CHICAGO – There are problems at the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, known as COPA, the agency charged with investigating allegations of serious misconduct by Chicago police officers.
Last week, a letter signed by 16 current or former COPA employees urged the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, which oversees COPA and CPD, to cast a “vote of confidence” on COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten .
The Sun Times reported that alleged Kersten “manipulated investigations to align them with her own policy agenda” and retaliated against employees who complained about “bias and mismanagement.”
At the end of last month, reports surfaced that two senior COPA officials were fired after one of them complained to the city’s inspector general about “anti-police bias” at the agency.
Last spring, cracks began to form in COPA’s veneer after the agency released videos showing Chicago police officers fatally shooting a man during a traffic stop after he opened fire on them. Kersten went on a media tour and even appeared on ESPN to discuss the video release.
COPA also released a letter Kersten wrote to CPD Supt. Larry Snelling on the case in which she asked Snelling to undress the officers while the investigation continued, and questioned the officers’ truthfulness as to why they stopped 26-year-old Dexter Reed just before the shooting began.
Snelling was outraged by the release of the letter and publicly stated that Kersten had written and released the letter before COPA investigators had even spoken to the officers involved.
The inability to talk to key people is not unique to the Reed case, CWBChicago has learned. A source familiar with some of the allegations against COPA said investigators often reach conclusions without interviewing people who could have information favorable to accused officers.
The source referred us to two cases that COPA recently published on its public affairs portal.
In April 2023COPA determined that a Chicago police sergeant unreasonably used “excessive force, comparable to deadly force,” by placing his knee on the neck of a person he was attempting to arrest.
COPA’s deputy chief investigator recommended that CPD fire the sergeant or suspend him for 270 days.
Interim CPD Supt. Fred Waller denounced the agency’s findings, saying investigators “chose not to interview any of the other officers on scene or the civilian witness” to the alleged behavior.
In fact, Waller said, the accused sergeant “was the only person interviewed by COPA, and a proper investigation cannot be completed without statements from the complainant, other members of the department on the scene, especially the officers who assisted when placing [the arrestee] taken into custody, and a civilian witness.”
COPA also failed to obtain a sworn affidavit or a waiver of the affidavit as required by the CPD police sergeants’ union contract, Waller alleged.
Two months ago, Kersten signed an additional finding that the excessive force charge “did not hold up.” In her memo, Kersten asserted that there was “sufficient evidence to support the allegation,” but “several factors, including the age of this case, the requirements of the collective bargaining agreement, and the associated procedural issues in this case, reduce the likelihood success in an evidentiary hearing.”
In FebruaryCOPA’s lead investigator has recommended a 30-day suspension for another CPD sergeant for comments she allegedly made about immigrants living in the Albany Park (17th) Precinct Police Department.
Specifically, the sergeant was accused of telling someone that if they wanted to help the migrants, they should “pick one of them and take it home, like they do with the migrants.” [dog] pound.”
The sergeant strongly denied the allegations.
Snelling rejected COPA’s findings and recommendations. Among other concerns, Snelling said COPA investigators “made no attempts to interview additional witnesses who worked at the district attorney’s office during the alleged incident,” even though the complainant said this took place right next to a detective and up to three officers working at the station worked. reception.
The sergeant withdrew before COPA responded to Snelling’s non-compete letter.
Coincidentally, the lead investigator who signed off on the Albany Park investigation was Matthew Haynam, the COPA deputy who was fired last month after filing a complaint with the city inspector general.
