John Catanzara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, is facing possible dismissal from the Chicago Police Department for offensive posts on social media, it was disclosed at the monthly meeting of the city’s police disciplinary panel.
The case could be decided by the full Chicago Police Board in the coming months.
Chicago police Superintendent David Brown was overruled by a member of the panel in deciding a punishment for Catanzara, leader of the largest union of Chicago police officers.
According to information from the Police Board made public late Thursday, Catanzara in 2016 posted offensive messages on Facebook. One message read, “Wtf its seriously time to kill these (expletives),” without mentioning exactly who Catanzara was writing about.
In another post in 2017, according to the board, Catanzara made a statement on Facebook that was disparaging to Muslims, reading, “Savages they all deserve a bullet.” Catanzara did not become FOP president until May.
Sydney Roberts, chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, recommended earlier this year that Catanzara be fired in the case while Brown disagreed, calling for a one-year suspension.
But after Police Board member Andrea Zopp was randomly chosen to review the case, per city ordinance, she announced at the board’s monthly meeting Thursday night that Brown was not persuasive enough to overcome COPA’s recommendation. This means the case will be decided in the coming months by the board’s eight other members.
“After considering this matter, it is my opinion that the superintendent did not meet the burden of overcoming the chief administrator’s recommendation for discipline,” said Zopp, a former deputy mayor under Mayor Rahm Emanuel who is president and CEO of World Business Chicago. “Based on the facts and circumstances of this matter, an evidentiary hearing before the Police Board is necessary to determine whether Officer Catanzara violated any of the Police Department’s rules of conduct.”
Zopp’s decision does not mean that COPA’s findings in the case were correct and that Brown’s rationale was wrong. But it sets the stage for a historic disciplinary hearing that could determine whether Catanzara should lose his job as a Chicago cop. He’s accused by COPA of several Police Department violations, including bringing discredit to the department and failing to promote the department’s efforts to accomplish its goals.
Reached by phone Thursday night, Catanzara did not dispute writing any of the Facebook posts but said many of them were him defending himself on social media. He said he was upset by disturbing material he had seen on Facebook when he made the comments.
“The specific posts that were even mentioned in the complaint were some of the most egregious, violent stories that I made my own personal comments and observations on,” he said. “I have no doubt that the (police) department as a whole and their (FOP) membership will get that this is purely retaliatory nonsense, that this is not any credible complaint that even approaches any major discipline, let alone even minor to be quite honest with you.
“But I was harassed repeatedly. My significant other at the time was insulted for her Mexican heritage by this clown (another Facebook user) via Facebook to the point where he had to get blocked by both of us,” Catanzara added. “So there was an ongoing situation.”
Catanzara also said that if he were to be fired, it would not affect his right to run the FOP. “This has no relevance or even future ramifications for me continuing and finishing out my term as the president of Lodge 7,” he said.
But the case against Catanzara also refers to allegations that he made several statements on Facebook that were “disrespectful to CPD management,” including one 2017 post where he called superior officers “spineless.”
A spokesman for Brown declined to comment on Thursday night’s Catanzara decision. But COPA released a statement praising Zopp’s decision to move the case to the rest of the nine-member Police Board.
“The conduct by the officer expressed bias and animosity toward various minority groups which is especially problematic in a city as diverse as Chicago and negatively impacts the Department’s ability to effectively serve its residents,” Ephraim Eaddy, COPA’s spokesman, said in a prepared statement.
That case was an especially unusual one for Brown, who as Chicago’s top cop has tried to work with Catanzara in his capacity as FOP president to not alienate the Police Department’s thousands of rank-and-file officers, including those who supported Catanzara in the last union election. But Catanzara has had an extremely contentious relationship with Brown’s boss, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, whose administration is in the middle of tense contract negotiations with the police union.
COPA records show the case stems from a complaint filed by Catanzara’s commander in 2017 who accused him of expressing “bigoted views on social media,” including making “hostile remarks against Muslims, sexist remarks about women and liberals, and remarks about (former first lady) Michelle Obama.” The commander also alleged Catanzara used social media to call for “the murder of college students” and made “defamatory statements against those participating in social programs, and stated that officers should not attempt to chase offenders.”
Catanzara was also accused in the complaint of sending “inappropriate emails to Hubbard High School staff, in that the accused officer accuses (Chicago Public Schools) staff of racist tactics, questions their recruitment process, and identifies himself as a Chicago Police Officer while doing so.” That part of the allegations was not specifically referenced Thursday.
Around the time the commander filed the complaint, Catanzara posted a photo of himself on Facebook in an apparent protest of NFL players who knelt during the national anthem at the start of football games. The photo showed him in uniform holding an American flag as he stood in front of a marked Chicago police SUV.
The Police Department issued Catanzara a reprimand — among the lightest punishments a Chicago cop can face — for violating rules that prohibit officers from participating in any partisan political campaign or activity while on duty.
Overall, he has a lengthy history of complaints filed against him since becoming a Chicago cop in 1995. Records obtained by the Tribune show by the end of mid-2017, he had amassed at least 35 complaints, many for personnel violations. He’s also been suspended several times in his career, and past police superintendents have tried twice to fire him.
In August 2008, then-Superintendent Jody Weis sought Catanzara’s firing on allegations that he did not follow orders to complete a psychological exam, according to Police Board records. But in February 2009, the board cleared Catanzara in a 5-3 decision.
Three years later, then-Superintendent Garry McCarthy tried to fire him for working a side job as a security guard for a restaurant when he was supposed to be on medical leave for a back injury. The Police Board found him guilty in that case of several Police Department violations, board records show. But instead of firing him, the board voted 7-2 to suspend Catanzara for 20 days.
In May, Catanzara won a runoff election to become the next FOP president, defeating then-incumbent Kevin Graham. Catanzara received close to 55% of the vote, garnering 4,709 votes to Graham’s 3,872, according to the union.
At the time, Catanzara was relieved of his police powers and under investigation by the Police Department on allegations related to a 2018 police report he filed against then-police Superintendent Eddie Johnson. Catanzara accused him of breaking the law by allowing marchers onto the Dan Ryan Expressway to protest city violence.
That complaint remains under investigation by the Police Department’s internal affairs bureau.
Thursday night’s decision also marked the third time in two months that a Police Board member overruled Brown in officer misconduct cases in which he sought more lenient punishments for cops who COPA investigators felt should be fired. In October, Police Board members determined Brown did not meet “his burden of overcoming” COPA’s recommendations that three officers in two 2018 shootings be fired. Those two cases will also be presented to the rest of the board members in the coming months.
jgorner@chicagotribune.com
