Sharon R. Fairley, ’06, a criminal justice reform expert and a professor from practice at the Law School, was recently honored with the 2024 Flame Award by the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE).

This award is given annually to an individual or organization who has made significant and long-term contributions to the field of law enforcement oversight, including bringing to light injustices and advancing law enforcement reform efforts.

Fairley’s work in criminal justice reform, constitutional policing, and police accountability, both in the field and through her research, have made her stand out as one of the nation’s premiere advocates for civilian oversight of law enforcement. In 2015, then Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanual appointed Fairley to the role of chief administrator of the Independent Police Review Authority, the agency responsible for police misconduct investigations. She also led the creation of Chicago's Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA).

Since leaving COPA in 2017, Fairley has been deeply engaged in research to help move criminal justice reform forward. In 2019, she conducted a survey on civilian oversight in the largest 100 cities in the United States and has published a series of articles since then describing the prevalence of civilian oversight across the country as well as the different types of oversight that exist. This year, she expanded the scope of her research to the largest 200 cities. She recently published an article that examined how resources impact the ability of civilian oversight entities to stay on top of their caseloads. 

Fairley also wrote a chapter on “contemporary civilian oversight,” pulling from her research and experience, in a book titled, Constitutional Policing: Striving For a More Perfect Union, published by the American Bar Association in 2022.

In her public remarks accepting the Flame Award, Fairley noted that the work within her field has reached a critical inflection point because “civilian oversight is under unprecedented attack across a variety of fronts.”

“My former colleagues at COPA are dealing with internal strife exacerbated by aggressive litigation by the union,” she said. “After being in place for over sixty years, the police union has successfully carved away at the Chicago Police Board’s jurisdiction over serious police misconduct matters pushing those cases to adjudication by an arbitration process that lacks any transparency.”

Closing her speech, Fairley said, “I know I am committed through my work to help ensure that civilian oversight agencies and practitioners have the information and support they need to be successful. And I look forward to working with you all as we collectively worked toward improving policing and police accountability across this great nation of ours.”

Before joining the Law School in 2015, Fairley spent eight years as a federal prosecutor with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.