Why Is Farrakhan's Cop Son Driving a Taxpayer-Funded Police Car and Carrying a Gun When He Hasn't Worked a Shift in 4+ Years?

The Minister Louis Farrakhan's son, Mustapha, is making headlines in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs after some intriguing claims were made in a Chicago Sun-Times article on Sunday. A registered police officer with the Harvey Police Department in Harvey, Illinois, Mustapa allegedly hasn't worked a shift in more than four years. However, that's not what's raising eyebrows.

According to state records, a lack of employment activity with the police force hasn't stopped the man, known as "Supreme Captain" of the Nation of Islam (a title that means he could one day take his father's place) from purportedly exercising police duties. Mustapha, 52, apparently still has a badge, drives an unmarked police car and he's registered with the state as a gun-carrying cop in the city of Harvey.

Louis Farrakhan makes a point as he speaks to a group of students from Macon County high schools and Tuskegee University at the Tuskegee campus in Tuskegee, Ala. on Friday March 22, 2013. Credit: AP 

Certainly, these elements are odd for an officer who reportedly hasn't worked in years, but the Sun-Times' account provides additional details that may cause some head-scratching, specifically considering the alleged "off-duty" work that Mustapha does for the Nation of Islam:

Officer Farrakhan does, though, appear to do “police work” off-duty, more than a dozen miles outside Harvey city limits, in Chicago, where he uses his Harvey squad car’s lights to stop traffic and escorts his father’s unofficial motorcade, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found.

The unusual arrangement that allows him to carry a concealed gun into places where regular citizens can’t, and to drive a police car, despite apparently failing to do regular police work for the suburb that employs him, may be especially useful to the man who leads the Nation of Islam’s “Fruit of Islam” security detail.

Neither Farrakhan, his close pal, Harvey Mayor Eric J. Kellogg, nor the Nation of Islam responded to requests last week to discuss it.

Harvey Police Chief Denard Eaves also declined to answer detailed questions about Farrakhan’s hire, his use of the city-owned squad car, or his security work for the country’s leading radical black Muslim.

Among National of Islam followers, Mustapha's police experience is apparently one of the characteristics that some believe should bolster his chances at taking over the religious sect in the future.

Rather than commenting on the questions posed, the Sun-Times claims that Eaves issued a statement that called Mustapha a "volunteer" police officer, a designation that the police chief defends. The outlet notes, though, that Eaves fails to mention the fact that Farrakhan's son lives a half hour away from Harvey.

"Officer Farrakhan assists the Police Department with community relations, in its quest to strengthen ties between police and the community," read Eaves' statement to the Sun-Times.

And while the statement, itself, may have been an attempt to temper media questions, it seems the situation may get more interesting, as the Illinois Police Standards and Training Board has announced an investigation into Mustapha.

The outlet also reports that Mayor Kellogg's relationship with Mustapha is especially close. The mayor enlisted him as a cop on Jan. 14, 2006 and his car, a black Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, was purchased from Palatine Police Department in 2008. At the time, he apparently signed the car over to the city of Harvey. A Sun-Times photographer photographed the vehicle outside Mustapha's home earlier this month.

Louis Farrakhan speaks to a group of students from Macon County high schools and Tuskegee University at the Tuskegee campus in Tuskegee, Ala. on Friday March 22, 2013. Farrakhan's visit is part of his ongoing series of speeches at historically black universities. He spoke last April at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville. Credit: AP 

Last year, the car was reportedly used in processions, leading Louis Farrakhan's motorcade. Sun-Times notes, "Officer Farrakhan is then shown in at least one of the videos using the squad car’s police lights to stop traffic and help his father’s motorcade make a dramatic exit." The outlet continues, explaining the issues at hand:

Official Chicago Police escorts are normally reserved for high-ranking public officials and foreign dignitaries. They typically have to be cleared by the Department’s Special Events and Liaison Unit, according to Chicago Police spokesman Adam Collins. But “the CPD does not provide Louis Farrakhan with a motorcade,” Collins said, and it “doesn’t have any record of such a request.”

Illinois law does allow police officers to use their powers anywhere in the state, according to John Millner, a former Republican state senator, Elmhurst Police chief and head of the Illinois Police Chief’s Association.

But by custom, cops are supposed to use their powers outside their jurisdiction only in an emergency, in areas immediately contiguous to their jurisdiction, or at the invitation of the department whose area they’re in, he said.

Read the Sun-Times report here.

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