Metra ‘owes an explanation’: Documents show ‘allegation chart’ and ‘discrimination section’ in secret police probe

The cost of three days’ work preparing a report for the Metra board about alleged police department misconduct? Around $45,000, documents show.

But while the financials of the $1.57 million police department investigation are clear following FOIA requests, Metra is keeping the report by outside consultants confidential, and that’s troubling some Illinois lawmakers.

“Metra owes the ratepayers, their riders, and taxpayers an explanation on how they spent that $1.57 million,” state Sen. Laura Murphy said.

The Des Plaines Democrat plans to question the commuter railroad about the secret 2023 inquiry at a Senate Transportation Committee hearing this week.

“We’re trying to move to a transit system and a governance system that’s transparent and brings back public trust and this is the complete opposite,” she added.

Meanwhile, updated findings shed more light on the probe, which was triggered by complaints of mismanagement, cronyism, sexism and racism at the department, Metra officials told the Daily Herald, which first reported the story in December.

Originally, Metra blacked out descriptions of the actual work performed by consultants McGuireWoods when it responded to a Freedom of Information Act request for invoices in late 2024.

The newspaper appealed to the Illinois attorney general’s Public Access Bureau, which intervened. Subsequently, Metra provided mostly unredacted documents in 2025.

Buried in 130 pages of legal bills are clues about a wide-ranging eight-month audit that began in February 2023. Here’s an inside look, according to the invoices:

• Feb. 9: McGuireWoods partners confer with Metra officials, then “review complaints, and draft a list of potential documents needed.”

• March 9: Attorneys prepare for and participate in witness interviews, and develop lists of potential witnesses. Cost — more than $12,700.

• March 26: A list is created of “employees on the active police department list who are not on the witness tracker or have not come up in interviews.”

• April 27: Attorneys prepare and attend witness interviews, schedule interviews, plan next steps, and update an “allegation chart,” among other tasks. Cost — about $13,500.

• May 2: Lawyers finalize a list of former Metra employees to interview, “confirm status of lawsuits and EEOC charges,” and work on a scanning project.

• May 16: Attorneys conduct interviews, plan document logistics, and prepare for and participate in a meeting with the board chair.

• May 25: Certain Metra data is consolidated into “a single comprehensive dataset relating to 231 employees.”

• June 9: A team of five people begins to “review and code documents.”

• July 5: A staffer codes “race, gender, date of birth” for specific officers. Hire dates also are included in a spreadsheet.

• July 14: Work on “discipline and resignation letters” is invoiced.

• July 17 and 18: Attorneys prepare for and participate in a call with the Metra chair and an unnamed director, and work on a board presentation. Another staffer scrutinizes officers’ dates of departures. Cost — more than $40,000.

• Aug. 2: An attorney drafts an investigation report section on “specific disciplinary incidents.”

• Aug. 10: Statements and documents are added to the “discrimination section” of the report.

• Aug. 15 and 16: Analysis related to “selection of officers to specialty positions” is performed.

• Between Sept. 1 and 8: Attorneys work on the investigation report for the Metra board. Cost — more than $80,000. Invoices for three days, Sept. 6, 7 and 8, came to about $45,000.

Asked for a copy of the report, Metra officials refused “because it contains privileged communications and attorney work product.” A FOIA request also was denied.

The commuter railroad did not comment on the invoice details.

The controversy comes as Metra, Pace and the CTA face a $771 million shortfall in 2026. Vying proposals to reform transit are percolating in the General Assembly including merging the agencies or strengthening the Regional Transportation Authority’s oversight.

Conversations with riders show, “people will ride transit if it’s available and they feel safe,” Murphy said.

But if there are problems at Metra’s police department “we can’t resolve them if you don’t know what they are. We have to acknowledge it; that’s the first step to fixing a problem. If you’re going to hide it, it just lets it fester.”