# The Inspector General wants to study what happens when you call 911 and no officer is free. Alderpersons have asked for that data for years *A draft 2027 plan filed Tuesday proposes a review of police dispatch backlogs, plus audits of evidence handling and academy harassment complaints. Comment is open through Dec. 31, and OEMC faces the Council Thursday.* By Chicago Politics · Updated Nov 4, 2026 The City's Inspector General plans to study what happens when someone calls 911 for police and no officer is available. The proposal is in the office's draft 2027 Public Safety Annual Plan, filed with the City Clerk on Nov. 3 ([F2026-0029731](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/matter/F2026-0029731-office-inspector-generals-draft-public-safety)). The Office of Inspector General is taking public comment on the draft through Dec. 31 at [igchicago.org](https://igchicago.org). Why it matters: when no police car in a district is free and the time allowed to dispatch a call has passed, the call becomes a "Radio Assignment Pending," or RAP, the plan explains. The review would measure how often that happens by district and type of call, and how long callers wait. Alderpersons have asked the Police Department and the City's 911 agency for those numbers for at least two years. ## What the plan proposes The [draft](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/files/clerk/matterattachmentspublic/bb12287e-949e-428d-871f-404a4a152321.pdf) lists five new projects for 2027: - **911 dispatch and backlogs.** How often RAPs occur, average waits during them, whether police and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) follow their own RAP procedures, and what drives backlogs: call volume, staffing or dispatch practices. - **Misconduct investigations.** Trends in closed cases from the department's Bureau of Internal Affairs and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), by allegation type, finding and length. - **Discipline.** Whether final penalties are consistent and carried out, including outcomes of grievances, arbitration and mediation. - **Evidence and recovered property.** An audit of how the department stores, tracks, returns and destroys guns, drugs, money and other property. - **Harassment in the police academy.** How recruits' discrimination and harassment complaints are reported and investigated. Six reviews are already under way, the plan says, with results expected late this year or in 2027: the department's response to domestic violence by its own members, officer retention, its use-of-force review unit, field training officers, a first review of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, and police overtime. ## What our records add **Members have been asking about RAPs.** At the Council's Nov. 12, 2024 budget hearing on OEMC, Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) asked for data on calls with no available units, by district and ward ([watch](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/EA77C46C-1687-EF11-AC21-001DD809A88D?t=26120)). At a July 2025 Public Safety Committee meeting, its chair, Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), asked whether the department could report how much of the time districts are on RAP ([watch](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/87644AEA-CA5D-F011-BEC1-001DD80DE442?t=4371)). At last year's police budget hearing, he asked whether a staffing study would address RAP calls and how the department documents unanswered low-priority calls ([watch](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/4247F010-C89F-F011-B4CB-001DD8001AAF?t=11593)). At last year's OEMC hearing, Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) raised reports of 911 calls going unanswered ([watch](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/27FEFA88-C89F-F011-B4CB-001DD8001AAF?t=15094)). **The Inspector General was asked, too.** In September 2023, a deputy inspector general told a joint Council committee that the office wasn't aware of a specific code for uncompleted 911 calls but intended to look at the issue, and invited suggestions for its annual plan ([watch](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/A4DFBB70-5B59-EE11-BE6E-001DD8098347?t=3218)). At the Oct. 7 hearing on the office's 2025 report, Ald. Matt Martin (47th) encouraged it to examine which 911 calls could be handled by departments other than police ([watch](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/35130D9B-B7A7-F111-B8DD-001DD80B58E5?t=3731)). **Overtime.** At that Oct. 7 hearing, the office reported that 11,153 department members earned $286 million in overtime in 2025 ([watch](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/35130D9B-B7A7-F111-B8DD-001DD80B58E5?t=2308)). Its overtime audit is one of the six reviews in progress. Our [police budget hearing story](/on-my-block/chicago-police-budget-hearing-overspending-520-million-overtime-2027) covers the department's overspending this year. ## What's next - **Thu., Nov. 5:** the Council's budget hearing on OEMC, the Fire Department and COPA. - **Tue., Nov. 10:** budget hearings for the Inspector General, the Police Board and the Community Commission. - **Dec. 8:** the draft plan is listed for introduction at the Council's meeting. - **Through Dec. 31:** public comment on the draft. ## Sources 1. igchicago.org: [igchicago.org](https://igchicago.org) On the map: [2nd Ward](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/2), [11th Ward](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/11), [28th Ward](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/28), [47th Ward](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/47) --- Source: https://www.chicagopolitics.org/on-my-block/inspector-general-2027-public-safety-plan-911-backlogs-ccpsa-overtime · Chicago Politics, an independent tracker of the Chicago City Council. 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