CPD Leiutenant Violated Policy - Retires Before COPA Recommends His Firing

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that a Chicago Police Department (CPD) Lieutenant retired earlier this month just before the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) board released findings that he made several derogatory social media posts in 2020 that were against department policy and recommended that he be fired.

Lt. John Cannon retired on Oct. 15 after working at the CPD for 24 years; he most recently worked in the alternate response section. COPA’s final summary report of its investigation into Cannon was publicly released last Wednesday.

COPA concluded that Lt. Cannon had violated multiple departmental rules by repeatedly posting racist, sexist, homophobic, misogynistic and xenophobic memes and comments on Facebook, and the agency concluded that he was unfit to serve the department and should be fired.

“Through his use of social media, Lt. Cannon has demonstrated that he is unable to treat all the citizens of Chicago with fairness and equity. His misconduct is particularly egregious for a high-ranking supervisor with 23 years on the force,” according to the report.