CHICAGO — The leader of the city’s police watchdog rejected criticism Thursday from Police Supt. Larry Snelling and other officials that her agency was too quick to release information and speak publicly about the police shootout that killed Dexter Reed.
Following the release of body camera footage of the shootout earlier this month, Civilian Office of Police Accountability Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten has commented publicly on the incident multiple times, including during an appearance on a sports commentator’s show. Her comments — some of which raised questions about the officers involved — have come as her agency leads the investigation into the fatal shooting.
The body cam footage, released April 9 by COPA, shows police stopping Reed’s car in Humboldt Park March 21 before a gunfight ensues. Reed shot first, injuring an officer, the agency said. Four other tactical officers on the scene returned fired, shooting 96 bullets in 41 seconds, including three shots after Reed was laying “motionless” on the ground outside his car, Kersten said.
Kersten called the release of the footage within 19 days a sign of progress for Chicago’s revamped police oversight system, compared to the 13 months it took for the release of videos in the 2014 police murder of Laquan McDonald.
But the quick release of video, along with a letter from Kersten to Snelling questioning why officers stopped Reed and the extent of deadly force they used, has drawn criticism from Snelling and pro-law enforcement officials.
At a police board meeting Thursday, Kersten addressed that criticism, saying it “smacks of hypocrisy.”
“The recitation of preliminary facts that I delivered to the public last week was objective, fair and struck the delicate balance between informing the public and maintaining the integrity of the ongoing investigations,” Kersten said. “In an age of disinformation, particularly surrounding polarizing events such as police shootings, it is the responsibility of the chief administrator to use all platforms, including the media, to educate and inform the public and deliver meaningful transparency on these consequential occurrences.”
In his first public comments on the case, Snelling said last week he believed in the “integrity of the investigation” but took aim at the watchdog for publicly sharing Kersten’s letter to him before interviewing the officers involved. Her letter called for four of the five officers to be relieved of police powers as the investigation runs its course.
“Information spreads like wildfire,” Snelling said previously. “A police officer was shot. A man lost his life … This isn’t something that should play out in the court of public opinion.”
Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara went further, saying Kersten was “dividing the community against the police department.”
Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38th) told the Chicago Tribune he filed a complaint against Kersten with the city’s Office of the Inspector General, saying her participation in interviews before the investigation is complete was “tainting of public opinion.” Kersten was in a press scrum at City Club shortly after the video’s release and made an appearance on ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith’s Youtube show.
Snelling had previously clashed with Kersten for recommending the termination of 28 police officers in a roundup of cases delivered to his desk, according to the Tribune.
Kersten said Thursday those who criticize the Civilian Office For Police Accountability for not interviewing the officers have a “fundamental lack of understanding of [the agency’s] process.”
“The one thing that would unquestionably taint the ongoing criminal investigation would be to make public statements that incorporate information learned from an officer’s constitutionally protected interviews with COPA investigators,” Kersten said. “More specifically, an officer does not have a 5th amendment right to be silent in an interview with COPA — they have to answer our questions. Therefore, sharing information learned through compelled statements made to COPA investigators could potentially jeopardize the ongoing criminal investigation.”
Anthony Driver Jr., president of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability — a body with oversights of both the police department and COPA —said in a statement he’s since spoken to both Snelling and Kersten about their “disagreements.”
“Both have agreed to meet next week to discuss how we can ensure that we all move forward with the utmost levels of professionalism and mutual understanding,” Driver said in the statement. “In times like these, it’s imperative that we strive to achieve the true meaning of accountability, including in how we communicate with each other and with the people of Chicago.”
Kersten said she’s handling the Reed case the same way she has others, pointing to a July press conference in which she talked about an ongoing investigation into alleged sexual misconduct by police officers toward an underage migrant at a West Side police station. That investigation was ultimately closed, with no evidence of wrongdoing by the officers.
“There was virtually no meaningful criticism of those public comments,” Kersten said.
Kersten has been with the Civilian Office of Police Accountability since its inception in 2016 and was named its chief administrator in 2022. She served as interim chief of the agency for months prior to her appointment, according to ABC7.
The agency has 18 months to complete its investigation into the officers involved in Reed’s death.
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