Of all the terms that strike a sour note with law enforcement, “residency rules” are among the worst. But the law is the law and in cities like Chicago, cops are required to live in the city where they work. That means more expensive real estate and concerns about an officer and his or her family’s safety.

It also means lots of overtime for police, who are assigned to investigate their colleagues to make sure they are complying with the law. According to a recent article in the Chicago Sun Times, Chicago P.D. investigators secretly watched one sergeant commute to work from his home in McHenry County about 20 times in 2006.

They watched Officer Bacarella over 12 times in 2004 as he commuted to his job from a DuPage County home.  Four years later, Officer Bacarella is still the only Chicago cop fired over the last five years for violating the residency rule. Observers say the two cases show how labor intensive and seemingly arbitrary enforcement of the residency rule is.

Mayor Daley who once said, “If I’m mayor, should I live in Waukegan? If the city is good enough to work and earn your salary, it’s good enough to live.” Daley is a big supporter of the residency rule for all city employees. Jennifer Hoyle of the city Law Department says residency cases are hard to prosecute.

The burden of proof is on the city, so every case involves surveillance to see how much time an employee is living outside the city. In other big cities like New York and Los Angeles officers do not have to live within the city limits. Currently the city of Boston is phasing out its residency requirement. Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police is pushing for a compromise with the city – a $3,000 a year stipend to compensate officers for living in Chicago.

Attorney Robert Kuzas, who represented one of the officers who was investigated for violating the rule, says the rule should be scrapped. “I see no reason why dedicated employees are prevented from living where they want,” he told the Sun Times.

“The rule is incapable of enforcement.” Officer Bacarella was the only officer fired by the Chicago Police Board over the last five years for violating the rule. Three others were found not guilty and two other officers resigned. Bacarella, who says he knows plenty of other Chicago cops with homes outside the city, said he does not know why he was singled out and terminated.

“If I am comparing apples to apples, I got the bad apple,” the former officer  told reporters.