Two years after becoming the city’s top watchdog, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg sat down with the City Cast Chicago podcast to discuss everything from whether 311 is the best way to get stuff done to the nuts and bolts of the office.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What does the inspector general do?
“I sort of think of our work in three channels. The first of those are misconduct investigations: When somebody breaks the rules — either administrative rules or criminal laws — we investigate those bad actors. The second is our program and policy work, where we look at programs and operations of city government to see whether they could be working more effectively, more efficiently, more equitably. Then, the third channel is transparency work.”
Obviously, you’d like to see all your recommendations implemented, but is there one set you’re really pushing?
“The Chicago Police Department has a rule on the books which says that CPD members are not allowed to lie. And the kind of public-facing position of the city and the department is that if CPD members are found to have lied, then they should be fired, then they're not fit to serve as police officers. But the fact of the matter is that is not really how enforcement of that rule has played out.”
Do these investigations lead to change?
“I think it's important not to be naive about the fact that these [recommendations] are not light-switch solutions. We are not going to fix government in the city of Chicago overnight. Chicago operates at a tremendous deficit of legitimacy with its residents, and that is a very, very long arc. For generations, the city has given Chicagoans no reason to trust the operation of government. That's not something that we turn around in a news cycle or a term or a career probably. That's a really long arc. But I do think that we are bending it back. I do think that we are doing work that kind of pays down that deficit of legitimacy.”
