Bad cops cost major city’s taxpayers more than $384 million in just a few years

Topline: Chicago spent over $384 million settling lawsuits alleging misconduct by police officers between 2019 and 2023, according to WTTW News.

Key facts: A federal court ordered Chicago in 2019 to change the way it trains and disciplines police officers after an investigation found that officers were violating the civil rights of Black and Latino civilians.

But 1,300 officers were still accused of wrongdoing in 539 lawsuits over the next five years, sometimes more than once.

In 2023, 40 percent of legal expenses were for officers who had already cost taxpayers money in the past. Fifty-seven officers were named three times or more. The city does not track which officers are accused multiple times or discipline them, according to WTTW News.

That runs contrary to a 2017 federal recommendation that Chicago “review settlements and judgments on a broader scale to spot for trends, identify officers most frequently sued, and determine ways to reduce both the cost of the cases and the underlying officer misconduct.”

Chicago’s city council has never held a hearing about the lawsuits, WTTW News reported. The data is published annually without any notice to the public or lawmakers. The reports contain officers’ badge numbers instead of names, making some of them impossible to identify.

Officer Jerald Williams was named in five lawsuits costing taxpayers $1.4 million. Last year, he was promoted to sergeant and given a 6 percent raise to bring his salary to nearly $125,000.

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com.

Background: Besides legal settlements, police officers are taking up a huge chunk of Chicago’s overtime payments.

Auditors at OpenTheBooks found that Chicago police earned nearly $244 million in overtime last year. All other city workers earned $280 million combined.

Some officers more than doubled their salary just from overtime, such as Pedro Zapata, who made $263,000 in overtime and $112,000 in base salary.

Summary: Police officers should be protecting their city from threats to its safety and public funds, not costing taxpayers money themselves.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

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