\n<\/p>\n
One of Chicago\u2019s newest police sergeants had been deemed \u201cunfit to serve\u201d after an investigation uncovered evidence that he created a fake Facebook account and spread a nude photo of a woman he was sexually involved with, then lied to investigators about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another new sergeant had been found to have engaged in conduct that \u201cseriously undermines public faith, credibility, and trust in the Department\u201d after he was accused of sexual assault and domestic violence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The conclusions were made by independent investigators from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. COPA recommended firing both. The first officer ultimately negotiated a one-year suspension and was assigned to supervise officers downtown and in the West Loop. The second officer\u2019s case is still pending; he was assigned to supervise officers patrolling neighborhoods on the city\u2019s South Side.<\/p>\n
The officers\u2019 promotions this spring were not due to an oversight. Department officials knew about their disciplinary records, but those records could not be considered as the department evaluated their fitness for promotion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The main qualifying factor was their test scores from a two-part exam.<\/p>\n
That Chicago police officers can rise in the ranks in spite of significant problems in their records\u00a0 reflects a decadeslong failing that the Chicago Police Department has been repeatedly called on to fix, an investigation by the Invisible Institute and ProPublica found.<\/p>\n
Chicago\u2019s system of promotions remains out of step with other big cities. Police departments in New York City and Los Angeles consider disciplinary records before promoting officers, seeing their past actions as a critical factor in determining if they\u2019re fit to supervise others. A survey conducted for the CPD of more than a dozen major departments found that only one did not consider discipline in promotions.<\/p>\n
In New Orleans, the police department created a promotions policy that considers an officer\u2019s disciplinary history after it fell under a federal consent decree stemming from decades of corruption and misconduct. The department took nearly four years to create and launch its new policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chicago is nearly seven years into a state consent decree that is intended in part to address issues with the department\u2019s promotions system. Between November 2023 and this April, the city has paid a consulting firm at least $430,000 to study personnel policies, including making recommendations on how to incorporate disciplinary histories into the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The problem, however, remains unaddressed by the department.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That means officers like Sgt. Ernesto Guzman-Sanchez, accused of distributing a nude photo of a woman he knew, and Sgt. Christopher Lockhart, whom oversight investigators found responsible for acts of domestic violence and sexual assault, can continue to move up the ranks despite their disciplinary records.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2020, COPA ruled that Guzman-Sanchez \u201cwent to great lengths to conceal\u201d his actions regarding the photo. The officer challenged the proposed firing, and during a Chicago Police Board hearing, his brother claimed responsibility. Department officials said the evidence was inconclusive and negotiated a suspension. Guzman-Sanchez, who has denied the allegations, declined to comment.<\/p>\n
Sgt. Christopher Lockhart was promoted this year despite the Civilian Office of Police Accountability\u2019s findings last year that his conduct \u201cseriously undermines public faith, credibility, and trust in the Department.\u201d<\/span> Obtained by Invisible Institute. Highlighted by ProPublica. Redactions original.<\/span><\/p>\n COPA recommended in January 2024 that Lockhart be fired following its investigation into allegations of domestic violence and sexual assault. Investigators found evidence of violent incidents, including one in which Lockhart allegedly grabbed his then-girlfriend by the neck and slammed her to the floor, COPA records show.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lockhart denied the allegations and blamed one incident in which his accuser was bruised on rough consensual sex. The case is still ongoing. Lockhart did not respond to inquiries for this story.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Chicago Police Department declined to comment for this story. But during an August hearing, CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling said discipline should be considered during the promotions process.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement, Mayor Brandon Johnson said he plans to work with Snelling and prioritize reforming policies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must take a close look at the current promotion policies and make the necessary reforms so that we are promoting the best of our officers to set a strong example,\u201d the mayor said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Joe Ferguson, who was the city\u2019s inspector general for 12 years, questioned whether there was the political will to enact reform.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, the question really is, why isn\u2019t this elevated as a priority?\u201d said Ferguson, who now heads the Civic Federation, a civic accountability and research organization.<\/p>\n Ferguson, who described sergeants as crucial to modeling good behavior for younger officers, said the competing interests of the city and the Fraternal Order of Police, the union representing rank-and-file officers, may be partly to blame for a lack of progress. The union doesn\u2019t want discipline to derail an officer\u2019s career and for years has made that a central point in its labor negotiations with the city. The union did not respond to questions from the Invisible Institute and ProPublica.<\/p>\n CPD has struggled to identify troubled officers. In May, the two news organizations identified 14 officers who faced multiple sexual misconduct allegations in the last decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n Elizabeth Payne, the legal director at the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, said she would like to see the department adopt stricter criteria for promoting officers. Elevating officers like Guzman-Sanchez and Lockhart to supervisory roles, she said, sends the wrong message to the public and to other officers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you make a decision to promote somebody who has disciplinary history like this, you are consciously deciding to signal something about your priorities,\u201d Payne said. \u201cThat\u2019s really unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n Chicago police officers can receive promotions based on their test scores from a two-day exam even if they have problematic records.<\/span> Jamie Kelter Davis for ProPublica<\/span><\/p>\n Illinois Assistant Attorney General Abigail Durkin didn\u2019t mince words during a hearing in August before U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer. Durkin\u2019s office brought the lawsuit that prompted Chicago\u2019s police consent decree, and she expressed concern that the department had again failed to make changes to its promotions process.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs I explained to this court almost exactly one year ago today, the vast majority of candidates promoted, CPD does not consider their prior discipline in deciding whether to promote them,\u201d she told Pallmeyer.\u00a0<\/p>\n She added: \u201cBut now where are we? \u2026 We stressed that action needed to be taken and discipline must be considered prior to an individual\u2019s promotion. This court agreed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2019, the consent decree \u2014 prompted by the 2014 police killing of Laquan McDonald and its aftermath \u2014 required wide-ranging reforms that included new use-of-force policies, more robust police oversight and changes to training. The decree also required the department to develop a policy to review and consider an officer\u2019s disciplinary history as part of promotions.\u00a0<\/p>\n About 70% of promotions are achieved from what is known as a rank-order system, where top candidates are chosen solely by how they score on an exam, according to a report by the consulting firm the city hired.\u00a0<\/p>\n The other way to get a promotion is merit-based, which relies on supervisor recommendations and a review by a Merit Board made up of top department officials. The system was created in the 1990s following two decades of litigation to force the department to increase representation of women and officers of color in management.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under merit-based promotions, candidates\u2019 disciplinary histories can become a factor, but only complaints that are labeled \u201csustained\u201d or lead to suspensions can be considered, according to a 2020 report from DCI Consulting Group.\u00a0<\/p>\n Over the years, officers with a range of disciplinary findings have been able to rise in the ranks. Among them was an officer whom internal investigators recommended be fired after a 2007 off-duty incident in which he was found to have driven his motorcycle while drunk and crashed into another vehicle, killing his passenger, according to media reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n The officer, according to Police Board data, was given a lengthy suspension but ultimately not fired. He was promoted to sergeant in 2017, according to Chicago police data. It\u2019s unclear whether the promotion was rank-order or merit-based.<\/p>\n In 2020, the city hired DCI, a Washington, D.C., firm that helps organizations with human resources and personnel matters, to examine the department\u2019s promotion policies. In its first report that year, DCI said updating the promotions policy to consider discipline was a \u201chigh priority.\u201d Three years later, DCI made the same recommendations and noted the lack of progress.<\/p>\n \u201cCPD\u2019s non-consideration of discipline is not aligned with most other departments; only one other jurisdiction reported not considering discipline prior to promotions,\u201d the 2023 DCI report said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ongoing tension between the city and the police union over how to handle discipline is never far from the discussion about promotions \u2014 even though promotions are not part of the union contract and instead are governed by the department\u2019s general orders, policies that everyone must follow.<\/p>\n DCI said in one report that officers did not want discipline to be reviewed as part of promotions because of \u201cissues with the discipline process.\u201d Officers and the union have long argued that the disciplinary process is unfair and arbitrary.<\/p>\n Snelling did not respond to requests for comment. But he acknowledged at the August hearing that reforming the promotion policy to include discipline has been slow and said the department needed time to ensure the changes stand up to legal scrutiny.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to make sure that if these things go to litigation, that we are airtight on what we\u2019re doing to make sure that we have our policies in place,\u201d Snelling said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alexandra Block of the ACLU of Illinois, which is part of a coalition of 14 community and civil rights groups that forced the consent decree, said she would like to see changes in the promotions policies. But the coalition has been focused on issues \u201cprimarily concerned with how people are experiencing policing on the streets of Chicago,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Block said reviewing an officer\u2019s disciplinary record before promotion has lost priority to other pressing reforms and added that \u201cthere is not the political will to accomplish\u201d it.<\/p>\n Police Superintendent Larry Snelling, center, has acknowledged that the department has been slow to reform its promotion policy.<\/span> Jamie Kelter Davis<\/span><\/p>\n In the Spring of 2023, Sgt. Isagany Peralta was promoted to oversee officers in Chicago\u2019s 3rd Police District, which covers large sections of the Woodlawn, South Shore and Greater Grand Crossing neighborhoods on the city\u2019s South Side.<\/p>\n Six and a half years earlier, internal investigators found that Peralta had sexually harassed a female colleague over six months. Shortly after they started working in the same tactical unit, Peralta told her he would \u201cbend her over the desk\u201d and sexually assault her, investigative reports show. Three officers told investigators they heard the explicit comment. Peralta also was accused of harassing the colleague over her sexual orientation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Investigators described his conduct as \u201cthe very definition of sexual harassment\u201d and \u201cunbecoming\u201d of a police officer, according to investigative files obtained by the Invisible Institute and ProPublica. He was suspended for 20 days. \u00a0<\/p>\n Peralta challenged the suspension, but an independent arbitrator upheld it, stating that Peralta was \u201cclearly guilty.\u201d It is unclear whether Peralta was promoted through the rank-order or merit-based system in 2023. Either way, his punishment wouldn\u2019t have been considered, according to the department\u2019s policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under the merit-based process, discipline history matters only when an officer has three or more sustained suspensions in the last five years or was suspended more than seven days in the year prior to the promotion, according to DCI\u2019s 2020 report. Peralta\u2019s suspension for sexual harassment wouldn\u2019t have been enough on its own to count against him.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The female colleague also reported that their supervisor, Sgt. Robert Belczak, was made aware\u00a0 of Peralta\u2019s troubling behavior but did not intervene, according to investigative files.\u00a0<\/p>\n Belczak told investigators he spoke with Peralta about his behavior. Still, investigators ruled that Belczak \u201cfailed to take supervisory action\u201d to stop Peralta. <\/strong>Belczak received a 25-day suspension. He resigned in 2015 before completing the suspension.<\/p>\n Records from the Chicago Police Department\u2019s Bureau of Internal Affairs about a sexual harassment investigation lodged against Isagany Peralta. He received a 20-day suspension. Then in 2023, he was promoted to sergeant. <\/span> Obtained by Invisible Institute. Highlights added by ProPublica. Additional redactions by ProPublica.<\/span><\/p>\n Peralta and Belczak did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n Belczak is one of at least three CPD supervisors punished for failing to report sexual misconduct. Among them was an officer promoted to sergeant while under investigation for declining to cooperate with a Chicago Public Schools inquiry into a fellow officer who was arrested on charges of having a sexual relationship with a high school student. Both officers worked at the student\u2019s school. At the end of the investigation, the sergeant was suspended for 10 days.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n These sorts of cases highlight the crucial role supervisors play in shaping department culture and maintaining discipline.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s probably nothing that impacts the handling of sexual misconduct complaints more than culture,\u201d said Christy Lopez, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center who previously worked with the U.S. Department of Justice leading investigations into police departments, including Chicago beginning in 2015.<\/p>\n Justin Frake, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan\u2019s Ross School of Business who has studied CPD misconduct, said young officers learn how to police from their supervisors. \u201cI think we model our superiors,\u201d Frake said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even as the CPD continues to fall short of consent-decree expectations and reforming its promotions system to include discipline, Snelling has acknowledged the need for change \u2014 and the reason why it\u2019s necessary.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI do believe that disciplinary history should be taken into consideration when we\u2019re making promotions, because these are people who are going to be leading other people,\u201d Snelling said at the August hearing over the consent decree. \u201cAnd just scoring well on a test is \u2014 I don\u2019t believe that it\u2019s enough to just lead other officers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of Chicago\u2019s newest police sergeants had been deemed \u201cunfit to serve\u201d after an investigation uncovered evidence that he created a fake Facebook account and spread a nude photo of a woman he was sexually involved with, then lied to investigators about it.\u00a0 Another new sergeant had been found to have engaged in conduct that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[2124,6645,200,4357,4490,1551,9820,247,359],"class_list":{"0":"post-35978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-social-issues","8":"tag-accused","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-department","11":"tag-misconduct","12":"tag-officers","13":"tag-police","14":"tag-promotes","15":"tag-propublica","16":"tag-sexual"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Ignoring Promotion Reform\u00a0<\/h3>\n
Flawed System, Flawed Results<\/h3>\n