Current System for Investigating Sexual Misconduct Complaints Against CPD Officers Welcomes Bias

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Chicago City Council Should Authorize COPA to Investigate Complaints of Sexual Misconduct Against Chicago Police Officers

A letter of recommendation from the Civil Liberties & Police Accountability Committee of the Chicago Council of Lawyers and Chicago Appleseed, written by Co-Chair Gordon Waldron

The Chicago City Council should promptly authorize the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) to investigate complaints of sexual misconduct against Chicago police officers.

Currently, complaints of sexual misconduct against Chicago police officers are investigated by the Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs (BIA).

In 2018, the Chicago Council of Lawyers (“Council”) recommended that the Civilian Office of Police Accountability be authorized to investigate complaints against police of sexual harassment and sexual assault. The Council reasoned that a woman who was sexually assaulted by a police officer might be reluctant to tell her story to another police officer. Moreover, the practice of having a BIA police officer investigate such complaints against fellow officers does not guarantee independent investigations but instead provides an opportunity for bias.

On January 31, 2019, the Chicago Police Consent Decree was entered in federal court in a suit filed by the Illinois Attorney General against the City of Chicago. That decree requires Chicago to use its “best efforts” to ensure that COPA has jurisdiction to investigate complaints against police officers of “sexual misconduct” – defined to include sexual assault, sexual abuse, and non-consensual sexual conduct. 

In November 2019, the court-appointed Monitor of the Consent Decree concluded that compliance with the Consent Decree “will require a city ordinance change” authorizing COPA to investigate such complaints.

But the Chicago City Council has not yet done so. It should do so now.

The City Council should amend Section 2-78-120 of the Chicago Municipal Code to give COPA such authority. That Section defines COPA’s powers and duties. Subsection (b) provides that those powers and duties include conducting “investigations into complaints against members of the Police Department alleging domestic violence, excessive force, coercion, or verbal abuse…” That section should be amended to add “sexual misconduct.”  In addition, section 2-78-100 of the Municipal Code should be amended to add a definition of “sexual misconduct,” which should be copied from paragraph 782 of the Police Consent Decree.


If you live in Chicago and agree that COPA should investigate complaints of sexual misconduct against police officers, please urge your alderman or alderwoman to give COPA such authority.

You can read the full Police Consent Decree and the Monitor’s reports at chicagopoliceconsentdecree.org/resources.