Pursuing criminal charges against an officer with two decades of service in the Aurora Police Department was difficult but “the right thing,” police Chief Kristen Ziman said Friday. However, the officer’s lawyer on Friday questioned the motivation behind the department’s actions this past week.
Officer Kimberly R. Hanson, 43, of Plano, was charged with misdemeanor theft by deception and is accused of lying about helping a motorist in order to extend her shift and get $71.14 in overtime.
Hanson, who was hired by the department in June 1996 and has mostly worked in patrol, faces a criminal trial and discipline that could include termination from the department.
“This officer has a family, and I feel empathy and compassion for their struggle,” Ziman said via email. “But in the position that’s been entrusted to me as chief of this fine police department, I have to put that aside and remind myself that faking a call for service and subsequently forging an overtime transaction was a choice she made. She stole from our taxpayers, and she dishonored this organization, and that is something I will not tolerate.”
Hanson could not be reached for comment. But her attorney, David Camic, said Hanson had not expected the Police Department to send a news release Thursday announcing her charges.
“I am afraid the Police Department is more concerned with their image than with justice,” said Camic, who’s based in Aurora.
He said prosecutors have not provided them with full copies of the formal complaints and that it would be “imprudent or improper” to comment on the allegations.
Kane County records show that a motion for discovery was filed Monday in the case.
Ziman said she is just holding the officer to the same standard she would hold any member of the public.
“We could have easily handled this internally, and it would have spared the Aurora Police Department embarrassment,” Ziman said. “Instead we did what was more difficult because we knew it to be the right thing.”
Hanson, who makes $46.75 per hour, was scheduled to end her shift at 11 p.m. Sept. 29.
About 10:23 that night, Hanson radioed that she was assisting a motorist near Route 59 and Liberty Street on Aurora’s Far East Side and planned to stay with the motorist until a tow truck arrived, putting her into overtime, according to charging documents.
Supervisors said footage from Hanson’s in-squad video system shows the officer driving around the Route 59 station’s parking lot and nearby area and parking for an “extended period of time” at the police headquarters, according to the department.
The public demands and expects police officers to be held to the same standard of conduct as residents, Ziman said.
“I personally believe an officer who takes an oath to uphold and enforce laws should be held to a higher standard,” Ziman said.
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The charges against Hanson were the result of an internal administrative investigation — which is still ongoing — and a separate criminal investigation.
Hanson has been on administrative leave with pay since Oct. 3 as the internal investigation continues, according to the Police Department. A warrant for her arrest was issued Nov. 3, and she turned herself in at the DeKalb County sheriff’s department on Nov. 8. She posted $100 bond, and her next court date is pending.
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