CHICAGO – The agency
tasked with investigating allegations of misconduct on the part of Chicago
police is plagued by long delays in case work, some of which have led to the
dismissal of charges, according to a published report Sunday.
The Independent Police
Review Authority investigates some 2,800 complaints of police misconduct each
year. In the five years since it was created by city officials, the agency has
filed 40 complaints to the Chicago Police Board, which decides the outcome on
serious cases. Those investigations took one to five years to complete, the
Chicago Tribune reported Sunday.
The family of Greg
Larkins said it was such a delay that cost them justice.
A Chicago police
officer allegedly hit Larkin’s head with a baton in 2006. Family members said
the incident required hospitalization and wasn’t provoked. The police review
group filed charges of excessive force against an officer and called for his
firing, but the board dismissed the case because the five-year statute of
limitations ran out.
The Fraternal Order of
Police said the investigations are too long, can hurt police officers and
violate a city contract. The union plans to bring up the issue during an
arbitration hearing today.
Other cases also have
been affected by the delays.
Earlier this month,
city attorneys appealed a Cook County Circuit Court ruling that reversed the
firings of two off-duty Chicago police officers accused in a 2006 attack
because their case took too long.
“The delay is
ridiculous, but what’s more maddening is the delay seems unnecessary,” said
Thomas Needham, a lawyer who defends officers accused of misconduct. “No one is
difficult to find. No one is asserting their right to remain silent. No one is
recanting. They are fairly simple, straightforward cases that shouldn’t take
months or years to investigate.”
However, the head of
the agency disagreed.
Ilana Rosenzweig said
the investigations are complex and need to be thorough, plus, there is a
staffing shortage. She said that the office has had to rebuild trust in the
community and inherited a backlog of cases from a now-defunct office.
“We had to start from
a position where we had to gain a lot of trust that was lost over the years,”
she said. “There are investigations where we might have spent six months to get
(a witness) to cooperate.”