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Investigation: Waste of the Day – Chicago Police Misconduct Costs Taxpayers Millions

By Jeremy Portnoy

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

Investigation by Jeremy Portnoy originally published by RealClearInvestigations and RealClearWire

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.
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By Jeremy Portnoy – The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.

Deneen Borelli

Deneen Borelli is the author of Blacklash: How Obama and the Left are Driving Americans to the Government Plantation. Deneen is a contributor with Newsmax Broadcasting. She is a former Fox News contributor and has appeared regularly on “Hannity,” “Fox & Friends,” “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” and “America’s Newsroom.” She has also appeared on Fox Business Network programs “Making Money with Charles Payne,” “The Evening Edit with Liz MacDonald,” and “Cavuto: Coast to Coast.” Previously, Deneen appeared on MSNBC, CNN, the BBC and C-SPAN. In addition to television, Deneen co-hosted radio programs on the SiriusXM Patriot channel with her husband Tom. Recently, Deneen co-hosted the Reigniting Liberty podcast with Tom. Deneen is a frequent speaker at political events, including the FreedomWorks 9.12.2009 March on D.C. which drew a crowd estimated at over 800,000 people. Deneen is also an Ambassador with CloutHub.com, a social media platform that promotes free speech, and with the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) which advances policies that put Americans first. Deneen testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources in May 2011 and before the Ohio House Public Utilities Committee in December 2011. Previously, Deneen was a BlazeTV.com host, Outreach Director with FreedomWorks.org overseeing its Empower.org outreach program, a Project 21 Senior Fellow, and Manager of Media Relations with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Prior to joining CORE, Deneen worked at Philip Morris USA for 20 years. During her corporate career at Philip Morris she worked in various positions, her last as Project Management Coordinator in the Information Management department where she was responsible for the department’s mandated quality processes, communications, sales information and database management. Deneen began her Philip Morris career as a secretary and advanced to positions of increasing responsibilities. Deneen worked full-time and attended classes at night for 11 years to earn her B.A. in Managerial Marketing from Pace University, New York City. Deneen served on the Board of Trustees with The Opportunity Charter School in Harlem, New York. She appeared in educational videos for children, worked as a runway fashion model, and auditioned for television commercials. Her interests include ancient history, pistol target shooting, photography, and volunteering at her church. Deneen currently resides in Connecticut with her husband Tom.

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