Police Complaint Center

Beer and Pizza Anyone?


Chicago, IL and Prince George's,  MD

When prohibition was adopted the Chicago Police Department infamously ignored the law and speakeasies flourished in that city.  Since then a culture of binge drinking, driving and reckless intoxicated behavior has permeated CPD and shaped the image of that department through countless scandals.  Just as Chicago officers refused to adhere to the law during prohibition, today many officers across the country ignore the law and refuse to enforce DUI statutes when it comes to off duty police officers that are driving under the influence.  This problem is compounded when officers have “take home” police vehicles and they decide to drive them under the influence as we found on numerous occasions in Prince George’s, Maryland. 

Off duty Prince George's County officer in beer costume

Worse still, many police organizations sponsor events where binge drinking is encouraged and driving under the influence is ignored.  Although FOPs are private organizations their members are public employees and their duties, obligations and responsibilities do not end at the FOP bar door. 

Moreover, the potential for confusion about the role of the city and the police agency when it comes to FOP sponsored events where alcohol is present can pose a number of problems for police community relations and an agency's image.  In an upcoming newsletter we will publish video of an on duty Prince George’s Police officer explaining that the FOP Lodge where officers are drinking is analogous to a police station and benefits from special protection.  The same officer will later explain that there is a difference between having one or two beers before driving your cruiser and being “impaired."

Beerparty at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge

"Yeah Baby"

Our investigator playing the Austin Powers role undercover inside the FOP

Chicago is facing a series of new controversies. A 400 pound Chicago cop is seen on videotape beating a young woman senseless.

The off-duty officer in a drunken rage decided that the female bartender should be pummeled for refusing to serve him more drinks. The off-duty officer Michael Abate also known as “Heavy D.” is seen dragging the woman across the bar as he repeatedly punches and kicks her in the face. When the officer appeared for his arraignment fellow Chicago officers including some on duty shielded the officer from waiting news cameras as he did the perp walk in and out of the courtroom. It was later discovered that officers were angered by the media coverage, so they ticketed journalists covering the trial.  

We decided to go undercover in Chicago after the scandal to determine whether or not policies implemented in its wake would have any impact on off-duty drunken behavior by Chicago officers. Our investigation was conducted with a news crew. The results of our investigation were shocking.

Over the course of a 12 week investigation we found multiple instances of Chicago police officers violating policies concerning consumption of alcohol, use and possession of firearms and state laws concerning drunk driving. With hidden cameras we attended multiple Chicago police department functions. We will be following up with an extensive report later this week. As you may have guessed Chicago is not the only stop we made. We expect that at least a handful of officers and some top police administrators will lose their jobs in the coming months related to this investigation. Consequently we are being very careful about the information we release. In some regions we have offered an opportunity for police officials to see our videotape before it is made public. Last week we issued an invitation to Florida law enforcement officials to view video, from our investigation. We are filming in Florida now.

More to follow..... Let's be careful out there

The PCC is now offering web-based training to law enforcement executives.