Police Department rejects sergeant’s attempt to stop disciplinary proceedings

The Chicago Police Board, whose future remains uncertain, has drawn a clear line.

While most police committee proceedings involving rank-and-file officers are frozen, this is not the case for Chicago Police Department supervisors.

In a unanimous vote last week, the board rejected CPD Sergeant Timothy Conlan’s attempt to remove his pending disciplinary case from the board’s jurisdiction and instead have it referred to an outside arbitrator.

Conlan is the first CPD supervisor to seek a change of venue in a disciplinary case since the summer of 2023. At the time, the arbitrator overseeing contract negotiations between the city and the Fraternal Order of Police, the union that represents rank-and-file officers, ruled that the cases of officers accused of serious misconduct could be decided by either the board or an independent third party.

Most officers facing disciplinary action have indicated they want a mediator to hear their case, but those proceedings are largely on hold while the FOP appeals a recent order from a Cook County judge that those mediation hearings be open to the public.

There are about 1,200 sergeants in the CPD, according to city payroll data, and those officers are represented by a different bargaining unit than the FOP. Representatives of the sergeants’ union did not respond to a request for comment from the Tribune.

The demarcation by the police headquarters is important, among other things, because in the course of some spectacular cases the conduct of superiors can be called into question.

Among the charges against him are violation of CPD Rule 14, which prohibits officers from knowingly making or filing false statements or reports.

The allegations stem from a fight at Morgan Park High School in November 2017. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability has accused Conlan of lying when he told investigators he did not see a police officer strike a handcuffed teenager who was being arrested near his left eye. He told investigators that he, too, was attacked and struck several times during the fight.

COPA’s summary report noted that Conlan was not a sergeant at the time of the beating or when he spoke to investigators. The agency initially recommended that Conlan be suspended for two months, but former CPD Superintendent David Brown called for his dismissal.

An administrative charge was filed against him in the summer of 2023, records show. Charges were also filed against the officer who allegedly struck the teenager, although he has since left the CPD, records show.

A persistent violation of Rule 14 effectively ends an officer’s career with the CPD because they can no longer provide credible testimony in court proceedings. A May 2023 report by the city’s inspector general found that the CPD continued to employ more than 100 officers who had a history of violating Rule 14.

“Effective enforcement of Rule 14 is what stands between us and a world where police officers can lie with impunity. We cannot expect effective, responsible law enforcement if we do not take every opportunity to ensure credibility,” Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said earlier in a statement. “We cannot protect people from crimes we cannot prosecute, and we cannot build trust without truthfulness.”

Originally published: July 22, 2024 at 1:24 pm