FERGUSON FINDS ‘ ISSUES’ WITH CPD MERIT PROMOTION PROCESS
Inspector General Joe Ferguson disclosed Monday that he has uncovered “procedural and compliance issues” tied to a merit promotion process in the Chicago Police Department condemned by officers interviewed by the U. S. Department of Justice as a “reward for cronyism” and clout.
The new allegations, contained in Ferguson’s quarterly report, surround 2013 merit promotions to the rank of sergeant.
According to Ferguson, an officer assigned to the security detail of then- Police Supt. Garry McCarthy was promoted to sergeant, “despite having failed the written portion of the sergeant’s exam.”
Only after sergeant training was completed and hiring packets were forwarded to the city’s Department of Human Resources was it discovered that the officer in question was “ineligible for promotion” and the promotion was rescinded, Ferguson said.
Ferguson has overseen hiring ever since the city got out from under the Shakman decree and the costly constraints of a federal hiring monitor.
His hiring oversight section conducted an initial review of the matter, then forwarded the matter to his investigative section to probe individual misconduct.
“OIG’s investigation did not find evidence that anyone involved in the nomination process, other than the officer, knew the officer had failed the sergeant’s exam,” Ferguson wrote in his quarterly report.
“However, OIG’s inquiries identified shortcomings in CPD’s handling of the merit promotional process, including, among other issues, the fact that a superior officer asked a subordinate to nominate the officer of whom the subordinate lacked personal knowledge of work performance and that same superior officer directed another subordinate employee to assist the officer in drafting the nominee’s own nomination.”
Ferguson further noted that both the Police Department and the city’s Department of Human Resources “failed to confirm the officer’s eligibility and also proceeded with the promotion, despite the fact that the superintendent had not completed the required justification memo.”
As a result of the incident, Ferguson’s hiring oversight section made several recommendations that culminated in amendments to the Police Department’s hiring plan.
Ferguson said he also recommended “further corrective steps,” including that the Police Department “revise merit promotion training,” make the Police Department and the Department of Human Resources “accountable for compliance” with the hiring plan and make certain that “command staff is fully aware of its obligation” under the hiring plan.
In it response, the Police Department agreed to a series of changes. They include adding language to nominator training and instruction guides emphasizing that nominators “must have knowledge of the nominees work performance.”
Yet another changewill require nominators, members of the merit board and the police superintendent to undergo training on the process every year.
In its scathing indictment of the Chicago Police Department, the U. S. Justice Department said the “lack of transparency” surrounding the process of nominating and qualifying for merit promotions was “one of the major complaints from officers” interviewed.
Twenty percent of detectives and 30 percent of other ranks are promoted under the merit system. Supervisors nominate candidates, and a five- member board of deputy chiefs interviews them and votes on them. The names of the candidates approved by the board are forwarded to the superintendent for his final OK.
The rest of the promotions are made through a testing process.
The city has used merit promotions since the 1990s, with the stated goal of boosting the number of minorities in supervisory positions.