Chicago Moves to Ban Officers With Extremist Group Ties

Chicago aldermen are moving to ban police officers with ties to hate groups and far-right extremist organizations from serving on the force, with a key City Council committee set to take up the measure Monday.

The proposal, authored by Ald. Matt Martin of the 47th Ward, would give the Civilian Office of Police Accountability the power to investigate officers accused of actively participating in groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. A full City Council vote could come as soon as April 15.

“If you’re part of a violent hate group, you shouldn’t be empowered to enforce Chicago’s laws,” Martin said.

The City Council’s Workforce Development Committee meets at 10:30 a.m. Monday to consider the ordinance. Martin said the proposal went through 17 versions over more than a year, developed in consultation with multiple city agencies and departments. That’s not a fast-tracked political gesture. That’s deliberate, careful policymaking.

The measure defines active participation broadly. Paying dues to a prohibited group qualifies. So does attending meetings, recruiting members, or posting and sharing content online that promotes extremist activities. The proposal also prohibits officers from planning, carrying out, or providing material support for hate crimes.

The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are named specifically in the ordinance’s framing. Before the Trump administration took office in January 2025, the FBI had designated the Proud Boys as an antisemitic white supremacy organization. The bureau classified the Oath Keepers as a large but loosely organized collection of individuals, some associated with militias, who have vowed to refuse what they call unconstitutional orders. Members of both groups participated in the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection. Leaders of each organization were convicted of seditious conspiracy before President Donald Trump pardoned them.

The ordinance targets groups that advocate the violent overthrow of any level of U.S. government. Not just federal. Any level. That’s a meaningful distinction for a city that’s spent years grappling with questions about who polices the police.

Chicago has confronted this question before. The Chicago Police Department has faced scrutiny over officers with documented ties to extremist activity, and the debate over how COPA’s investigative authority should be scoped has never fully settled. Martin’s proposal tries to draw a clear line: affiliation with groups rooted in racial hatred or anti-government violence is incompatible with a badge.

Still, the measure faces a political environment that’s shifted considerably. With the Trump administration reversing federal designations of these groups and pardoning their convicted leaders, some aldermen may be wary of the optics. Others may question whether COPA has the capacity and resources to take on this investigative role without compromising its existing caseload. Those questions are likely to surface Monday.

The Workforce Development Committee vote is the next hurdle. If it clears that panel, the full council could act by April 15. That’s a tight window, and nothing in Chicago politics moves on the first try.

Reporting from WTTW News first flagged the committee vote and the ordinance’s timeline.

What’s at stake isn’t abstract. Officers carry weapons, exercise arrest authority, and make split-second decisions that can end lives. An officer who privately believes certain communities don’t deserve equal protection is a threat to public safety regardless of whether that belief has ever surfaced on a body camera. Martin’s ordinance tries to create a legal mechanism for catching that risk before it becomes a tragedy.

The South Side and West Side neighborhoods that have historically borne the weight of CPD misconduct are watching. So are civil liberties advocates who’ve pushed for years to give COPA sharper investigative teeth. If the council passes this, Chicago would be taking a step that few large American police departments have attempted, creating an explicit, enforceable standard around officer affiliation with extremist organizations.

Whether 26 aldermen can be moved to yes by April 15 is the real question now. Martin has the votes on his side of the debate over principle. The harder work is the count.