Illinois AG report: Joliet Police Department fails to hold bad officers accountable

The Joliet Police Department’s inability to hold itself accountable led one officer to report that other officers knew misconduct such as domestic violence and drug use “will not cost them their jobs,” according to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.

The report released Thursday from Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office documented numerous instances of the department’s failure to hold officers accountable for misconduct.

The report is a result of a three-year investigation into the Joliet Police Department that was launched in 2021 by the civil rights division of the attorney general’s office.

The investigative team comprised attorneys and staff in the Public Interest Division of the attorney general’s office, in consultation with law enforcement experts, according to the attorney general’s office.

Among the examples of misconduct cited in the report were cases involving an officer punching a Latino teen in the face during an arrest, an officer who called a Black driver the N-word and threatened to kill him, and officers pointing guns at a 12-year-old Black child.

The latter incident occurred during officers’ execution of a search warrant of a home in 2018 as part of a credit card fraud investigation, according to the attorney general’s report. The 12-year-old child and his grandmother were the only two people inside the home, according to the report.

The internal affairs investigator at the Joliet Police Department failed to interview any of the officers and instead relied on a favorable account from the officers’ supervisor, according to the report.

“The investigator accepted this account without conducting any interviews of the accused officers and discredited [without explanation] the detailed statements by both the boy and his grandmother,” according to the report.

According to the attorney general’s investigation, the Joliet Police Department “routinely fails” to hold its own officers accountable for misconduct, which contributes to “patterns and practices of unlawful policing.” That failure sends a “signal” to members of the department that “these actions are tolerated,” according to the report.

In a statement, Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans, who was hired in February 2022, said he “respectfully disagree(s) with some of the conclusions drawn from their investigation.”

“We have new leadership in both the mayor’s office and the city manager’s office, and they support the direction this department has taken since the attorney general’s office became involved,” Evans said.

Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy said the city is “making significant changes in how we work together to serve our residents,” and the city has some of the “finest and most dedicated individuals who put their lives on the line every day to protect residents and property.”

“We will continue to move forward and leave this chapter of city operations in the past,” D’Arcy said.

Internal affairs failures

One officer told Raoul’s investigators that “department members know that even serious misconduct, such as domestic violence or using illegal drugs, will not cost them their jobs,” according to the report.

Raoul’s investigators found the police department “consistently failed” to provide “meaningful supervision, support and accountability” when officers committed mistakes and misconduct.

A joint statement issued by City Hall and the police department said Raoul’s office’s report does not reflect the department “of today, but rather a picture of the past.”

Although the state investigation examined incidents going back to 2017, investigators found one instance in 2023 where officers repeatedly discharged a Taser on a driver. The driver was not suspected of a violent offense, was not a threat to the officers and did not attempt to flee, according to the attorney general’s report.

“Yet the reviewing supervisor found the force justified, and the force review panel did not raise any concerns,” according to the report.

Internal affairs “rarely investigates” allegations of misconduct that stem from criminal cases and lawsuits, according to the report.

Lawsuits in particular almost never “trigger internal affairs investigations, even in cases where the city reaches significant financial settlements or judgments,” according to the report.

Although the report does not name Joliet police officer Nicholas Crowley, it describes one lawsuit that accused Crowley of using excessive force and lying in police reports.

Records obtained by The Herald-News show that the case led to an almost $120,000 settlement after a jury ruled in favor of the plaintiff.

“But despite the jury’s verdict and the cost of the judgment and resulting attorneys’ fees, internal affairs never investigated the allegations to determine if the officer violated policy,” according to the report.

Two more lawsuits were filed against Crowley that led to a total of $80,200 in settlements paid by the city.

Raoul’s investigators determined that poor accountability has been exacerbated by promotions awarded to officers who’ve engaged in misconduct, such as “abusive and degrading” conduct and battery.

“Promoting individuals with troubling disciplinary histories signals to rank-and-file officers that problematic conduct is tolerated or even rewarded, and sends a message to members of the community that officers who violate policy or harm community members will not face consequences in their careers,” according to the report.

City Hall interventions

The attorney general’s report indicates that issues with accountability also extended to Joliet City Hall.

When a police chief makes a decision to impose discipline, the city manager can override it, according to the report. The use of a settlement agreement with an officer who commits misconduct is a “key way in which the city can override the department’s disciplinary decisions,” according to the report.

The report said there’s apparently “no guidelines or limits” on when city officials such as the city manager can “reduce discipline in the settlement process.”

“In the past, involvement by city officials has resulted in dramatic reductions to officer discipline and created a perception that [the Joliet Police Department’s] accountability systems are arbitrary or politicized,” according to the report.

In 2021, The Herald-News reported on how Joliet police officer David Blackmore, who was fired in 2019, got his job back after serving a 90-day suspension for conduct unbecoming an officer. Blackmore was accused of falsifying a crash report and lying about an on-duty injury.

Former Joliet City Manager James Capparelli said in 2021 that he decided to reduce the discipline after negotiations that included the police union and the city legal staff.

Flawed deadly force reviews

Raoul’s investigators also found flaws with the department’s internal reviews of officers who use deadly force.

The criminal investigations of those incidents are conducted by the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force. Since 2019, Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow has chosen not to file charges in at least five cases involving a fatal shooting by a Joliet police officer.

The department’s deadly force review panel “fails to conduct meaningful, objective reviews of deadly force,” according to the attorney general’s report.

Raoul’s investigators witnessed the deadly force review panel spending “large portions” of their meetings reading verbatim from task force reports while “qualifying and editorializing the report and asking conclusory, leading questions.”

“The frequency with which panel members complimented and praised officers’ actions suggested they were not engaged in a critical or searching review. Most concerning, the panel engaged in little to no conversation about poor and dangerous tactics,” according to the report.

Raoul’s investigators faulted the panel for also not addressing “obvious conflicts between videos and officer reports.”