Illinois
Chicago Inspector General asks state regulators to ban some CPD officers from law enforcement
CHICAGO (WLS) — For the first time, Chicago’s Inspector General is asking state regulators to ban a number of Chicago police officers from serving in law enforcement.
Since Jan. 6, 2021, more than a dozen CPD officers have been tagged as members of radical, sometimes violent groups, even as they deny it and remain on the job.
Some of those officers, and others with seriously flawed work histories, may be among the names targeted for state de-certification after a history-making move by the Chicago Inspector General.
“In order to serve as a police officer in any department in Illinois, a person must be certified as eligible to do so by the state of Illinois,” said Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg.
Witzburg is recommending that the state de-certify a number of CPD officers and has sent the names and alleged misdeeds of those officers to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board headquartered in Springfield.
According to the agency, a new law allows inspectors general to ask that officers be defrocked for verified excessive force, tampering with official body or dash cam footage, evidence tampering and lying, and any other unprofessional or unethical conduct harmful to the public.
As the I-Team first reported nearly two years ago, at least a dozen CPD officers had been linked to the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and other anti-government, sometimes racist, extremist groups, but allowed to stay on the job.
Witzburg declined to discuss which officers are being recommended for state decertification or for what reasons, but pointed to honesty as an important criterion.
“We have highlighted situations in which CPD members have been allowed to keep their jobs in the department despite having been found to violate the police department’s rule against false reports. Lying is specifically a category which is eligible for discretionary decertification. We take those cases very seriously. People who lie in reports should not continue to serve as police officers,” she said.
Last spring the inspector general asked that Mayor Brandon Johnson and the police department take more robust action against officers who had broken the rules.
Witzburg won’t say whether they could have headed off state involvement in a city matter. One upside to decertification by Illinois officials: the action extends across Illinois, and prevents bad officers from losing their job in one city only to end up in another.
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CENTRALIA, Ill. – An investigation is underway after multiple people were shot Sunday in Centralia, Illinois, according to a report from WFCN News in southern Illinois.
FOX 2 has confirmed the Illinois State Police is investigating a shooting and taking over the investigation, but ISP could not confirm many further details as of 9 p.m. Sunday.
“The investigation is in its infancy and to protect the integrity of the investigation, no additional details will be released at this time,” ISP said in a statement to FOX 2.
According to WFCN News, the shooting happened around 5 p.m. near the 900 block of East Kell Street in Centralia. Multiple law enforcement agencies have since responded to scene and multiple victims are hospitalized, according to the report.
It’s unclear how many people may have been injured and what led up to the shooting.
Centralia, Illinois is about 70 miles, or just over an hour, east of St. Louis.
This is a developing story. FOX 2 will update as more information becomes available.
The National Weather Service has teams of storm surveryors in the field April 18 investigating several reports of severe storms and tornado touch downs across eastern Iowa, northwest Illinois and northeast Missouri.
According to the weather service’s website, windgusts of up to 60 to 70 mph along with teacup-sized hail and several tornadoes were reported April 17.
Many homes and outbuildings were damaged, trees were uprooted and power lines were downed in Lena, Illinois, where the most significant damage occurred, the site pointed out.
Very strong winds also were reported near Washington, Iowa, and Colmar, Illinois, where several outbuildings and grain bins were destroyed.
The weather service received reports of confirmed and possible tornadoes in the areas of Lena, Pecatonica, Shirland, Rockton, Roscoe and Capron.
The teams will be assessing damage this weekend into next week along with county emergency management teams to determine what types of storms occurred and their paths.
Dozens of power outages were reported, as well.
As of the afternoon of April 18, ComEd was reporting 85 active power outages across northern Illinois, down from 241 on April 17, and 6,751 customers affected, down from more than 18,000.
The bulk of those outages and the most customers impacted are concentrated in Jo Daviess and Stephenson counties.
Freeze Watch
from MON 12:00 AM CDT until MON 9:00 AM CDT, Lake County, Kankakee County, La Salle County, DuPage County, Northern Will County, DeKalb County, Southern Will County, Kendall County, Southern Cook County, Northern Cook County, Grundy County, Eastern Will County, Kane County, McHenry County, Lake County, Newton County, Jasper County, Porter County
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