Follow-up on Opportunities for Civilianization in Chicago Police Department

Executive Summary

The OIG’s original report analyzed 370 full-duty sworn positions across 30 CPD units that perform primarily non law-enforcement functions. We found that 292 full-time equivalent positions (79%) could be filled by civilians because they required neither the police powers granted to a sworn officer by State statute, nor the skills, knowledge, or experience specific to sworn officers. The OIG estimated that the City could save 16% to 41% per position through civilianization, for a total annual savings of $6.4 million to $16.6 million depending on the salary paid to the replacement civilians.

The OIG made two recommendations in its January 2013 report:

1. CPD should civilianize the 292 full-time equivalent positions identified; and
2. CPD should conduct a similar analysis for each CPD unit.

In response to these recommendations, CPD stated that:

1. “[CPD] supports civilianization of certain positions and is committed to reviewing
   whether the positions identified by the IG should be civilianized;Cand
2.  “CPD will continue to conduct an ongoing analysis of what positions should be
   civilianized. The Bureau of Organizational Development has been tasked with
   developing a comprehensive analysis of sworn and civilian positions in all bureaus of the department, and to provide recommendation for future civilianization actions.”