Chicago Police Department (Illinois)

The Chicago Police Department, also known as the CPD, is the principal law enforcement agency of the City of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States, under the jurisdiction of the city mayor. It is the largest police department in the Midwest and the second largest in the United States after the New York City Police Department with over 13,400 sworn officers and over 1,850 other employees. Dating back to 1837, the Chicago Police Department is one of the oldest modern police forces in the world.

Structure
The Superintendent of Police leads the Chicago Police Department. The Superintendent manages five bureaus, each commanded by a Deputy Superintendent. The First Deputy Superintendent manages day-to-day operations, reporting directly to the superintendent. The current First Deputy Superintendent is James Jackson.

Jody "J.P." Weis was sworn in as Superintendent of Police on February 1 2008. Weis has become only the second Chicago police chief to come from outside the city. He replaced Philip J. Cline, who officially retired on August 3, 2007.

Under Cline's leadership, the Department underwent many structural changes.

As of March 2008, the five Bureaus of the Department are:
 * Bureau of Administrative Services - Deputy Superintendent Theodore F. O'Keefe
 * Bureau of Investigative Services - Deputy Superintendent Steve Peterson
 * Bureau of Patrol - Deputy Superintendent Beatrice Cuello
 * Bureau of Professional Standards - Deputy Superintendent Pete Brust
 * Bureau of Strategic Deployment - Deputy Superintendent Michael Shields

There are twenty-five police districts, each led by a Commander who oversees their district. Commanders report to Area Deputy Chiefs who report to the Deputy Superintendent of Patrol who reports to the Superintendent of Police who in turn is subject to the authority of the Mayor of Chicago.

Bureau of Investigative Services
Investigative functions are under the Bureau of Investigative Services (BIS). The Bureau of Investigative Services is composed of the Detective Division and the Organized Crime Division. The Detective Division includes the Bomb and Arson Unit, Cold Case Unit, Fugitive Apprehension Unit, Major Accidents Investigation Section and the Forensic Services Section which includes the Mobile Crime Lab of Forensic Investigators, ET-North and ET-South - which are the two Evidence Technician Units. The Organized Crime Division includes the Narcotic and Gang Investigations Section and the Vice Control Section.

The chief of detectives heads the detective division, the chief of organized crime heads that division--both reporting to the deputy superintendent BIS. OCD has one deputy chief, as does the Detective Division. Each Chief is assisted by Deputy Chiefs. Three Deputy Chiefs assist the Chief of Detectives while one Deputy Chief assiste the Chief of OCD.

The city is covered by five detective areas each lead by a commander: Area 1 (Wentworth) and Area 2 (Calumet) covers the south and southwest sides, while Area 3 (Belmont), Area 4 (Harrison) and Area 5 (Grand Central) covers the north, west and northwest sides of the city.

Bureau of Patrol
The Bureau of Patrol includes the airport law enforcement section, public transportation section, and the public housing section. Also included in the Bureau of Patrol are the Traffic Unit, Bicycle Unit, and various tactical units.

Bureau of Strategic Deployment
Following the disbanding of the Special Operations Section in 2007 after much negative publicity and controversies, the Special Functions Group was formed to absorb the specialized units that were not associated with the controversial plain-clothes unit known informally as SOS. The Special Functions Group includes a full-time SWAT team, organized in 2005, with 70 members. It also includes the marine, K-9, animal abuse, critical response, mounted patrol, helicopter, and dignitary protection units. The dignitary protection unit, based out of O'Hare International Airport, is the only unit that utilizes two-wheeled motorcycles. The Bureau of Strategic Deployment also includes the Targeted Response Unit. The Mounted Unit maintains 30 horses as of December 2006. The marine unit maintains 9 boats.

Ranks
As with other big-city departments, Chicago detectives are not considered ranking officers, but rather officers assigned to specialized units, i.e. violent crimes, robbery, gang and narcotics, etc. Field Training Officers wear one chevron over one rocker, with "FTO" in the center of the insignia, but are also not considered ranking officers.

Insignia
Chicago's five-pointed star-shaped badge (referred to as "star" vice "badge" in the vernacular of the department) also changes to reflect the different castes of officers. The stars of most Chicago Police officers (patrolmen through captain) are of silver-colored metal, with broad points. Command ranks have gold-colored stars with sharp points. A ring surrounding the full-color City seal in the star's center changes color for each rank within these two classifications. Like most American police forces, the officer's rank is written in an arc above the center element.

The Chicago Police Department's shoulder sleeve insignia, worn on the top of the left sleeve, is unusual in two regards.


 * Its shape is octagonal instead of one of the more typical shapes used by most other American police forces.


 * The embroidery colors vary depending upon the wearer's rank. In all cases, the patch is a white octagon with a full-color rendering of the city seal, ringed in gold, with "Chicago" written in an arc above the seal, and "Police" written in an arc below the seal. For patrolmen and detectives (detectives are occasionally uniformed for ceremonies and details), the octagon's outer edge is finished in dark blue thread, and the text is embroidered in dark blue thread.  For sergeants, lieutenants and captains, the octagon's outer edge is finished in gold-colored thread, and the text is embroidered in dark blue thread.  For "command ranks" (commander through superintendent), the octagon's outer edge is finished in gold-colored thread, and the text is embroidered in gold-colored thread.

Service longevity is reflected just above the left cuff on long-sleeved uniforms. Five years of service are indicated by a horizontal bar, embroidered in gold-colored thread; ten years by two bars; fifteen by three bars; twenty by a five-pointed star, embroidered in gold colored thread; twenty-five by one star and one bar and so-forth.

An embroidered rendering of the Chicago flag, its borders finished in gold-colored thread, is worn on the right shoulder sleeve.

A two-part nameplate in gold-colored metal is worn above the right pocket. The upper portion bears the officer's name; the lower portion indicates the command to which the officer is assigned.

Pay
Starting salary for Chicago police officers is $43,104, increased to $55,723 after one year and an additional increase to $58,896 after 18 months. Promotions to specialized or command positions also increases an officer's base pay. Salaries are supplemented with a $2,920 annual duty availability bonus and an $1,800 annual uniform allowance.

Demographics

 * Male: 79%
 * Female: 21%


 * White: 60%
 * African-American/Black: 26%
 * Hispanic: 13%
 * Asian: 1%

Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (C.A.P.S.)


The Chicago Police Department is often credited for advancing community policing through the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy program. Popularly known by its acronym C.A.P.S., it was established in 1992 and implemented in 1993 by then-Chicago Police Superintendent Matt L. Rodriguez. CAPS is an ongoing effort to bring communities, police, and other city agencies together to prevent crimes rather than react to crimes after they happen. The program entails increasing police presence in individual communities with a force of neighborhood-based beat officers. Beat Community Meetings are held regularly for community members and police officials to discuss potential problems and strategies.

Under CAPS, eight or nine beat officers are assigned to each of Chicago's 279 police beats. The officers patrol the same beat for over a year, allowing them to get to know community members, residents, and business owners and to become familiar with community attitudes and trends. The system also allows for those same community members to get to know their respective officers and learn to be comfortable in approaching them for help when needed. Beat officers are fully equipped and patrol their neighborhoods in a variety of methods: by bike, by car, or by foot.

Early years
When the town of Chicago was incorporated to become a city in 1837, provisions were made to elect an officer called the High Constable. He in turn would appoint a Common Constable from each of the six city wards. In 1855, the newly elected city council passed ordinances to formally establish the Chicago Police Department. Chicago was divided into three police precincts, each served by a station house. Station No. 1 was located in a building on State Street between Lake and Randolph streets. Station No. 2 was on West Randolph Street near Des Plaines Street. Station No. 3 was on Michigan Avenue near Clark Street. In 1860, the detective forces were established to investigate and solve crimes.

In 1861, the Illinois General Assembly passed a law creating a police board to become an executive department of Chicago autonomous of the mayor. The mayor was effectively stripped of his power to control the Chicago Police Department. Authority was given to three police commissioners. The commissioners created the office of superintendent to be the chief of police. The title is again in use today.

In 1875, the Illinois General Assembly found that the police commissioners were unable to control rampant corruption within the Chicago Police Department. The legislature passed a new law returning power over the police to the mayor. The mayor was allowed to appoint a single police commissioner with the advice and consent of the city council.

Despite centralized policies and practices, the captains who ran the precincts or districts were relatively independent of headquarters, owing their jobs to neighborhood politicians. Decentralization meant that police could respond to local concerns, but graft often determined which concerns got most attention.

Political connections were important to joining the force; formal requirements were few until 1895. After 1856, the department hired many foreign-born recruits, especially unskilled but English-speaking Irish immigrants. The first African American officer was appointed in 1872, but black police were assigned to duty in plain clothes only, mainly in largely black neighborhoods. Women entered the force in 1885 as matrons, caring for female prisoners. “Policewomen” were formally appointed beginning in 1913, to work with women and children. In 1895, Chicago adopted civil service procedures, and written tests became the basis for hiring and promotion. Standards for recruits rose, though policing remained political.

Controversies & Brutality
Over the years, the Chicago police department has been the subject of a number of scandals and other controversies:

Summerdale scandals
The Chicago Police Department did not face large-scale reorganization efforts until 1960 under Mayor Richard J. Daley. That year, Chicago was hounded by the Summerdale scandals. Eight officers from the Summerdale police district on Chicago's Northwest Side were accused of operating a large-scale burglary ring. News of the scandal was splashed across the city's newspapers and was the biggest police-related scandal the city had ever seen at the time. Mayor Daley appointed a committee to make recommendations for improvements to the police system. The action resulted in the creation of a five-member police board charged with nominating a superintendent to be the chief authority over police officers, drafting and adopting rules and regulations governing the police system, submitting budget requests to the city council, and hearing and deciding disciplinary cases involving police officers. Criminologist O.W. Wilson was brought on as Superintendent of Police, and served until 1967 when he retired.

1968 Democratic National Convention
The Chicago Police Department faced a great deal of criticism for its actions during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, which was held in Chicago from August 26 to August 29, 1968.

The convention was site of a series of protests, mainly over the war in Vietnam. Despite the poor behavior of some protesters, there was widespread criticism that the Chicago Police and National Guard used excessive force. Time published an article stating that "...With billy clubs, tear gas and Mace, the blue-shirted, blue-helmeted cops violated the civil rights of countless innocent citizens and contravened every accepted code of professional police discipline ... No one could accuse the Chicago cops of discrimination. They savagely attacked hippies, yippies, New Leftists, revolutionaries, dissident Democrats, newsmen, photographers, passers-by, clergymen and at least one handicapped. Winston Churchill's journalist grandson got roughed up. Even Dan Rather (the future CBS news anchor) who was on the floor doing a report during the convention got roughed up by the Chicago Police Department. Playboy's Hugh Hefner took a whack on the backside. The police even victimized a member of the British Parliament, Mrs. Anne Kerr, a vacationing Laborite who was Maced outside the Conrad Hilton and hustled off to the lockup.

Subsequently, the Walker Report to the U.S. National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence called the police response a "police riot," assigning blame for the mayhem in the streets to the Chicago Police.

The Black Panther Raid
On December 4, 1969, Black Panther Party leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were shot and killed by officers working for the Cook County state's attorney. Though the police claimed they had been attacked by heavily armed Panthers, subsequent investigation showed that most bullets fired came from police weapons. Relatives of the two dead men eventually won a multimillion-dollar judgment against the city. For many African Americans, the incident symbolized prejudice and lack of restraint among the largely white police. The incident led to growing black voter disaffection with the Democratic machine.

Ryan Harris murder
On July 28, 1998, 11-year-old Ryan Harris was found raped and murdered in a vacant lot in the city's Englewood neighborhood. The homicide caught the nation's attention when, 12 days after Ryan's body was found, authorities, with the blessing of police command, charged a 7-year-old boy and 8-year-old boy with the murder, making them the youngest murder suspects in the nation at the time.

Semen found at the scene and subsequent DNA tests cleared the boys of the crime and pointed to convicted sex offender Floyd Durr. The boys each filed lawsuits against the city, which were eventually settled for millions of dollars and Durr pleaded guilty to the rape of Harris but never admitted to the girl's murder.

Russ/Haggerty shootings
Tensions between black residents and police simmered in the summer of 1999 after the fatal shootings of two unarmed black motorists, Robert Russ and LaTanya Haggerty. In one incident, Russ, a football player for Northwestern University, was shot inside of his car after a high-speed chase followed by a struggle with a police officer. In the second, Haggarty, a computer analyst, was shot by a female officer. Charges of racism against the CPD persisted, despite the fact that officers in both incidences were also black.

Both shootings resulted in lawsuits, each costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Haggerty's family, for example, reached a record $18 million settlement.

Burge abuse allegations
Perhaps no other incident exemplifies abuse concerns by Chicago Police officers more than the allegations against former Cmdr. Jon Burge. Burge, a life-long South Side resident, has been accused of abusing more than 200 mostly African American men from 1972 to 1991 in order to coerce confessions to crimes.

Alleged victims claimed Burge and his crew of detectives working the midnight shift had them beaten, suffocated with a plastic bag, burned (by cigarette and radiator) and treated with electric shock. In 1993, Burge was fired from the department, and is currently collecting his police pension. In summer 2006, special prosecutors assigned to probe the allegations determined that they had enough evidence to prove crimes against Burge and others, but "regrettably" could not bring charges because the statute of limitations had passed.

In January 2008, the City Council approved a $19.8 million settlement with four men who claimed abuse against Burge and his men.

West Loop Bar Attack
Four businessmen who claim they were beaten by six off-duty Chicago police officers filed a lawsuit in federal court.

The employees said one of the off-duty officers approached a pool table where the men were playing, pushed aside the balls and said, "Game over," according to statements to the police department's Office of Professional Standards.

When the businessmen protested, the officers started to beat them, according to the filings. The officers were stripped of their police powers in March but have not been charged.

The confrontation was caught on tape but police have not released any footage. The businessmen claim they suffered injuries including broken ribs, a broken nose, bruises and chipped bones.

The "off duty" Chicago police officers, that were involved in the fight walked outside to the street, in front of the bar. On duty police officers responded to the 911 call, and arrived on the scene. The off duty officers flashed their badges, and told the responding officers to leave. This was caught on tape, along with one officer punching one of the business men.

Bar attack
Recently, the image of the Chicago Police Department had suffered when video of an intoxicated off-duty police officer kicking and beating a female bartender surfaced. Officer Anthony Abbate was shown on the footage beating and kicking Karolina Obrycka at Jesse's Shortstop Inn on February 19, 2007 after Obrycka refused to serve him any more alcohol. Abbate was later arrested and charged with felony battery and stripped of his police powers after the television station WFLD showed the footage. The Chicago Police have since moved to terminate Abbate from the force, but questions remain over the city's handling of the case.

Further controversy arose when Abbate was allowed to enter the courtroom for a hearing through a side door in order to shield himself from the media. This was apparently with the assistance of the Grand Central District officers who were on duty at the time, and acting on the orders of a CPD Captain. Allegations also surfaced that the police ticketed the vehicles of news organizations and threatened reporters with arrest. In the wake of this, Superintendent Cline announced that he would demote the Captain who gave the orders, and would launch investigations into the actions of the other officers involved. On April 27, 2007 14 additional charges against Abbate were announced. These included official misconduct, conspiracy, intimidation, and speaking with a witness. Abbate pleaded not guilty to all 15 charges during a brief hearing on May 16, 2007.

Referring to Anthony Abbate, Superintendent Phil Cline has stated, "He's tarnished our image worse than anybody else in the history of the department." The video of the attack has been viewed worldwide on 24-hour news channels and has garnered more than 100,000 views on YouTube. In the wake of this scandal and another similar scandal involving another videotaped beating at a bar, Cline announced his retirement on April 2, 2007. While both men have denied it, some believe that Cline retired under pressure from Mayor Richard M. Daley. Mayor Daley has since announced a plan to create an independent police review board to replace the current Office of Professional Standards, which is under the jurisdiction of the police department.

On April 30, 2007 a lawsuit was filed in Federal Court against the city of Chicago, Abbate, and several other individuals by attorneys representing Ms. Obrycka.

Jerome Finnigan
Jerome Finnigan, Keith Herrera, Carl Suchocki, and Thomas Sherry were indicted in September 2007 for robbery, kidnapping, home invasion, and other charges. They were alleged to have robbed drug dealers and ordinary citizens of money, drugs, and guns. The officers were all part of Special Operations Sections or SOS. The officers had allegedly victimized citizens for years, however it was not until 2004 that allegations of misconduct were investigated. According to the State's Attorney, the tip off was that the officers repeatedly missed court dates and allowed alleged drug dealers to go free. Several lawsuits alleging misconduct on behalf of Finnigan and his team have been filed in federal court. Since the original indictments, Jerome Finnigan has also been charged with attempting to have several fellow officers killed. Since the scandal involving Finnigan, SOS has since been disbanded. FBI Sworn Affidavit

Appearances in popular culture

 * In the movie, I, Robot, Detective Spooner works for a future version of the Chicago Police Department.


 * In the 1948 film Call Northside 777, James Stewart played the role of a skeptical newspaper reporter, who initially didn't believe the story from a cleaning woman that her son, young Frank Wiechek was innocent in the case of murdering a Chicago policeman. The film is based on the true story of a 1932 crime.


 * In Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 North by Northwest, the Chicago Police arrest the protagonist, Roger Thornhill, only to later have to release him.


 * The 1957-1960 television series M Squad centered around a squad of Chicago Police detectives. The episode "The Jumper" featured an officer taking bribes.  It was reportedly this depiction that prompted then-Mayor Richard J. Daley to thereafter discourage motion picture and television location filming in the city for the rest of his administration and its aftermath.  John Landis' highly successful 1980 musical comedy motion picture The Blues Brothers (see more below), marked the reversal of that policy by Mayor Jane Byrne.


 * A notable exception to Daley's ban was made in for the 1975 John Wayne film, Brannigan, in which he portrays Chicago Police Lieutenant Jim Brannigan. Although the bulk of the motion picture was set and filmed in London, the opening credit sequence and first few scenes were filmed on location in Chicago and showed Chicago Police vehicles, officers and facilities.  This was despite the depictions of Brannigan's warrantless entry and illegally abusive interrogation techniques.


 * The Chicago Police Department (as well as the Illinois State Police) are featured in the climactic car chase in 1980's The Blues Brothers in which a Chicago Police dispatcher matter-of-factly advises responding officers that, "The use of unnecessary violence in the apprehention of the Blues brothers has been approved." Reportedly in response to their portrayal in The Blues Brothers, the Chicago Police Department banned the use of the "Chicago Police" name and insignia in films until the early 2000's, resulting in several films and television shows replacing "Chicago Police" with "Metro Police" and other faux names, even if the films received technical assistance from the department, such as The Fugitive and The Negotiator.


 * The television series Hill Street Blues (1981-1987) never explicitly stated the name of the city in which it was set, although many exterior views (lacking the principal actors) were filmed in the city and used for establishing and transition shots. The livery and markings of the police cars were nearly identical to Chicago's at the time, although they used the false "Metro Police" text on the doors and the United States flag on the quarter pannels vice "Chicago Police" and the Chicago flag, respectively.  The cars were equipped with red bar lights, presumably to distinguish them from actual Chicago police cars that are equipped with blue lights.  The exterior establishing shots of the precinct house, including the main title card's view of a police car exiting the building's garage, were filmed at the old Maxwell Street police station.  See main article for expanded discussion on the setting.


 * A Chicago Police officer was a regular character on the 1984-1985 series, E/R.


 * Many of the same off-duty and retired Chicago Police officers (among other common Chicago-based actors) were cast as police officers in both 1985's Code of Silence starring Chuck Norris as detective Eddie Cusack, and 1988's Above the Law starring Steven Seagal as detective Nico Toscani. Among those was Det. Joseph F. Kosala, who subsequently appeared as a Chicago police officer in The Fugitive (see below), as well as in Chain Reaction and on an episode of Early Edition.


 * Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal portray Chicago Police detectives in the 1986 film Running Scared.


 * James Belushi portrayed Det. Sgt. Art Ridzik, a CPD detective, in the 1988 film Red Heat.


 * John Candy and James Belushi portrayed Officers Danny Muldoon and Salvatore Buonarte, respectively, in the 1991 film Only the Lonely.


 * The patriarch of the television series Family Matters (1989-1998), portrayed by Reginald VelJohnson, was a Chicago Police officer.


 * In the 1991-1993 series, Reasonable Doubts, Mark Harmon portrayed Chicago Police Det. Dicky Cobb, detailed to the office of the Cook County State's Attorney (referred to as "district attorney" in the series).


 * The Police Department played a major role in 1993's The Fugitive.


 * The television series Due South (1994-1999) followed the adventure of Benton Fraser, a member of Royal Canadian Mounted Police who is partnered with Ray Vecchio, a detective of the Chicago Police Department.


 * In the 1998 film The Negotiator, the Chicago Police played a major role within the film. The real Chicago Police Department provided technical support for the movie's SWAT teams. The actors' shoulder patches were similar to the Chicago Police Department's octagonal shoulder patches, albeit with "Chicago" replaced with "Metropolitan".


 * The Chicago Police Department is used in The Watcher, a 2000 film about a police officer in Los Angeles who comes to Chicago to find a murderer who strangles young women with a piano cord. Several police pursuits were involved in the film between the Chicago Police Department and the character Keanu Reeves plays. The Chicago cop is portrayed by James Spader.


 * The Chicago Police Department is used in 2001's Angel Eyes wherein a Chicago cop, played by Jennifer Lopez, had struggles with someone whom she saved from a fire and her mother and father renewing their vows. Her partner was portrayed by Terrence Howard.


 * The Chicago Police Department was used in the 2002 film, John Q, during the climatic hostage situation.


 * In the 2006 South Park episode A Million Little Fibers, an officer of the Chicago Police was gunned down by Oprah Winfrey's vagina. This appearance was notable only because the uniform of the police officers and the livery of the police cars were fairly accurate to those of the department.


 * CPD officers and vehicles were represented in The Things About Heroes, an episode of CSI: NY which originally aired on November 28, 2007.


 * Chicago police officers are routinely depicted on the television series, ER.


 * Members of Chicago police officers served as extras with the cast members on The Dark Knight as members of Gotham PD officers. Some of the officers performed Balmoral during the shooting of the funeral of Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb

Notable former officers

 * Don Cornelius, creator, producer, and former host of Soul Train
 * Dennis Farina, actor
 * Allan Pinkerton, first detective in department history; founder of both the Pinkerton Detective Agency and the Union Intelligence Service (predecessor of the United States Secret Service)
 * Steve Wilkos, talk show host and former head of the Jerry Springer Show security team
 * Pete Kelly, Head of the Jerry Springer Show security team, with occasional apperances on the Steve Wilkos Show as security.

Miscellaneous

 * Saint Jude is the patron saint of the Chicago Police Department.


 * Chicago police wear hats with chequered bands, popularly known as the 'Sillitoe Tartan' and named after its originator, Percy J. Sillitoe, Chief Constable of Glasgow, Scotland in the 1930s. While the checkered band is a common police symbol in the United Kingdom, other European countries, and Australia, the only police forces in the United States to have adopted it as part of their police officer uniforms are believed to be the Chicago Police, Cook County Sheriff's Police, and the Pittsburgh Police.  The three American departments' chequered band have two rows of larger squares, whereas those in other countries have three rows of smaller squares.


 * In the late 1960s, the Department chose to convert its telephone system over from an Illinois Bell-owned centrex system as well as other private lines, to its own PBX system. As a result of the change, it was necessary for the department to change their phone number in order to consolidate all of their phone lines into one prefix.  It was never identified exactly who did so, but the new prefix assigned to the Department in then area code 312 was 744.  The main switchboard's new terminating number became 744-1000.  It was well known as a result of this, that the main number for the Chicago Police was "312-PIG-1000."  It should be noted, however, that the 744 prefix is used by departments throughout the City government, along with the less common 742 prefix.

Contact Information
3510 South Michigan Avenue Chicago IL 60653 Phone: (312) 744-4000