Big Loss

So this overturns negotiated Contract Law:

• Chicago’s police union can’t enforce a provision in its contract for destruction of misconduct records, the Supreme Court ruled on June 18.
  
  The Justices found public policy outweighed the provision, which required the city to destroy misconduct records after five years.
  
  “While parties are generally free to make their own contracts, this court has long held that when a conflict exists between a contract provision and state law, as it clearly does in this case, state law prevails,” wrote Justice Lloyd Karmeier.
  
  He based his doctrine on a common law notion that, “courts will not lend judicial power to the enforcement of private agreements that are immoral or illegal.”
  
  Chief Justice Anne Burke and Justices Rita Garman, Mary Jane Theis, Scott Neville, and Michael Burke concurred.

Remember, these provisions didn't erase sustained cases of misconduct. Those were preserved forever. The agreement was to destroy Unfounded and Not Sustained accusations, which is to say cases unsupported by facts, witnesses or evidence. There was and remains absolutely no purpose in keeping these files. They have been investigated and cleared. It's the same in criminal cases - you can't use unsubstantiated accusations or findings of innocence in other court proceedings.

So once again, against all convention wisdom, Police Officers have been placed under the Law that protects every other citizen.