Civilian Office of Police Accountability – BGA Policy 2025 Budget Snapshot

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is the city's investigatory body for several broad categories of police misconduct, including excessive force, death in custody, domestic violence and improper search and seizure accusations. COPA only has investigatory authority over its specifically assigned categories of wrongdoing; all other accusations are investigated by the Chicago Police Department's internal affairs bureau. A breakdown of which issues fall within COPA's remit and which remain with internal affairs can be found on COPA's website.

Departmental Highlights

Snapshot: Appropriation & Staffing Changes from 2024 Budget

• To prevent the department from being underfunded, COPA has a mandatory budget floor of 1% of CPD's appropriations for the current budget year. However, the Office of Budget and Management includes "fringe" - the value of the department's pension and benefit costs, which are budgeted under Finance General rather than the department budget - in its calculation of COPA's appropriations and not in its calculation of CPD's. If both departments were handled the same way, COPA would fall short of its budget floor with or without fringe factored in:
  • If CPD pensions/benefits are included in calculating the total CPD appropriation in the same manner that they are in calculating COPA's, the 1% budget floor is $28.7 million, $2.8 million more than COPA's 2024 appropriation plus fringe as calculated by OBM.
  • If fringe is not included in either department's appropriations, the 1% budget floor is $18 million, $1.3 million more than COPA's 2024 appropriation without fringe.
  • By either calculation, COPA's budget is being shortchanged by using fringe in the calculation of COPA's total appropriation but not in the calculation of CPD's, and does not reach the 1% floor when both departments' appropriations are calculated the same way.
• COPA is down two budgeted investigator positions, but up three special victims investigators. Two budgeted senior information analyst positions in last year's budget have been reduced to one, and the evidence specialist and Inquiry Aide III positions have been eliminated entirely.
• Salaries and wages make up the bulk of COPA's appropriations. The department also has a $775,000 appropriation specifically for consent decree spending, one of four departments (plus finance general) to draw from that appropriation account.
• Decreases in salaries and wages on payroll and on consent decree spending were the largest appropriations shifts in COPA's budget from last year. The department also has small new appropriations for rental of property and advertising.

Historical Context

Historical data includes appropriations and positions from COPA's predecessor IPRA. The 2017 budget was the first to feature COPA in its current incarnation, and included a significant increase in budgeted appropriations and positions, not all of which was ever realized or retained. Following the initial COPA budget, staffing levels became relatively stable and have remained at a low growth rate since.

From 2011-2024, the department budget grew at an average rate of 9.5% per year. Departmental budgets overall increased an average of 6.1% per year over the same time period, while the total city budget including Finance General appropriations grew at an average rate of 8.5% annually.

The department's budgeted workforce grew at a rate of 4.8% annually from 2011-2024. Overall budgeted positions for the city remained relatively flat across the same time period, with minor year-to-year fluctuations averaging out to an overall growth rate of 0.04%.

Fringe Calculation & Budget Floor Shortchange

COPA has a mandatory budget floor to ensure that it cannot be underfunded. The department's annual budget must be equal to at least 1% of CPD's non-grant appropriations for the current budget year (in this case 2024).

However, in calculating the budget floor, the Office of Budget and Management includes "fringe" - a calculation of COPA's pension and benefit payments, which are budgeted under the Finance General section of the budget - in its calculation of COPA's budget, but does not include CPD's fringe in its calculation of CPD appropriations. These calculations do not appear in the budget datasets, but are included in COPA's section of the Budget Overview document.

The result is a COPA budget that is functionally less than 1% of the CPD non-grant budget, if both department budgets were calculated with the same treatment of fringe:

• If CPD pensions/benefits are included in calculating the total CPD appropriation in the same manner that they are in calculating COPA's, the 1% budget floor is $28.7 million, $2.8 million more than COPA's 2024 appropriation plus fringe as calculated by OBM.
• If fringe is not included in either department's appropriations, the 1% budget floor is $18 million, $1.3 million more than COPA's 2024 appropriation without fringe.

By either calculation, COPA's budget is being shortchanged by using fringe in the calculation of COPA's total appropriation, but not in the calculation of CPD's, and does not reach the 1% floor when both departments' appropriations are calculated the same way.

BGA Policy reached out to the Office of Budget and Management for clarification on their handling of fringe in budget floor calculations, and was told that a response would not be ready in time for publication. We will update this piece if any response is received.

Staffing

COPA is down two budgeted investigator positions, but up three special victims investigators. Two budgeted senior information analyst positions in last year's budget have been reduced to one, and the evidence specialist and Inquiry Aide III positions have been eliminated entirely.

Appropriations

COPA appropriations are drawn entirely from the corporate fund.

Largest Appropriations

Salaries and wages make up the bulk of COPA's appropriations. The department also has a $775,000 appropriation specifically for consent decree spending, one of four departments (plus finance general) to draw from that appropriation account.

Change from Previous Year

Decreases in salaries and wages on payroll and on consent decree spending were the largest appropriations shifts in COPA's budget from last year. The department also has small new appropriations for rental of property and advertising.

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