Four crooked cops caught unlawfully seizing guns and lying about it now face termination

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling has agreed with the Civilian Office of Police Accountability’s (COPA) recommendation to terminate four tactical officers who engaged in a scheme to unlawfully seize firearms from residents and then filed false reports to conceal how the guns were obtained.

COPA’s investigation sustained 108 combined allegations against the four officers, citing “substantial and irrefutable” evidence that the officers engaged in or had knowledge of “a pattern of creating false reports to conceal the fact firearms were seized under false pretenses.”

Two of the officers, Daniel Fair and Jeffery Morrow, admitted to Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agents that they had engaged in “a pattern of seizing firearms and completing false reports.”

In a particularly troubling incident, the FBI found that these two officers had unwittingly taken the murder weapon from a wanted murderer—but they were so focused on their scheme, they failed to ask for his name and released him.

COPA uncovered another instance where it appears Fair took a “significant amount” of money and cannabis from a vehicle, then drove the contraband directly to his house without reporting the seizure.

Officer Kevin Taylor, also implicated in this scheme, admitted to investigators that he was aware of the misconduct.

The fourth officer, Rupert Collins—the most experienced member of the team—denied any knowledge of the false reports. COPA has cast doubts on Collins’ credibility, noting inconsistencies in his statements and finding it “implausible” that he claimed to investigators that he was unable to hear only the portions of body-worn camera audio that suggested he was aware of the scheme.

According to COPA’s final report, one of the officers said the motive behind the pattern of civil rights violations was an attempt to improve firearm seizure statistics for commanders.

Snelling’s agreement to fire all four officers comes after his recent criticism of the oversight agency and heightened scrutiny of CPD’s use of tactical teams.

View Superintendent Snelling's letters recommending termination

In February, Snelling criticized COPA for recommending the termination of 28 officers in the first two months of this year—including the four in this report—and he accused COPA investigators of basing conclusions on “personal opinions and speculation.”

More recently, Snelling has criticized COPA Chief Andrea Kersten over the agency’s handling of its investigation into the police killing of Dexter Reed after questioning officers’ credibility. The tactical officers who killed Reed claimed they stopped him over a seatbelt violation, which video evidence contradicts.

Since March 2023, Officers Fair, Morrow, Taylor, and Collins have been stripped of their police powers and assigned to the Alternate Response Section (ARS), a unit primarily staffed by officers with disciplinary and medical issues where they answer non-emergency phone calls while still receiving a pay check and earning time toward their pensions.

Last year, all four officers were also placed on the Cook County State’s Attorney’s list of officers not to call as witnesses.

Two of the implicated officers had relatively short tenures with the department at the time of the illegal seizures. Fair became a member of the force in 2017, followed by Morrow in 2018. Taylor started in 2015, while Collins, the most seasoned member, joined the department in 2006.

Additionally, officers Fair, Morrow, Taylor, and Collins face 37, 37, 13, and 26 other allegations, respectively, including improper searches and seizures, neglect of duty, and improper arrest.” It is unclear how many of those allegations may have been folded into this investigation.

Fair is the sole officer facing criminal charges stemming from this investigation. He is charged with felony counts of obstruction of justice and official misconduct for allegedly lying in court about the circumstances leading to a man’s 2020 arrest and conviction. Fair has pleaded not guilty.

In December 2023, People’s Fabric reported on dozens of documents and videos obtained from COPA via Freedom of Information Act requests, which are now summarized in COPA’s newly released final report, also obtained through a public records request.

Read COPA's Final Summary Report detailing findings and disciplinary recommendations.

The complaint that sparked the investigation

Just two days after celebrating her 37th birthday, Lakisha German, accompanied by a friend and her two teenagers, was returning home from a birthday gathering at her father’s house. The group made their way to 120th Street and Michigan Avenue to catch a northbound #34 bus, carrying helium balloons and a gift bag. It was October 2021.

As they waited, an SUV drove past, U-turned at the next intersection, and pulled over at the bus stop.

The driver rolled down the window. Two uniformed police officers, Fair and Morrow, sat inside the unmarked vehicle, shining a flashlight on the family. 

German greeted them, asking, “Hello officers, how are you? What’s going on?”

One of the officers inquired, “Anybody have a gun or firearm?”

German, who prides herself on being an honest person, replied, “Yes, sir, I do.” 

She informed the officers that she had a gun zipped inside her fanny pack—a distinctive purple and black .38 caliber Ruger.

Morrow got out of the car, opened her fanny pack, removed the firearm, unloaded it, and stuck the gun in his vest.

After questioning German’s children and her male friend about firearms—they all said they had none—the two officers searched the males regardless. The men started to search her daughter, but stopped when they saw she was carrying her pet boa constrictor, Milo.

Before driving off, one of the officers said, “This never happened,” leaving German without any documentation of the stop or gun seizure—a gun she had legally purchased.

A police overhead camera catches Chicago police officers Daniel Fair and Jeffery Morrow conducting an unlawful search and seizure on October 5, 2021; Source: COPA

Fair and Morrow returned to the 5th District station, inventoried the gun, and lied about where they found it. 

Using a ShotSpotter alert of 11 shots fired a mile away from German’s location as the pretext, the officers claimed to have found the .38 caliber Ruger laying on the ground at that scene, falsely attributing its discovery to the ShotSpotter alert.

To this day, police data incorrectly shows this as a successful gun recovery attributed to ShotSpotter.

Feeling the uneasy about the encounter, and worried about how the officers’ potential misuse of her gun, German went to the 5th District police station the following morning to report the incident. Two days later, she was interviewed by COPA investigators.

CPD’s GPS logs and video pointed investigators to Fair and Morrow as the officers involved, and provided the first proof that the officers were lying in official reports.

Morrow later told investigators that he considered this to be “a positive interaction,” in-line with former Superintendent David Brown’s emphasis on positive community interactions.

German’s report kicked off this sprawling investigation which eventually implicated Officers Taylor and Collins as COPA investigators and the FBI re-examined their past stops.

According to COPA’s report, they “determined there were at least twenty cases with COPA bearing similar complaint patterns that involved Officers Fair and Morrow.”

Asked if this experience has changed her perception of police, German said, “No. I don’t think all cops are bad. I don’t have anything against anybody. But I’m supposed to feel safe, not fear you.”

“It’s not fair that they use their job to serve and protect, and their badge and shield, to do dirty work. You have to be an honorable person.”

German added, “I’m glad my little ol’ complaint helped get some people off the street who shouldn’t be there.”

A murderer in their grasp

On June 20, 2021, officers Fair and Morrow rolled up in front of a home where four men were sitting in the front yard. 

After instructing the men to turn their music down, Fair said, “Give me a gun right now, you know what I’m saying, and go about your day.”

The officers claimed they had previously seen a gun in the pants of one of the men, a man in a red shirt. 

Morrow told the man to put up one of his hands, adding, “You can keep your blunt though. Gimme your other hand,” as he grabbed the man’s arm.

Fair asked how old he is. “Nineteen,” the man responded. 

Fair and Morrow took the man’s gun, and Morrow says, “Go smoke your blunt, alright?” just before turning off his camera.

The officers filed a false report, claiming an unknown man had flagged them down and stated he had “found a firearm in his yard” and wanted to turn it in because “firearms scared him.”

Later, the FBI pieced together that the man Fair and Morrow briefly detained was Khalil Griffin, 20, who was wanted for a murder committed in Kentucky ten days prior. The gun they seized and lied about was the murder weapon.

Griffin returned to Kentucky and turned himself in to local police on June 25—five days after the encounter with Fair and Morrow. He pleaded guilty to murder and he was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

When asked whether he understood the harm in failing to investigate Griffin, Morrow replied, “Yeah, hurts me.” He added that the reason for recovering guns in this manner was to improve Compstat gun retrieval numbers for commanders.

Missing cash and drugs

On June 15, 2021, officers Fair and Taylor, detained and searched a man and a woman who had been sitting in a parked car. The officers claimed they had run the vehicle’s license plate and it did not “come back,” as pretext for the stop.

COPA found no record that the officers had run the plate.

Taylor had his body-worn camera activated during the stop. Fair did not.

The man told officers that he had been a former parolee. The officers handcuffed both of them as Fair searched the car.

During his search, Fair held up a stack of cash he’d found and asked the occupants about a large bag of cannabis.

While Fair continued his search, Taylor ran a check on the man’s name and informed Fair that the system reported the man was supposed to be in Illinois Department of Corrections custody. The man disputed that, saying his parole had ended.

Fair asked the man, “What’s gonna be the verdict, man? You can’t have that much cannabis. Manufacturing, delivery, with the money and all the other proceeds. Whose bag is it?”

The man replied, “What ya’ll on bro?”

Fair answered, “We do what the fuck we always do.”

Fair appeared to drop the stack of cash back into the bag with cannabis, then tossed the bag and all its contents into his police vehicle. Shortly after, Taylor deactivated his camera.

GPS records show that less than three minutes after Taylor’s camera was turned off, their police vehicle was on the move. They drove straight to Fair’s house, about five minutes away, where it stopped for a few minutes before the officers continued on their way.

There is no other record of this stop—no incident report, no investigatory stop report, no arrest report, no drugs nor cash were inventoried by Fair or Taylor that day.

“Yay or nay? Before I fuckin’ do whatever?”

In early July 2021, shortly after 8:00 PM, a 22-year old man was walking home from buying a soda at a nearby convenience mart when Fair, Morrow, and Taylor pulled up behind him in their unmarked SUV.

Taylor’s camera was rolling. Officers gave no reason for the stop and immediately asked if he had a gun. He said yes, he had a gun in the bag strapped across his chest, and he had a FOID card. He acknowledged he did not have a license to conceal carry.

Morrow handcuffed him, as Taylor unzipped the bag and took the gun.

The officers walked him back to the SUV to have Fair run his name through the system.

Fair said, “Hold on, hold on. Yay or nay? Before I fuckin do whatever?”

“F/P is fine,” Morrow replied before looking at Taylor, “Fine with you? That’s OK?” 

Taylor seemed to acknowledge, then turned off his camera. 

According to COPA, “F/P” is understood to be the group’s code for “Found Property,” the designation used on their false reports claiming to find firearms lying around.

Like the other stops, Morrow inventoried the gun under a false “found property” report.

“You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?”

In the middle of July 2021, Fair, Taylor, and Collins, stopped three young males in a car. The officers said they made the stop because their headlights weren’t on. The men explained they had just pulled out from their home and hadn’t turned them on yet.

The officers collected IDs from the group and handcuffed them, but never ran their names. Fair searched the car’s trunk and found a loaded firearm buried in a bag. The 20-year-old driver said it was his father’s gun. He explained that he sells shoes out of the trunk of his car and carries cash, so he had the gun for protection.

Fair unloaded the gun and stuck it in his vest or pocket, then walked the driver over to their squad car. As Fair walked past Collins, Collins said, “He’s got a stash of money in his front pocket.”

In the car, the man said something like “Y’all can take the gun, I don’t care,” which prompted Fair to loudly say, “Hey hey, chill chill,” in an apparent attempt to drown out the audio. Fair then immediately turned off his camera.

Collins, with his camera still rolling, walked up behind Fair to hand him the group’s driver’s licenses. Fair appeared to dismissively wave the IDs away. Collins covered his camera, at which point Fair asked, “Are you thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’ here?”

“Yeah,” answered Collins, as he quickly walked back to the where the two other men and Taylor were standing. Collins then turned off his camera. Taylor can be heard saying “F/P” just before turning off his own camera.

Collins later claimed he couldn’t hear “F/P” on Taylor’s audio and that he didn’t know what “found property” meant.

Fair filed a false report later that evening claiming the gun was retrieved when he and the other officers were “waived down by a citizen who…had found a firearm laying in a grassy area.”

Tactical teams under scrutiny

Chicago’s tactical teams often referred to as “jump-out boys,” have a lengthy history of abuses and employing overly aggressive tactics.

In March, an 11th District tactical team pulled over Dexter Reed for an alleged seatbelt violation. Officers rapidly escalated the situation before Reed appeared to fire at least one shot, shattering one of the officers’ wrists. Police responded by firing 96 shots at Reed, fatally wounding him with 13 bullets.

The real reason behind the stop is still unknown. Video shows it would have been impossible for officers to have seen Reed’s seatbelt prior to the stop, calling their credibility into question.

Police often use minor violations a pretext to stop and search vehicles. This tactic has been shown to disproportionately impact Black and Latino drivers. The practice is now facing renewed scrutiny and may soon fall under the scope of the Chicago Police Department’s federal consent decree.

Notably, all the individuals targeted by officers implicated in this scheme were Black.

After a judge’s recent ruling, an arbitrator will likely eventually decide the fate of Fair, Morrow, Taylor, and Collins. As of now, arbitration proceedings involving separation are to be made public, though the Fraternal Order of Police is appealing that ruling in an attempt to force major disciplinary decisions behind closed doors.