The head of the agency charged with investigating police misconduct resigned abruptly Thursday after a four-year tenure punctuated by high-profile controversies amid halting efforts by the Chicago Police Department to hold its officers responsible for misconduct. Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten said in a statement she was leaving the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, known as COPA, “incredibly proud of the transformative work that has been accomplished during my tenure.” “COPA has established itself as a truly independent and transparent voice in Chicago’s broader community safety system, which is imperative in building trust in police accountability,” Kersten said.
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A spokesperson for COPA did not respond to a request for comment. Kersten’s term was set to expire this year, records show, after spending much of the last 12 months at odds with the city’s top cop and the head of the city’s police oversight board. Kersten was one of three Chicago department heads to resign within an hour on Thursday. The group also included Jamie Rhee, commissioner of the Department of Aviation, and Jose Tirado, executive director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. A source close to Mayor Brandon Johnson said he did not request Kersten’s resignation. However, Johnson did not immediately publicly acknowledge Kersten’s decision to leave COPA. “COPA has made significant operational advancements resulting in near total compliance with the Federal Consent Decree and a historically low investigative caseload,” Kersten said in a statement. “COPA has also established itself as a national leader in civilian oversight with respect to our transparency and community engagement efforts. These achievements leave COPA and its next leader well-positioned to continue this critical work going forward.” Johnson will not appoint Kersten’s replacement. Instead, the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, known as the CCPSA, will conduct a nationwide search before making their pick with the input of the mayor. The commission’s nominee must be confirmed by the Chicago City Council after a hearing before the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, according to the rules. Commission President Anthony Driver Jr., could not immediately be reached for comment. The CCPSA also has the power to fire the head of COPA. In July, the CCPSA asked Inspector General Deborah Witzburg to probe “the quality and integrity” of the investigations into police misconduct by COPA, as well as “the quality and integrity of COPA’s disciplinary recommendations, and retaliation against COPA employees who raise concerns about COPA’s investigations and recommendations.” Kersten had long been at odds with Chicago Police Supt. Larry
Snelling, who said at a February 2024 Police Board meeting that Kersten had treated CPD officers so unfairly that they are at risk of suicide. The agency’s probes also compromise public safety, the city’s top cop said. Without offering evidence, Snelling also accused Kersten of allowing “personal opinions and speculation” to influence findings that an officer has committed misconduct and should be disciplined. “We have officers right now who have been called murderers, who were simply trying to protect themselves or protect someone else,” Snelling said. “Unless we know the facts of that case, people will continue to call them murderers. We cannot allow that. We can’t, because those people become suicidal. Fairness, that’s all we ask. That’s all we ask.” The breach between Snelling and Kersten widened after four officers shot and killed Dexter Reed shortly after he shot and wounded an officer during a traffic stop nearly 11 months ago. Snelling said Kersten acted “irresponsibly” by publicly questioning whether the officers lied about why they stopped Reed’s car shortly before the fatal shooting. Officers told COPA investigators at the scene of the fatal shooting they stopped Reed because they believed he was not wearing his seat belt, a violation, according to reports signed by the officers involved and released by COPA because they are public records. In a letter to Snelling, Kersten suggested those reports contained false information. “Specifically, COPA is uncertain how the officers could have seen this seat belt violation given their location relative to (Reed’s) vehicle and the dark tints on (his) vehicle windows,” Kersten wrote. “This evidence raises serious concerns about the validity of the traffic stop that led to the officers’ encounter with (Reed).” In October 2024,
WTTW News reported that COPA identified a troubling pattern of undocumented and aggressive stops on the city’s West Side at least a year before Reed’s death, but took no action. After that story was published, Driver told WTTW News that the CCPSA had “a responsibility to ensure that COPA operates at the highest possible standards” and take the necessary “to help Chicago achieve the accountability system we all deserve.” A representative of the CPD declined to make Snelling available for an interview on Kersten’s departure or comment on her resignation. COPA was born out of the outrage that greeted the video of the police murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, released in November 2015. As protests and demands roiled the city and reshaped the political landscape, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel scrapped the Independent Police Review Authority, known as IPRA, after declaring that it had utterly failed to even investigate wrongdoing by police officers, much less hold them accountable. Between 2007 and 2016, IPRA probed more than 400 police shootings. The agency ruled just two were not justified. COPA was supposed to usher in a new era of police accountability, with officials vowing to adequately fund the agency and staff it with professionals unafraid to bring disciplinary cases against officers found to have violated department rules. Immediately after its 2017 launch, COPA found itself hamstrung by the massive backlog of nearly 1,000 cases it inherited from IPRA. Its first chief administrator lasted only a year in the position, and her successor lasted just three years before being fired by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who harshly criticized the agency for taking too long to investigate a number of high-profile incidents of police misconduct. Kersten was confirmed in 2022 by the City Council after a bruising fight that began when COPA released a report that recommended that Officer Ella French, slain in August 2022, be disciplined for conduct during the botched raid of Anjanette Young’s home in February 2019. That fracas meant Kersten never enjoyed the support of City Council members who consider themselves to be pro-police, many of whom echoed criticism lobbed at the agency by John Catanzara, the president of the police union who often describes his officers as struggling to do their jobs amid unfair and biased treatment by COPA. Catanzara told WTTW News he was thrilled Kersten had left COPA. By the time COPA cleared the IPRA backlog in 2021, the agency struggled to handle nearly 400 complaints of police misconduct during the unrest that swept the city in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd. That stretched COPA to the breaking point at a time when the agency was struggling to cope with the shift to remote work because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kersten said. In June 2023, Kersten said she decided to take action on COPA’s backlog after seeing dozens of recommendations for discipline overturned or significantly reduced by arbitrators, who must be sure that employees are treated fairly during disciplinary actions by ensuring complaints are handled swiftly, typically within 18 months, and that any punishment is in line with consequences faced by other officers with similar allegations. In all, that initiative closed 675 police misconduct probes. Witzburg is
probing whether some were closed in error .
High-Profile Departures
Kersten was not the only Chicago department head to resign Thursday. Jamie Rhee, who has led the Department of Aviation since 2018, will retire on April 15, according to a statement from the mayor’s office. Rhee was one of the few remaining leaders of city agencies and departments to have been appointed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel to still be in office. In a statement, Johnson thanked Rhee for her three decades of service to the city. “Her work has improved the travel experience for hundreds of millions of visitors that will be felt for generations to come,” Johnson said. “Her unwavering commitment to diverse businesses of all types and sizes has opened countless doors for Chicagoans who have been shut out for far too long.” Jose Tirado, the executive director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, will also step down, the mayor’s office announced. A former police officer, Tirado helped coordinate the city’s response to massive protests during this summer’s Democratic National Convention. Johnson praised his three-year tenure as the head of the agency overseeing Chicago’s emergency response. “He played a critical role in advancing the department’s mission to coordinate public safety efforts, ensuring the security of all who call Chicago home or visit this vibrant city,” Johnson said. “His leadership has been instrumental in fostering collaboration across agencies to protect and serve the community.” Tirado, who was appointed to lead the agency by Johnson, is expected to take a job with Cook County, sources told WTTW News. In a separate statement, Tirado said his depature had been planned since January. Johnson did not ask either Rhee or Tirado to resign, sources close to the mayor’s office told WTTW News. Both departures had been long planned, sources said. However, the turnover at City Hall came just days after Johnson told a crowd that he should have “cleaned house faster” when he took office in May 2023 and would terminate those city employees who did not share his vision for Chicago. “If you ain’t with us, you just gotta go,” Johnson said. “So now I’m in a position now where I’ll be making some decisions in the days to come because playing nice with other people who ain’t about us, it’s just a waste of exercise.” The crowd at New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church attending what the mayor’s office billed as a new Faith in Government initiative reacted with shock to the mayor’s blunt acknowledgment of a mistake, one of the few he has made publicly. “So there’s a whole bunch of people saying, ‘Oh, shoot. Who’s about to get fired?’” Johnson said. “Well, you about to find out. Stay tuned.” The timing of Kersten, Rhee and Tirado’s departures were not connected to Johnson’s remarks, just a poorly timed coincidence, sources close to the mayor told WTTW News.
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