive officers to either greatly reduce their exposure to discipline and in some case completely remove it form their records. The rules governing the system are outlined in the contracts between the CPD and the various unions that represent the sworn officers within the CPD.

CJP was informed many years ago by a high level source within the Independent Police Review Authority that the system is so broke that most officers automatically grieve their cases and that the CPD loses in arbitration so much that the they had resorted in to almost always just reducing or eliminating the discipline without going to the arbitrator. This practice of course incentivizes officers to grieve any discipline that they ever face.

On today's show we feature an interview with Deborah Witzburg who is the Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety. She authored a recent report titled "Review of the Disciplinary Grievance Procedure for Chicago Police Department Members". The report backs up much of what CJP has been told through the years about the grievance system.

The grievance process if purposely opaque so that it shields the public from learning that in many, many cases the CPD either outright reduces the discipline or an arbitrator, that must selected through mutual agreement, reduces the discipline through their almost absolute power. This is a process that is in desperate need of transparency so that the public can learn the real details about just how much the police accountability system fails the residents of Chicago and the good officers within the CPD.

Also on the show today:

Why cops have been quitting in drovesThin Blue lies behind crime wave hypeWhy we shouldn't expect much from Biden's plan to counter crime

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