Marking the Launch of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) marked its official launch on September 15. This event was the culmination of nine months of work to wind down COPA's predecessor agency, the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA), and stand up a new agency charged with investigating claims of police misconduct. The staff and leadership of COPA step into a crucial role in Chicago's criminal justice system: building an agency that Chicagoans will trust to provide effective and fair investigation of claims.

Sharon Fairley, the inaugural Chief Administrator of COPA, brought the Civic Consulting Alliance on board to help wind down IPRA and plan for the launch of the new agency. She recognized that rebuilding community belief in police oversight would require COPA to do things differently, and she sought the support of CCA and its partners to identify how to make essential changes. An EY/Civic Consulting team provided project management support to the subject matter experts COPA already had in position. A partner team from Crowe Horwath created a quality assurance and quality improvement process for COPA to ensure that all cases are handled in a consistent, high-quality manner, while Zeno Group assisted in the COPA communications plan before and at the launch.

COPA's innovations include a mediation process that will allow cases to reach a conclusion more quickly, and the planned opening of satellite offices to facilitate complaint-making. An expanded staff and budget are in place to support these changes. At the launch, COPA Chief of Staff Annette Moore reflected on the supporting role of CCA, its partners, and the future of COPA: "The assistance of Civic Consulting was invaluable. I will miss having their counsel and steady hand with us every day and week, but we look forward to future collaborations as COPA continues its work."