Chicago police officer who racked up most complaints now faces firing — in two cases
After racking up more complaints than any other Chicago police officer in recent years, Joseph Vecchio now faces firing in two of the disciplinary cases tied to his work on a notorious downtown tactical team.
Vecchio was among three members of the Near North District’s 1863 tactical team who had cases before the Chicago Police Board on Thursday, when members ruled on disciplinary disputes between the police department and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
The two cases seeking Vecchio’s dismissal relate to broader allegations that the unit had a pattern of conducting improper traffic stops. Vecchio was suspended for 15 days in a third case, and the other tactical officers were also given significant suspensions.
Vecchio was stripped of his policing powers late last year after COPA chief LaKenya White alerted former Supt. Larry Snelling to a “concerning number of complaints.”
“When COPA’s Policy, Research, and Development Unit conducted an analysis of complaint data since 2019, it revealed that Officer Vecchio has the highest number of log number investigations in the entire Department,” White wrote to Snelling on Oct. 6, 2025.
“Although many of these cases are still under investigation, the increasing number of complaints against Officer Vecchio suggests the need for immediate intervention by CPD.”
An attorney for Vecchio couldn’t immediately be reached.
The cases announced by the police board on Thursday show the 1863 tactical team’s pattern of misconduct. Both of Vecchio’s cases involved searches that were apparently spurred by revelations that a car’s occupant had a gun license.
On Christmas 2024, Vecchio and another tactical officer approached a BMW parked in a loading zone with hazard lights on. They demanded the man seated in the passenger seat hand over his license, according to the police board ruling.
When Vecchio ran the license, he found the man had a license to own a gun, but not one to carry a gun publicly. He ordered the man out of the car, searched it and found a firearm in the center console, the ruling says.
But on the arrest report, both officers said they saw the man pull an L-shaped object from his waistband and reach toward the center console, prompting the search, according to the ruling.
Vecchio repeated this claim during a preliminary court hearing in the criminal case, which was later dropped by the Cook County prosecutors.
Snelling argued against any discipline but he was overruled by the board, which adopted COPA’s recommendation to fire Vecchio.
Arlette Porter, the board member who issued the ruling, said body camera footage showed there was “no reasonable articulable suspicion” the man they stopped was committing a crime.
“Officer Vecchio’s intentional inaccuracies, untruths, and misleading testimony before the Court was egregious and in direct contravention to CPD policy regarding honesty and accountability,” Porter wrote.
IIn Vecchio’s other dismissal case, stemming from a similar traffic stop, Snelling backed COPA’s push to have Vecchio fired but disagreed with recommendations for his partner.