The City of Chicago Inspector General has nominated Joseph Lipari for the position of Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety.
Lipari serves as Assistant Inspector General for the Office of the Inspector General – New York Police Department (IG-NYPD) under the New York City Department of Investigation. In this position, Lipari led investigations into NYPD’s Use-of-Force reporting, Crisis Intervention Team training and dispatch procedures, and inefficiencies in NYPD’s complaint tracking system. As a Senior Policy Manager, Lipari helped manage IG-NYPD’s Policy Analysis Unit by interviewing prospective employees, supervising staff, and coordinating with the Investigations Unit. Lipari also served as the chair of IG-NYPD’s Project Development Committee. Prior to joining IG-NYPD, Lipari served as the Administrator of the Citizen Review Board (CRB) in Syracuse, New York. In this role, he handled all administrative and operational aspects of the office including complaint intake, investigations, internal and public reporting, data analysis, development of police policy and training recommendations, community outreach, and public relations. Prior to joining the Syracuse CRB, Lipari served as the Executive Director of Citizens Alert, a Chicago-based non-profit organization that worked to ensure effective civilian oversight and police accountability. In that role, Lipari served as Chair of Community Outreach for the Chicago Coalition for Police Accountability and worked closely with community groups, non-profit organizations, civilian oversight agencies, police, and elected officials to reform the City of Chicago’s police accountability mechanisms.
Before entering the field of civilian oversight of law enforcement, Lipari was an academic researcher and instructor of African American history at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he also earned his M.A. in History. His academic research and writing examined the evolution of policing in Chicago and its impact on the City’s African American communities.
“Joseph Lipari has a proven track record in police accountability and working closely with communities and oversight agencies,” said Inspector General Joe Ferguson. “Our office looks forward to working with Lipari to foster trust and improve interactions between Chicago Police Department officers and the communities they serve, to identify an operational accountability that ultimately supports the need for reform in Chicago.”
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