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Advisory Regarding the Chicago Fire Department’s Management and Enforcement of Protocols for Missing or Stolen Badges

November 16, 2021

Summary

The Office of Inspector General reports on a recent investigation that revealed a troubling pattern of a disproportionate number of Chicago Fire Department retirees reporting their active member CFD badges missing or stolen within three to six months of their retirement.

Executive Summary

OIG reviewed Chicago Police Department (CPD) reports of CFD badges purportedly lost or stolen from January 1, 2015, through June 30, 2020. Overall, 340 CFD members reported their badges stolen or lost to CPD during this period. Approximately 79.7% of the reports––271 of the total 340––came from retiring CFD members. Approximately 22.6% of all retiring members who reported their badges stolen or missing to CPD did so within 6 months prior to retirement. When CFD changed the general order in November 2018 to allow members to purchase a retirement badge, the number of reported missing or stolen badges remained steady, possibly a function of it costing members significantly less to replace their active badge than to purchase a retirement badge.

This pattern of a large number of badges reported lost or stolen, as CFD members retire, suggests a number of possible causes, including: 1) that CFD members are committing theft of City property (badges), filing false police reports to cover up the theft, and thereby enabling themselves to retain their CFD badges upon retirement (which since 2018 they are able to replace at a cost lower than the cost of purchasing a retirement badge), or 2) that CFD members may be misplacing their badges and not reporting them missing or stolen until it is time to return the badges to CFD at retirement. Both scenarios constitute control and misconduct concerns. Theft of City property and filing false police reports are crimes. Failing to immediately report a missing or stolen CFD badge is a violation of CFD general orders and the City of Chicago Personnel Rules.

Advisory Regarding the Chicago Fire Department’s Management and Enforcement of Protocols for Missing or Stolen Badges - publication cover