Chicago City Wire

Andrea Kersten, administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), has recently been deposed in the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #7 lawsuit against COPA, attorney Joel D’Alba, who is representing the FOP in the case, confirmed to Chicago City Wire.

The next step in the case, D’Alba says, is a status call before Chancery Court Judge Michael Mullen, who on March 1 dismissed Kersten’s motion to block her deposition and ordered it to take place by April 17.

In its 2019 complaint, the FOP is charging that COPA has no expertise or authority to investigate police-involved shootings.

COPA

COPA’s controversial role in police accountability investigations arose recently when interim Superintendent Eric Carter recommended that the Chicago Police Board fire officer Eric Stillman over the March 2021 shooting death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo.

In October, COPA likewise recommended that Stillman be fired for the shooting even though then Superintendent David Brown recommended that Stillman face a five-day suspension for shooting Toledo after a foot chase. The Cook County State's Attorney's office, moreover, declined to press criminal charges in the case.

Reacting to Carter’s recommendation to fire Stillman, Alderman Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) posted on his office Twitter account: “From the agency that says a person with a gun is not a threat to anyone. #DefundCOPA.”

The CPD has long contended that COPA investigations into police-involved shootings are not only unlawful but that the outcomes are weighted unfairly against them.

For an earlier story, Bob Bartlett, former chair of the Legal Defense Committee at the FOP, told Chicago City Wire that “early on I came to realize COPA doesn't have the legal authority or possess the necessary training and skills to investigate these shootings.”

“I suspect an investigation into COPA will show a pattern of bias in which they steer investigations to a predetermined outcome."

The lawsuit charges that the COPA investigations violate the “Police and Community Relations Improvement Act.”

In the case, FOP attorneys cite the opinion of Brent Fischer, former Executive Director of the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, who in a 2018 letter to the FOP wrote: “Because COPA employees are not police officers…and are not primarily responsible for the prevention and detection of crime, they are not ‘law enforcement officers’ and are therefore ineligible to serve as lead investigators in death and homicide investigations.”