Supervisor’s attempt at third-party arbitration in discipline case stymied by Chicago Police Board

The Chicago Police Board, with its future still clouded, has drawn a line in the sand.

While most police board proceedings involving rank-and-file officers are frozen, that is not the case for Chicago Police Department supervisors.

In a unanimous vote last week, the board denied an effort by CPD Sgt. Timothy Conlan to transfer his pending disciplinary case away from the board’s purview and instead have it decided by a third-party arbitrator .

Conlan is the first CPD supervisor to attempt a change of venue in a disciplinary case since summer 2023. That’s when the arbitrator overseeing contract negotiations between the city and the Fraternal Order of Police, the union that represents rank-and-file officers, ruled that officers accused of serious misconduct may have their cases adjudicated by either the board or an independent third party.

Most officers facing disciplinary charges have signaled that they want an arbitrator deciding their case. Those proceedings are largely on hold , though, while the FOP appeals a recent order from a Cook County judge that allowed for those arbitration hearings to be open to the public.

There are roughly 1,200 sergeants in the CPD, according to city payroll data, and those officers are represented by a different collective bargaining unit than the FOP. Representatives of the sergeants’ union did not respond to an inquiry from the Tribune.

The demarcation by the police board is important in part because as some high-profile cases progress, the conduct of supervisors can be called into question.

Among the charges against him, Conlan is accused of violating CPD’s Rule 14, which prohibits officers from making or submitting knowingly false statements or reports.

The allegations stem from a fight at Morgan Park High School in November 2017. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability has alleged Conlan lied when he told investigators that he did not see an officer punch a handcuffed teen who had been arrested near his left eye. He told investigators that he, too, was attacked during the brawl and was punched several times.

COPA’s summary report noted that Conlan was not yet a sergeant at the time of the punch nor when he spoke with investigators. The agency initially recommended Conlan be suspended for two months, but former CPD Superintendent David Brown called for him to be fired.

Administrative charges were brought against him in summer 2023, records show. Charges also were brought against the officer who allegedly punched the teen, though he has since left the CPD, records show.

A sustained Rule 14 violation will, effectively, end an officer’s career with the CPD because they can no longer testify credibly in court proceedings. A May 2023 report from the city’s Office of Inspector General found that the CPD continued to employ more than 100 officers who had sustained Rule 14 violations in their history.

“Effective enforcement of Rule 14 is what stands between us and a world in which police officers get away with lying. We cannot expect effective, accountable law enforcement if we do not take every opportunity to ensure credibility,” Inspector General Deborah Witzburg previously said in a statement. “We cannot keep people safe from crimes we can’t prosecute, and we cannot build trust without truthfulness.”