Chicago cop faces suspension for marching in uniform in pro-Palestine demonstration
An off-duty Chicago police officer who marched in uniform during a pro-Palestine demonstration last year is facing a 10-day suspension for violating department rules, according to a police report.
Raid Ghanimah, who's been on a leave of absence since early 2023, was wearing his black battle-dress uniform and holding Palestine and Blue Lives Matter flags during a downtown demonstration on Oct. 18, according to the report.
Battle-dress uniforms, or BDUs, are used for special operations.
Ghanimah, who was hired as a Chicago cop in 2000, is accused of using tape to cover his name and star number on his uniform and failing to identify himself to a member of the police department when he was asked. The report said he violated several department rules, including one involving officers engaging in political activity.
According to the department’s rules, an off-duty cop participating in political activity can’t “wear a uniform or any part thereof that would identify the individual as a Chicago police officer” or “hold himself/herself out as a Chicago police officer.”
Ghanimah declined to comment Monday.
Chicago Sun-Times photographer Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere posted a photo on X of Ghanimah wearing his uniform and holding the two flags during the Oct. 18 demonstration in the Loop. In that photo, Ghanimah's name and star number weren't covered with tape. Later, though, LaRiviere posted a photo on X that seemed to show tape obscuring Ghanimah’s star number.
Three days after that march, Ghanimah participated in another political rally on Michigan Avenue wearing his uniform, according to witnesses.
Ghanimah has remained active on social media where he has denounced Israel and its actions in Gaza, along with President Joe Biden.
Ghanimah is currently receiving an "ordinary disability" that pays half his salary for an unspecified injury, according to police pension board records. He's applying for a "duty disability" that would pay 75% of his salary until his retirement, the records show.
If he doesn't return to work, he won't be served with his recommended suspension, a police department spokesperson said.
The evidence gathered against Ghanimah included officer body worn camera video, witness statements and social media postings, according to the police report, which was filed last month.
Officers have gotten in trouble in the past for political activity.
In 2017, two Chicago cops were disciplined after they were photographed “taking a knee” in the lobby of a South Side police station in solidarity with NFL players who’d done the same thing on the sidelines to protest racism. The officers were reprimanded and given “retraining on applicable policies concerning conduct while on duty and in uniform.”
In January, a Chicago police officer, Karol Chwiesiuk, was sentenced in federal court to three months of home detention for participating in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. He was wearing a Chicago Police Department hoodie while he was inside the building for about 10 minutes, prosecutors said. Chwiesiuk has been fired for a “break in service,” according to the police department's spokesperson.