Here's part of the issue that no one is touching on:
- The Appellate Court of Illinois ruled in 2000 that one of the officers be given a pension based almost solely on the fact that the City did not offer the officer a light-duty spot.
That means that for 12 years now, the City has known how to end many of the abuses, but refused, instead making a conscious effort to push these costs onto an already strained Pension Fund rather than delineate and define what a "limited duty assignment" would entail and who would therefore be eligible to work in one.
We have dozens, maybe tens of dozens of officers who are willing to come back from cancer, heart attacks, or other long term ailments and work the desk, at Ident, in warrant offices, at data entry, etc. Is it the best solution? Probably not. But is it a necessary function and does it free up able-bodied Officers? Sure. The duty-disabled would require a little training and updating in their qualifications for the assorted certifications required by local, state and federal law regarding sensitive information gathering and disseminating, but it's doable.