Des Plaines council committee postpones meeting about police inquiry
A Des Plaines City Council committee meeting to discuss a possible investigation of the city's police department has been postponed.
The meeting of the Legal and Licensing Committee was scheduled for Thursday night at city hall, but committee chairman Alderman Jim Brookman decided to cancel after officials from one of two private investigative firms the committee was scheduled to interview said it didn't want the meeting to take place in public.
Brookman invited the two firms to appear before the three-member committee after a what he considers questionable incidents involving the department came to light in the last few months.
Among them was a reported shouting match that occurred when Police Chief Bill Kushner confronted a Forest Park auxiliary police officer he accused of leaking internal police information to the media. Aldermen have questioned other incidents, including why as many as four officers were dispatched to arrest Alderman Dick Sayad after a resident pressed a criminal trespassing charge.
Aldermen have been discussing the issues behind closed doors for the last month, but Thursday's meeting was scheduled to be the first in open session.
Brookman said he would prefer the meeting be open but agreed to postpone it when officials from one investigative firm asked to talk to aldermen in closed session. A closed-door session will be scheduled in the near future, he said.