CHICAGO (WLS) — Chicago’s top watch dog is calling the integrity of the entire Chicago Police Department’s disciplinary process into question.
Deborah Witzburg, Chicago’s Inspector General, is telling the ABC7 I-Team a new report finds many inconsistencies in the reporting of final discipline for sanctioned officers, ranging from violations to suspensions.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
The report reviews a CPD provided list of all sustained disciplinary actions against CPD members between April 2016 and April 2021. It finds significant record keeping irregularities.
“So that leaves us in a place where we are not well positioned to ensure that CPD members are actually serving the discipline which has been assigned and and we cannot ensure that we have comprehensive and accurate disciplinary histories for police department members,” Witzburg said. “There are other risks there as well, including that we can’t use a member’s disciplinary history to assess the need for intervention. We can’t do good risk management around individual members if we don’t have a clear and comprehensive disciplinary record.”
In a one-on-one interview with the I-Team, CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling addressed the OIG report that cites significant gaps.
“There’s a lot of stuff that we’re working on technology and our system of records management system that’s going to help us streamline the process,” Snelling said. “We’re in the process of working on those things right now, and I don’t it’s too I don’t have enough time here to get into all of the nuances of that report. But, what I can tell you is we want to do the best that we can to keep the best possible records, to streamline any process and to make sure that we’re transparent with everything we’re doing.”
Witzburg explaining if discipline is not properly documented, there’s no way to know whether problem police officers are actually being penalized.
“I think that improved case management, improved Information Management, is likely to alleviate many of these concerns going forward, I don’t think that has much to say about what we’re going to do about the fact that we have thousands of active members where we cannot ensure the comprehensiveness or the accuracy of their disciplinary records,” she said.
Responding to the inspector general’s report, the city of Chicago said a new information and case management system has been implemented since the period analyzed by Witzburg’s office.
The IG noted of the four CPD final discipline action types, violation noted, reprimand, suspension, and separation, all finalized separations were appropriately documented.
Copyright © 2025 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.