2 Investigators: Accused Outlaw Chicago Cops Draw Desk-Duty Salaries, Sometimes For Years
/Millions of tax dollars are spent on the salaries of cops on desk duty instead of on the street where they are desperately needed.
2 Investigator Pam Zekman has learned that’s because there are currently 86 Chicago Police officers stripped of their police powers over alleged misconduct. It can take years for the city to resolve their cases, even when there is taped evidence that seems to support the allegations.
For example, as a squad car rolled up to a domestic violence call in June 2011, its dashboard camera recorded another cop walking toward a suspect he already wounded. Then, as he lay on his side in a fetal position, the officer shot the suspect, Flint Farmer, three more times in the back.
Court records show the medical examiner concluded the shots depicted in the video were fatal.
Officer Gildardo Sierra told police at the time that he was “in fear for his life” when Farmer moved toward him while pulling an object out of his pocket and pointing it at him. It turned out to be a cell phone.
Farmer’s girlfriend and the mother of his child filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and Sierra. It argued Farmer stopped when he was ordered and was unjustifiably shot by Sierra.
The city recently agreed to settle the lawsuit filed by Attorney Craig Sandberg, who declined to comment about the case.
Sierra was stripped of his police powers and has been on desk duty for 19 months since the shooting. But he’s still making a $75,000 a year salary while the disciplinary process continues.
“That system is absolutely unworkable,” says Attorney Terry Ekl, who has reviewed hundreds of confidential police disciplinary files related to other lawsuits he’s filed involving police misconduct.
“There are literally layers on top of layers of rights afforded to police officers in the disciplinary process,” Ekl says. “It goes on for before there is ever any type of final resolution.”
He said the system should be overhauled.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, CBS 2 requested information about the 86 officers the department says have currently been stripped of their police powers. CBS 2 wanted to know who they are, when they stripped of their police powers — and why.
