In the realm of, are you f**king kidding? Only in Chicago can a deceased police officer receive a three-day suspension for alleged misconduct.
Officer Ella French was shot and killed during a traffic stop in August of this year. COPA, the agency that investigates misconduct accusations, handed down a three-day suspension to officer French for an incident that happened two years ago, when she was still on probation. It was a minor infraction.
Did no one at COPA realize how ludicrous this is? How do you discipline a dead person? Worse, how does this look to the rank-and-file police officers, whose morale is already in the toilet? How does this look to her mother? Why should police officers and the public trust COPA to provide rational outcomes with this irrational, ridiculous decision? COPA lost all its credibility with this idiocy.
COPA opened the door for all accused officers to question their credibility and qualifications about conducting investigations and recommending outcomes.
COPA could have and should have closed their investigation with no recommended outcome since YOU CANNOT DISCIPLINE A DEAD PERSON. What kind of clowns work there? Worse, who is in charge of approving the clowns’ investigations and outcomes?
Someone needs to send the whole COPA staff for basic sensitivity training to learn about decency, earned respect, and empathy, as they proved they have none. There should be howls of anger over this. So far, only the cops are angry. We do not need angry police officers patrolling our streets.
This is a first in the history of the civilian alphabet agencies investigating police officers over the decades. Ella French died in the line of duty. Yet, she is being punished, besmirched, and publicly humiliated due to the tone-deaf administrators at COPA.
COPA owes Ella French’s mother an apology. They owe the rank-and-file police officers an apology. Seeing as they are not a class act, I would not hold my breath waiting for one.
I was a police officer for almost thirty years. I saw a lot of ridiculous disciplinary things during my career. I never dreamed I would witness something this insensitive, outlandish, cold-hearted, and crude. This is beyond the pale. Some heads should roll. I won’t hold my breath about that either. COPA leadership should be embarrassed. This is just another level of incompetence in a city of incompetents.