Whatever scant explanation the Chicago Police Department’s top brass has offered for retaining officers with ties to the far-right Oath Keepers, it hasn’t been enough.
We wrote back in May that CPD needed to be more transparent and convincing, after Supt. Larry Snelling issued a brief statement that said no disciplinary action would be taken against current officers whose names appeared on leaked membership rosters for the anti-government militia from three years ago.
Chicagoans, and that includes the members of this board, are looking for clearer answers to the question of why Snelling and Mayor Brandon Johnson broke their promise to keep the CPD extremist-free, allowing the eight officers in question to remain on the city payroll.
If there’s a good reason for doing so, time to clear the air.
Three weeks ago, Color of Change, a national civil rights group, joined local activists and nearly a dozen elected leaders in calling for the firing of the officers. A “sham” is how it described the police department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs investigation into the officers’ Oath Keepers connection.
The outrage and concern flared up again during a community forum in Irving Park over the weekend.
Surely CPD can understand why residents feel anxious and unsettled about the fact that someone with a badge and gun flirted with the organization that had a key role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“I feel afraid of officers who might be tied to any extremist group, both for myself but more so for the Black and Brown neighbors, as well as anyone from marginalized communities,” 17th Police District Council member Elizabeth Rochford said.
Snelling and Johnson have to be more forthcoming to keep rebuilding trust between police and the broader community.
If none of the eight officers “had intentions of joining a violent extremist group” as the department’s investigation concluded, Snelling should elaborate further, and give details about why the Internal Affairs investigation wasn’t reopened after Inspector General Deborah Witzburg described it as deficient and suggested the matter be reinvestigated.
There also hasn’t been any follow-through with Witzburg’s recommendation that City Hall establish a task force to address police officers with extremist ties.
It has been over a year since WBEZ, the Sun-Times and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project’s “Extremism in the Ranks” series exposed the appeal of the Oath Keepers to some officers.
The longer Snelling and Johnson stay tight-lipped about the matter, the more suspicious Chicagoans will grow.
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