The ongoing dispute regarding how serious misconduct cases within the Chicago Police Department are handled took a significant turn on Tuesday, as the Fraternal Order of Police, the city’s largest police union, petitioned an appellate court to overturn a ruling that mandates disciplinary hearings be conducted in public.
The tension surrounding police discipline has escalated during recent union contract negotiations, extending from City Council discussions to courtroom actions presided over by Cook County Judge Michael Mullen.
Judge Mullen concluded that police officers could opt for arbitration instead of having their cases heard by the Chicago Police Board.
However, he also ruled that such arbitration sessions must not be conducted behind closed doors, prompting the union to challenge this aspect in an appeal.
Matt Pierce, representing the Fraternal Order of Police, argued in court that the tradition of private arbitration hearings is well-established and does not breach existing public policy.
Appellate Judge Mary Mikva countered his argument by referencing a long-standing practice of public disciplinary hearings over the last 60 years.
“Are you saying we ignore that status quo?” Judge Mikva questioned.
In response, Pierce maintained that the decision to have cases heard publicly by the police board was a mutual agreement between the city and the union, which the union has now chosen to opt out of.
Appellate Judge Sharon Johnson then pressed Pierce on how the potential for closed-door hearings would affect public accountability for the Chicago Police Department.
“How do you suggest that the public is able to hold CPD accountable … if they don’t have access, if they don’t know what to ask for, if they don’t know that the proceedings took place?” Johnson queried.
Pierce clarified that while final findings would remain public, they would be shared in a manner consistent with how less serious disciplinary cases are handled.
City attorney Aya Barnea asserted that public oversight of serious disciplinary hearings was a fundamental right, crucial for maintaining the legitimacy of the police force.
“There’s always been a dividing line between the most serious and less serious allegations,” Barnea noted, emphasizing the importance of public access for the effective functioning of the police department.
“Having after-the-fact access is not enough,” she stated.
Leaving the court, FOP President John Catanzara expressed his belief that the city’s aim for public hearings is to create a spectacle and intimidate arbitrators.
“The contract has always given us the option to opt out of this. Why my predecessors have never chosen to exercise that option, I can’t explain,” Catanzara remarked.
He added, “It has become so egregious, the discipline has become so one-sided, that we just said enough was enough.”
Catanzara claimed that the union has always had the right to pursue private arbitration, questioning how the court could overlook this fundamental reality.
The issue of handling serious police disciplinary cases became a contentious point during lengthy contract negotiations for the union.
An independent arbitrator, Edwin Benn, was appointed to help resolve these disputes and concluded that state labor law permits union members to bypass public hearings before the police board in favor of ‘final and binding arbitration.’
The City Council, however, voted to reject Benn’s ruling twice, resulting in competing motions for summary judgment from both the union and the city.
In a ruling in March 2024, Judge Mullen determined that Benn’s decision contradicted a “dominant and well-defined public policy” and violated a federal mandate for extensive reforms, specifically calling for greater transparency.
Mullen’s ruling permitted public arbitration and overturned Benn’s decision that officers should remain on the payroll while their cases were pending, a point of contention still being addressed in the ongoing appeal.
The appellate court has yet to make a ruling on the case.
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