CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — An investigation by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune has detailed how a former Chicago police officer was able to get 44 traffic tickets dismissed.
Tribune reporter Jennifer Smith Richards said they found court records — including recordings — of Jeffrey Kriv repeatedly blaming an ex-girlfriend for running red lights, speeding and other violations.
Kriv allegedly told 23 different judges in hearings spanning more than a decade that the woman stole his car, but he failed to disclose he was a cop.
“There were real forms, and they had a real narrative on them,” Smith Richards said. “They even had real star numbers — the police badge numbers — and real police officer names, but none of those people that he allegedly named in his report or said were responsible for taking the report, actually had done so.”
Smith Richards said judges, for the most part, weren’t hearing Kriv’s story multiple times in the same year. She added, though, that “[Kriv] told it almost verbatim, over and over and over.”
ProPublica Reporter Jodi Cohen said days after Kriv retired from the police department, Cook County prosecutors charged him with perjury and forgery.
“The forgery charges are related to the allegation that he falsified the police reports,” Cohen said.
The 56-year-old pleaded not guilty.
Kriv also faced challenges to his character on the job.
Cohen said 28% of the 92 misconduct complaints filed against Kriv were determined to have merit. Some of the people who had bad experiences with Kriv on the job, though, didn’t press it.
“They just had enough of trying to hold this officer accountable, so they sometimes just gave up,” said Smith Richards.
Cohen added that the allegations against Kriv came despite a 2019 federal consent decree, which required the police department to flag bad behavior.
“The police department has been told over and over again that it needs some sort of early warning system to spot officers who are going down a path of misconduct,” Cohen said.
She said the Chicago Police Department still does not have that early warning system.
The Office of Inspector General began investigating Kriv’s traffic tickets in 2022 and determined he gave false testimony and fraudulent documents. He kept his job but was barred by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office from testifying in court.
Cohen and Smith Richards said Kriv has gotten six more speeding tickets since he retired in January 2023.
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