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cer how well this has turned out on active crime scenes throughout the City. It is the Lodge’s understanding that the same protocol will be followed by the Civilian Over- sight of Police Accountability (COPA) when is succeeds IPRA in 2017.
The Lodge’s objections started even before the effec- tive date of the Act. The Lodge repeatedly raised con- cerns over IPRA’s bias with several entities, including the City, the CPD and even the City’s “independent” In- spector General (all to no avail). Although IPRA was cre- ated as a separate agency of the City in 1997 (and later revamped in 2007), the public perception is that IPRA is part of the CPD. Both IPRA and CPD ultimately report to the mayor, further undermining even an appearance of independence of officer-involved death investigations, as intended by the Act. The intent of the Act is to have a truly independent law enforcement agency. For this rea- son alone, the City does not appear to be in compliance with the Act.
Further, even before passage of the Act, IPRA per- formed the intake function for all allegations of mis- conduct made against Police Officers. IPRA already was directly responsible for conducting investigations into allegations of the use of excessive force, as well as police shootings. One must question the initial bias an IPRA investigator (as well as the recently created COPA inves- tigators) will bring to his or her investigation of an offi- cer-involved death.
In addition, and just as significant, the City is not in compliance with the Act because IPRA is not a law en- forcement agency as defined by the Act, nor are its em- ployees (who are acting as investigators) certified as Lead Homicide Investigators as required by the Act. The IPRA investigators used as “Lead Investigators” simply do not have the requisite training and certification. Indeed, the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board (ILETSB) has not certified the training received by IPRA investigators. The ILETSB’s website, under “Lead Homi- cide Investigator (LHI) Certification and Recertification Process,” reads:
“Effective 01-01-2012, under 50 ILCS 705/10.11, only law enforcement officers who successfully complete the 40-hour Lead Homicide Investigator training program may be assigned as lead investigators in homicide in- vestigations. Additionally, the Board has developed an LHI training waiver process for officer’s whose extensive training and experience may qualify them a waiver.
“All Lead Homicide Investigators (LHIs) certified by the Training Board are required to obtain 32 hours of ap- proved LHI in-service training in a 4-year period from the date of their certification.”
Even the Illinois Police Training Act, passed in 2012, mandates: “(Only) law enforcement officers who suc- cessfully complete the training program (approved by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Board) may be as- signed as lead investigators in death and homicide inves- tigations.”
IPRA investigators are not law enforcement officers, but rather civilians who, at best, have received a mini- mum (and an insufficient) amount of training. Unlike
IPRA investigators, Chicago Police Department Detec- tives go through seven weeks (or 280 hours) of extensive training in order to be minimally qualified to enter into the investigative environment of police work. Indeed, prior to being eligible to apply for a promotion to Detec- tive, a Police Officer must go through rigorous training throughout his or her career and must successfully ob- tain a sufficiently high passing score on the eligibility list to even qualify for promotion.
IPRA is not qualified (let alone certified) to conduct such investigations, nor sufficiently independent to sat- isfy the Act. Given its control over the crime scene, the fact that IPRA is not a law enforcement agency actively impedes the CPD’s ability to gather evidence and investi- gate the crime scene. Assignment of such investigations to a qualified, independent law enforcement agency, such as the State Police or another neighboring Police Department, would comply with the Act and allow for a proper investigation of the crime scene, both as to the underlying crime and the officer-involved death. The Po- lice Officers and the community at large deserve nothing less.
When IPRA sought to obtain confirmation from ILETSB about its investigators’ qualifications, the Director re- sponded as follows:
“We have briefly reviewed the materials you sent and appreciate your follow up. Nevertheless, we are not in a position to render opinions as to the sufficiency of civil- ian courses. When evaluating in-service programs, we do so with the understanding that each officer has already been advised of certain key principles in the basic acad- emy that need not be addressed in an in-service course. Given that your investigators are not law enforcement officers we cannot evaluate your courses with the same system of measurement.”
In February 2016, the Lodge formally requested the Illinois Attorney General to investigate the City’s com- pliance with the Act and take any appropriate enforce- ment action. The Lodge followed up with no fewer than a dozen emails and additional letters throughout the year. The Attorney General (AG) has the constitutional author- ity, based on the common law, “to institute, conduct and maintain all such suits and proceedings as he deems nec- essary for the enforcement of the laws of the State, the preservation of order and the protection of public rights.” Despite the Lodge’s repeated demands that the AG en- force (or at least investigate) compliance with the Act, to date, the Attorney General has not formally responded.
Left with no other options, the Lodge’s lawsuit asks the court to enter judgment in its favor, declaring that the City is not in compliance with the requirements of the Act as it relates to investigation of officer-involved deaths. The Lodge also asks the court to order the City to comply with the Act’s requirements. The lawsuit further requests that the Attorney General intervene to ensure that the question of the City’s compliance with the Act is fully and properly adjudicated. The Lodge will continue to keep the membership apprised. d
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