A former Chicago police officer dealing with trial for perjury and forgery has admitted he lied below oath dozens of instances when he used an audacious alibi to get out of quite a few dashing tickets and different site visitors violations. Over greater than a decade, he repeatedly blamed an ex-girlfriend for stealing his automotive and racking up the tickets — and every time, the story was bogus.
Jeffrey Kriv, one among Chicago’s most prolific drunk-driving enforcers throughout his greater than 25 years as a cop, was sentenced to 18 months’ probation and ordered to pay $4,515 in restitution after pleading responsible final week to a lesser cost of felony theft. A plea settlement with prosecutors in Cook dinner County, the place Chicago is situated, allowed Kriv to keep away from jail time and ended the legal case towards him, however the implications of his actions go far past his personal case.
A ProPublica evaluation of courtroom and police information has discovered that prosecutors have dropped at the very least 92 site visitors and legal circumstances that have been primarily based on arrests Kriv made and tickets he wrote. Many of the circumstances that have been dismissed concerned drunk and harmful driving. Protection attorneys in these circumstances have cited Kriv’s perjury case and his credibility concern.
ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune beforehand detailed Kriv’s historical past of alleged misconduct as an officer, together with that he’d been investigated at the very least 26 instances over allegations of dishonesty for falsifying information, making false arrests and different issues. He was the topic of almost 100 complaints from residents and fellow officers in his profession; most officers face far fewer.
Kriv denied the allegations in lots of these circumstances and blamed others on how usually he made stops and arrests. In the long run, lots of the investigations couldn’t be pursued as a result of his accusers didn’t signal formal complaints, and a few complaints, together with people who concerned allegations of dishonesty, weren’t sustained by police oversight officers. In different circumstances, oversight officers discovered Kriv chargeable for the misconduct.
He retired in 2023, simply earlier than prosecutors charged him.
Kriv’s plea deal was filed in Cook dinner County courtroom on Sept. 24, a couple of week earlier than his case was scheduled to go to trial. Prosecutors for the Cook dinner County state’s lawyer’s workplace informed ProPublica this week that Kriv had 56 of his personal site visitors tickets dismissed after offering false testimony to judges. That’s greater than the 44 tickets that prosecutors had beforehand indicated in courtroom information. The fines for these tickets would have been $4,515, the quantity he was ordered to pay in restitution.
Addressing the fallout from Kriv’s perjury case on different courtroom circumstances constructed on his policing, the state’s lawyer’s workplace mentioned it dropped pending circumstances towards people who Kriv had arrested or ticketed as a result of it couldn’t proceed with out his testimony.
“We couldn’t name him as a witness as a result of false statements he beforehand made to be able to have his personal private tickets dismissed,” the workplace wrote in response to questions from ProPublica. One case was dismissed as not too long ago as August, information present. Prosecutors mentioned there aren’t any pending circumstances during which Kriv’s testimony is required.
The state’s lawyer’s workplace mentioned that, going ahead, any claims from people who had been convicted in Kriv-involved circumstances shall be “rigorously reviewed.” There are also defendants who haven’t proven up in courtroom and have warrants out for his or her arrests, so their circumstances could possibly be known as once more.
“Our precedence is to uphold our authorized and moral obligations whereas guaranteeing equity,” the workplace mentioned.
Beneath the plea settlement, Kriv admitted that he repeatedly blamed a girlfriend for stealing his BMW to get his tickets dismissed. “Properly, that morning, I broke up with my girlfriend and she or he stole my automotive,” Kriv informed one decide. He repeated related tales repeatedly to get out of tickets for dashing, parking and crimson mild digicam violations involving his private automobiles. Kriv additionally supplied fraudulent police studies of automotive thefts as proof. The judges then dismissed the tickets.
Kriv had been charged with 4 counts of perjury and 5 counts of forgery, all of them felonies. Every of these offenses would have been punishable by as much as 5 years in jail.
Kriv’s lawyer, Tim Grace, informed ProPublica that he and Kriv wouldn’t remark.
The manager director of the Policemen’s Annuity and Profit Fund of Chicago mentioned the pension board will meet to resolve if Kriv can proceed to gather his pension advantages, given the felony conviction. Illinois regulation prohibits officers who’re convicted of felonies associated to their service from receiving pension advantages. Kriv’s pension fee is greater than $6,000 a month.
In courtroom final yr, Kriv informed a ProPublica reporter that he was harmless. “I’m going to combat it,” he mentioned on the time. “I don’t plan on taking any plea.” He complained that folks accused of carjacking and gun offenses get probation, and he criticized prosecutors for treating him like a legal. “I’m worse than a carjacker, allegedly,” he mentioned.
He additionally mentioned “it’s a disgrace” and “it’s horrible” that prosecutors have dropped circumstances towards alleged drunken drivers and others due to considerations about his credibility. He mentioned he needed to testify in these circumstances and mentioned prosecutors had sidelined him prematurely.
“You understand how the system is: You’re responsible till confirmed harmless,” he mentioned.
