Chicago City Wire

Chicago FOP Lodge 7, the union representing rank-and-file cops, is weighing whether to refile a second amended complaint or appeal the April 24 ruling by federal Judge Jorge Alonso that cops have no due process claims before the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), the civilian body that investigates allegations of police misconduct.  

Attorney Pat Fioretto, representing the FOP and eight police officers who filed the lawsuit in August 2024, told Chicago City Wire they have until May 15 to refile, longer if they appeal.

In his ruling Judge Alonso agreed with the defendants in the case, including COPA, its former chief Andrea Kersten, the city of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department, that the officers “have no protectable due process right to challenge COPA’s pre-disciplinary investigation process.”

“Because COPA’s investigation constitutes process rather than a protected property interest (namely employment),” the judge said, “the Court dismisses plaintiffs’ due process claim premised on a property interest in a fair investigation.”

Fioretto argued that the process itself lies at the heart of the complaint.

“It’s unfair, unjust and riddled with problems,” he said. “COPA has a history of arriving at conclusions first and then fabricating facts to support the conclusion.”

Judge Alonso also dismissed arguments from the FOP that COPA violated the officers’ equal protection rights under the constitution.  

“…the amended complaint does not allege facts that would support any inference that the Plaintiff Officers should be treated as members of a protected class, which alone justifies dismissal. Accordingly, the Court dismisses Plaintiffs’ equal protection claim,” Judge Alonso said.

This past February, Kersten resigned under fire six months after the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) asked Inspector General Deborah Witzburg to probe “the quality and integrity” of the investigations into police misconduct by COPA, as well as “the quality and integrity of COPA’s disciplinary recommendations, and retaliation against COPA employees who raise concerns about COPA’s investigations and recommendations.”

In addition, Police Superintendent Larry Snelling has said that COPA’s investigations were so unfair that they put some of his officers at a greater risk for suicide.

Last September, a former COPA employee filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the city, alleging he was wrongfully fired after raising alarms about bias and mismanagement within the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

The police have long complained COPA harbors an institutional bias against them. They have also argued, through a separate lawsuit, that COPA lacks the authority and expertise to conduct investigations, especially ones involving shootings. The FOP’s 2019 complaint charged that COPA has no expertise or authority to investigate police-involved shootings.

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.”