Cook County’s Top Judge Reviews Adult Probation Department

courtroom gavel generic
Joe Gratz / Flickr
courtroom gavel generic
Joe Gratz / Flickr

Cook County’s Top Judge Reviews Adult Probation Department

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CHICAGO (AP) — Cook County’s top judge is reviewing compensation practices at the local adult probation department after one of its leaders accrued more than $200,000 in compensatory time.

Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ review comes after an investigation by the Chicago Tribune found that Philippe Loizon, a deputy chief in the Cook County Adult Probation Department, had compiled at least 3,674 hours of comp time from 2003 into 2015.

Evans oversees the court system’s probation department. His spokesman, Pat Milhizer, said in an email that Evans has started a review of Loizon’s compensation and the compensation of other senior managers in the department. The review will also look at what the office and others knew about the situation.

The department is also changing its policies to forbid exempt employees, including members of the executive staff, from accruing comp time.

Internal correspondence shows that Evans’ office initially was made aware of Loizon’s accumulation of significant hours of compensatory time in 2013, but apparently did little about it.

Loizon declined the newspaper’s request for comment.

This isn’t the first review involving Loizon. Evans ordered him to desk duty in 2014, following an investigation by the newspaper that found rogue probation officers had allegedly planted drugs, stolen money and improperly teamed up with FBI agents and Chicago police to conduct warrantless searches. Evans hired a Chicago law firm to look into those accusations but hasn’t said what, if anything, was found.

Loizon stayed on the probation department’s payroll. County payroll records show he went on medical leave in August and has begun using his comp time.

Even with his reassignment, Loizon retained the title of deputy chief — one of the most senior managers in a department with hundreds of employees. He makes more than $115,000 annually.