Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. With me is Executive Assistant Chief Terrance Gainer. As a former chief legal counsel for the Chicago Police Department and a special prosecutor of police misconduct cases, Assistant Chief Gainer is extremely knowledgeable in this area. He understands and shares my vision for the future, and he will be spearheading the Department's initiatives, which I will outline today, for making immediate and significant improvements in our complaint and disciplinary process.
Assistant Chief Gainer and I appreciate your interest in this matter. Like you, we recognize that for the MPDC to be effective, we must establish a strong and lasting partnership with the community—a partnership that is built on integrity, trust and mutual respect. I am committed to these ideals. And I am committed to putting in place the policies, procedures and systems that will help ensure these ideals are met every day of the year by every member of our Department.
In recent weeks, the MPDC has worked closely with Special Counsel Touhey and his staff to make sure they had complete access to our files. We held open and frank discussions about current Department policies and procedures, as well as particular cases. And we helped to facilitate personal meetings with many current and former members of the MPDC.
Much of this effort has involved analyzing the past and present practices of this Department. You will undoubtedly hear more on these past practices from the various panels which are appearing before this body today. From my own review of the past, it is clear that over the years, the handling of some disciplinary cases has been substandard, if not negligent. The recording, investigation and resolution of known allegations have been lax at times. The imposition of punishment has not always been equitable, mostly because of a fundamental lack of effective internal controls and procedures. In some instances, the rights of Department personnel have not been adequately protected. And the expectations of those we serve—the community—have not been met.
Like you, I know there is unique value in exploring the history of the MPDC's performance in these cases—in dissecting rules and procedures, and in closely scrutinizing specific lapses in judgment and accountability. I welcome such scrutiny, and I intend to learn from it and act upon it. But while I appreciate the history behind this issue, my focus is decidedly on the future—on making real and meaningful improvements to a system in need of repair. My goal is to create a complaint and disciplinary system that is timely, credible and which can stand the scrutiny of others, including independent auditors. My vision is for a system that investigates all complaints against MPDC members fairly, swiftly and accurately, and a system that provides for the just and timely resolution of all cases. The members of my Department, and the members of the communities they serve, deserve nothing less.
As we explore this whole issue of complaint and disciplinary procedures, let's not forget something very important: the vast, vast majority of the members of the MPDC are honest, ethical, dedicated, hard-working public servants. This becomes clear when you juxtapose the relatively small number of complaints registered against our employees each year with the literally millions of contacts they have with the public—in responding to calls for service, making arrests, investigating traffic crashes, issuing citations and attending community meetings. The men and women of the MPDC perform professionally and heroically thousands upon thousands of times every year—flawlessly and precisely when the community needs them.
But that is not to say that we cannot—or must not—do better. I will be the first person to acknowledge that we must do better. As chief, I have the unique responsibility and authority to maintain discipline and good conduct within the Metropolitan Police Department. I take that responsibility very seriously.
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