American Police Beat: January 2018 15 I n a massive win for the Chicago FOP, an administrative law judge is recom- mending that the Illinois Labor Relations Board throw out the Chicago Police Department’s new disciplinary guidelines. The judge says the rea- son that the new disci- plinary policies can’t be implemented is that they were not negotiated in the bargaining process during contract talks. Administrative Law Judge Anna Hamburg-Gal says that any discipline imposed under the advi- sory guidelines since they were adopted in February should be rescinded. The judge’s recommen- dation does not carry the force of law and it could be months before the state panel in charge of making the ruling decides how to proceed. “This is a great victory for our members,” FOP President Kevin Graham said in a statement on the union’s blog. “The City is obligat- ed to negotiate with us. According to this ruling, they will now have to. We will fight every attempt by the City to make changes without negotiating first.” Law Department spokes- man Bill McCaffrey said he was disappointed by the judge’s recommendation. “The Chicago Police Department has author- ity from the collective bargaining agreement to impose discipline, and the disciplinary matrix is designed to provide certainty for officers and serves as a management tool so that recommenda- tions are consistent across the department,” he said in a written statement. The changes to dis- cipline that the judge says she thinks should be tossed were proposed af- ter media reports showed that the Chicago Police Department had never used any standardized punishment guidelines for a majority of disci- plinary cases. If you read American Police Beat, you might remember a similar story out of Chicago that concluded that the Chi- cago PD at that time had no formal mechanism to track overtime. Changes to discipline must be negotiated Major victory declared after judge’s decision Fair play doesn’t pertain in bargaining. What matters there is leverage. – Alan Rosenberg ★