Chicago cops often scheduled to work 11 consecutive days: IG report

CHICAGO - A new report from Chicago's Inspector General is detailing the impact of canceled days off on city police.

The report found that Chicago Police Department members are working an average of 11 or more consecutive days at a time.

The numbers in the Inspector General's report are very concerning and although Police Superintendent David Brown seems to have misunderstood the contents of it, he still says the department is working to improve the situation.

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The IG's report says between April and May, ten percent of Chicago police officers — or roughly 1,000 — were ordered to work 11 days in a row.

Keep in mind, that's before peak summer when all of Chicago's summer events led to even more canceled days off.

But Superintendent Brown says while many officers were scheduled to work 11-day stretches, not all of them ended up doing so, and many of those who did have volunteered.

"Lots of industries have restrictions on how long it is appropriate for people to work without rest: airline pilots, truck drivers, medical residents, and we want to aid the city in its decision making to staff the police department in a way that best keeps people safe," said Inspector General Deborah Witzburg.

"We have work to do as far as some of the loose ends, but I believe most of it has been captured and we've been exempted. We're not canceling days off for Labor Day, for example. So we're concerned about our members' work schedules, we've made exceptions for officers, and we've added some relief to the canceled day-off rotation as well," Supt. Brown said.

The Inspector General was also critical of CPD's record-keeping when it comes to officer scheduling. She said the analysis was difficult for her office to conduct because staffing information is not kept in one central location, which she says isn't good for oversight or management of the CPD.