A Chicago police officer who wore an extremist symbol while patrolling a racial justice protest in 2020 faces only a reprimand after years of investigation, the city’s top watchdog announced this week.
Inspector General Deborah Witzburg, a vocal critic of the Chicago Police Department’s handling of officers tied to far-right groups, pushed CPD leaders to reopen their investigation of Kyle Mingari, who was photographed wearing a face mask bearing the logo of the Three Percenters militia group nearly five years ago.
In a statement this week, Witzburg’s office said CPD recently recommended a reprimand for failing to properly wear his uniform. He didn’t face allegations of discrediting the department or undercutting its goals — which Witzburg has urged CPD’s internal investigators to consider.
Mingari, who’s assigned to the department’s Gang Investigations Division, denied he was a member of any extremist group. He told CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs that he purchased the balaclava with the Three Percenters logo years earlier and believed it was merely a “pro-military and pro-police” symbol, the inspector general’s office said.
Witzburg told the Sun-Times and WBEZ that questions remain over “whether we are doing everything we can to identify and eliminate extremism in law enforcement.”
A dozen Chicago police officials were previously investigated for their alleged ties to the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, notorious extremist groups whose members played a key role in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Although the issue has prompted contentious City Council meetings and calls to fire officers, only Mingari and Proud Boys associate Robert Bakker have faced any discipline.
“It shows that the department is not responding to the concerns of the community,” said Jeff Tischauser, a researcher with the Southern Poverty Law Center. “It shows that the department is really not understanding how to build trust with communities.”
Probe took years to complete
Mingari was photographed wearing the Three Percenters mask at a demonstration on June 6, 2020 — soon after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked nationwide protests and rioting in Chicago and other cities.
A BIA investigation was opened two days later, when CBS-2 sent photos of Mingari wearing the mask emblazoned with the Three Percenters logo. At the time, a police spokesperson told the station that such symbols “are not representative of the Department.”
“Members are prohibited from participating in any political activity while on duty or when in uniform, including wearing or displaying political paraphernalia,” the spokesperson said.
The term Three Percenters refers to the disproven claim that just 3% of Americans fought the British in the Revolutionary War, according to the SPLC. Adherents of the ideology believe a small, armed contingent can now overthrow a government they deem tyrannical.
The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights group that has provided hate crime training to Chicago cops, says “Three Percenters have a track record of criminal activity ranging from weapons violations to terroristic plots and attacks.”
The initial investigation of Mingari was closed in just two weeks, with BIA interviewing only one person — an FBI agent who wasn’t identified by rank or assignment.
The agent called Three Percenters “Red Blooded Americans” and said most cops fly the group’s flag “simply because they like the design, [and] not so much [for] what it represents,” according to the inspector general’s office.
The probe was reopened days later to check whether the same agent had information about another militia group’s plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. It was quickly closed again.
Then on Dec. 29, 2022, Witzburg’s office asked BIA to reassess the evidence to determine whether Mingari violated a range of rules, including those barring officers from discrediting the department and working against its goals.
In denying involvement with the group, Mingari said he bought the Three Percenters balaclava “as a patriotic item” he planned to wear while riding his motorcycle.
Investigators recommended a reprimand for donning the face mask and wearing a helmet without his star number, the inspector general’s office said. In contrast, BIA recommended a 10-day suspension last year for an off-duty cop who marched in uniform during a pro-Palestinian protest.
Witzburg said she believes the city has “missed tremendous opportunities to foster public trust” by addressing extremism head-on.
“A situation like this, where it took years and several turns around the cycle to deal with a single incident where none of the facts were disputed, I think it’s really hard to see that as an aggressive, thoughtful, rigorous, thorough treatment of this issue,” she said of Mingari’s case.