The Chicago Police Department (CPD) this week released two key documents related to its yearlong Workforce Allocation Study, which it now calls WAS.
The first document is an "Organizational Profile," which reports the exact number of CPD employees working, and where they work. The second document, initially called the "Interim Framework Report," describes "the methodologies that will be utilized for the forthcoming analysis" of CPD deployment.
The documents were authored by CPD's WAS contractor, Matrix Consulting Group.
CPD Organizational Profile's orginization chart for the Bureau of
Detectives. Source: Chicago Police Dept.
Inside Chicago Government has gleaned this about the documents:
▪ We downloaded from the CPD Web site two different versions of the Organizational Profile document. While the versions have different file names, each version has the date "November 3, 2025" on its cover. An automated comparison of the two versions showed no textual differences.
The report's formal title: "Descriptive Profile of the Chicago Police Department." That title appears at the top of each page—preceded by the word "DRAFT" in bold.
▪ Similarly, we downloaded two different versions of the Framework Report document. The first has the date "October 18, 2025" on its cover, and the second has the date "November 3, 2025" on its cover.
An automated comparison of the two versions showed apparent corrections in the table of contents, but no other textual differences.
The second report's formal title: "Chicago Police Department Workforce Allocation Study Framework," which appears at the top of each page.
▪ According to its text, the Organizational Profile "is a snapshot in time, generally reflecting varying staffing levels from February - October 2025." It provides precise numbers of staff working in every facet of CPD—but questions remain about the accuracy of those numbers.
▪ The Organizational Profile contains an organization chart for each of CPD's bureaus. In only one case, though—in a section on the Bureau of Detectives—the accompanying org chart is inexplicably placed over the word "DRAFT" in large letters.
▪ In a section titled "Bureau of Detectives Budgeted Staffing Levels," the Organizational Profile presents a table that "compares the total number of staff that are assigned to and work [in CPD] . . . versus the number of positions that are budgeted." Interestingly, it shows that while the detective bureau is budgeted for 502 sworn (badged) officers, it actually has 1,643 officers working—over 325 percent of the budgeted amount.
▪ In a section titled "Further Review and Revisions," the Organizational Profile states: "This is a working document. We are still in the process of collecting information and conducting follow-up interviews, sections will be revised as this occurs. It is critical that this profile become as accurate of a base as possible and can operate on as granular of a level as is feasible."
The text invites a couple of questions, not addressed in the report:
1. Did Matrix Consulting Group resolve CPD's staffing data challenges identified by Chicago's inspector general and others? If so, how?
2. At what point will Matrix stop revising the Organizational Profile—which is the basis for its final recommendations, due in January?
CPD has not responded to questions regarding the Organizational Profile.
