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Use of the Affidavit Override in Disciplinary Investigations of Chicago Police Department Members Follow-Up

January 31, 2025

Summary

The Public Safety section of the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General has completed a follow-up to its December 2020 “Evaluation of the Use of the Affidavit Override in Disciplinary Investigations of Chicago Police Department Members.”

Executive Summary

The purpose of the December 2020 evaluation was to assess use by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) and Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) Bureau of Internal Affairs (BIA) of the affidavit override—an authorization to complete an investigation without obtaining a sworn affidavit on the basis of there being objective, verifiable evidence to support the allegations—in disciplinary investigations of CPD members.

Specifically, the evaluation aimed to identify whether there were any patterns among investigations involving an affidavit override request, determine whether investigations closed for lacking an affidavit may have met the eligibility criteria for an affidavit override request, and determine whether there were any disparities in the rates of closure for lacking an affidavit by victim demographics.

Use of the Affidavit Override in Disciplinary Investigations of Chicago Police Department Members Follow-Up - publication cover