'Unfounded' Complaint Against Elmhurst Police Chief

ELMHURST, IL — Five years ago, Elmhurst hired a law firm to investigate the police chief in response to a complaint, according to the city.

The complaint against Police Chief Michael Ruth was determined to be "unfounded." No written record of the inquiry exists, other than the checks paid to the law firm, the city said.

Through a public records request, Patch found the city spent $16,665 with the Chicago-based Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins law firm to investigate Ruth. Nearly all the spending was from October 2016 to December 2016. Small payments were made in 2017.

In response to the records request, the city said the complaint was verbal, so it had no documentation. It also said it had no written report from the inquiry.

In a statement to Patch, city spokeswoman Kassondra Schref said, "The investigation confirmed that the complaints were unfounded, therefore the City did not find it necessary to use additional funds to obtain a written report."

Chief Michael Ruth did not return a message for comment.

Ruth has been Elmhurst's police chief since November 2012. He was the chief of the Countryside Police Department for two years before that. He was with the Skokie Police Department for nearly three decades, rising to the level of commander, according to his LinkedIn page.