FOR RELEASE:
July 9, 2024
PRESS CONTACT:
Deanna Shoss, Communications, 773-478-8417
The City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG) has published two documents related to Chicago Police Department (CPD) members’ associations with extremist and anti-government groups. First, OIG has published a letter to CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs (BIA), in which OIG found that BIA’s investigation into allegations that seven CPD members were associated with the Oath Keepers was materially deficient and recommended that the investigation be reopened; CPD declined to do so, and its response is published alongside OIG’s letter.
Second, OIG has published an advisory to Mayor Brandon Johnson recommending a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to preventing, identifying, and eliminating extremist and anti-government activities and associations within CPD. In its advisory, OIG provided some information on the histories, origins, and ideologies of the extremist and anti-government groups with which CPD members have recently been accused of associating; surveyed the national landscape on extremism in law enforcement, and briefly reviewed CPD’s handling of recent relevant disciplinary investigations.
Among the national developments discussed in OIG’s advisory is a 2021 statement issued by the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA), an association of police executives representing the largest American and Canadian cities; MCAA’s statement includes that “we must all stand together to keep out and weed out, anyone who would subscribe to views inconsistent with the values expected of the members within our ranks.” More than four dozen police executives from cities including Houston, Minneapolis, Seattle, Baltimore, and Los Angeles signed the statement. CPD is a member of MCCA but was not among the signatories.
The Mayor’s Office’s response to OIG’s advisory, which OIG also published, reiterates the Mayor’s commitment to “rooting out extremist, anti-government, and biased organizations in our law enforcement ranks,” but neither accepts OIG’s recommendation to convene a whole-of-government task force nor commits to any specific action at all.
“I appreciate that the Mayor’s Office continues to articulate a commitment to rooting out extremism in CPD’s ranks. The City’s actual handling of this issue, however, has fallen short of its commitments and has failed to keep pace with efforts underway in other cities,” said City of Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg.
“We cannot ask people to trust a police department whose members are allowed to dabble in hatred and extremism; those people dishonor the badge and are a discredit to all those doing good work in the uniform of the Chicago Police Department,” said Witzburg. “Words are no longer enough. We can do better. Other cities have done better. We owe to it Chicagoans, in uniform and out, to do better.”
Read the Advisory
Read the Recommendation to Reopen
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The mission of the independent and nonpartisan City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG) is to promote economy, effectiveness, efficiency, and integrity by identifying corruption, waste, and mismanagement in City government. OIG is a watchdog for the taxpayers of the City and has jurisdiction to conduct inquiries into most aspects of City government.
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