Chicago Police Department Disciplinary Process Overview

The Office of Inspector General’s Public Safety section (OIG) is required by City ordinance to examine Sustained findings of misconduct committed by members of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and accompanying disciplinary recommendations, to assess trends and whether discipline is consistently and fairly applied. To that end, OIG has developed a comprehensive set of flowcharts that detail all stages of the disciplinary process, including all avenues of disciplinary review and appeal. The aim of the flowcharts is to provide an accessible resource—for the public, City officials, and Department members—that also will serve as a foundation for evaluative reports that OIG will periodically release on CPD’s disciplinary process. These periodic reports will analyze procedural consistency and fairness, as well as substantive fairness and consistency of discipline issued to CPD members found to have committed misconduct.