Hundreds of cops could be punished for not filing ethics statements: sources As many as 1,000 Chicago Police officers face possible disciplinary action for failing to file their annual city ethics statements by a June 1 deadline, City Hall sources said Monday.
Chicago Police Department spokeswoman Maureen Biggane refused to reveal the specific number of officers accused of the administrative oversight after members were “notified of the requirement to file electronically,” instead of by mail.
A source familiar with the investigation confirmed that 1,000 officers had been accused of missing the deadline.
In a carefully-worded e-mail to the Chicago Sun-Times, Biggane would only said, “Department members have been identified as being non-compliant with the city’s ethics ordinance. ... Command staff has been charged with verifying their respective members’ filing status and taking appropriate disciplinary action where non-compliance is confirmed.”
Rich Superfine, legal counsel for the city’s Board of Ethics, said the annual “statement of financial interest” is due June 1.
“Whether there’s one or a million [violations], there can be no violation until and unless the board finds a violation. That’s Step One. Step Two is that we will communicate that to the department, and the department determines what, if anything, they want to do,” Superfine said.
The alleged oversight by a large number of uniformed Chicago Police officers creates a political dilemma for Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
On the one hand, he has made ethics reform a central focus during his first three months in office.
On the other hand, he cannot afford to suspend uniformed police officers at a time when a two-year manpower shortage has left the Chicago Police Department more than 2,300 officers-a-day short of authorized strength.
The mayor can also ill afford to discipline a large number of officers at a time when he is trying to build police morale that plunged during the three-year tenure of former Police Supt. Jody Weis.
During the Council Wars power struggle that raged during the 1980’s, Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) once dared to demand the resignation of then-Mayor Harold Washington after Washington neglected to file his ethics statement by the required deadline.
Fraternal Order of Police President Mike Shields blamed the oversight on police brass.
“If 1,000 Chicago Police officers have not replied electronically to the [demand for their] ethics statements, this appears to be more of a problem with the Chicago Police management failing to deliver the message to the rank-and-file officer,” Shields said.
“The thought of punishing 1,000 officers to deflect the blame away from police brass doesn’t serve well to improve our morale.”
