(The Center Square) – Englewood residents could now face felony gun charges without officers being required to have the case reviewed and approved by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office beforehand.
A collaboration between the Chicago Police Department and the office of new Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen Burke, the so-called “Felony Review Bypass Program” that officially launched on Jan. 1, comes on the heels of Burke vowing as a candidate to make being tougher on crime a key cog of her administration.
Up until the pilot program being put in place, charging determinations were left in the hands of prosecutors, who often reviewed body camera footage and police reports before arriving at any decision but under the new guidelines that decision will now be left to the watch lieutenant on duty.
State Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, hears concerns about the program.
“Our goal should be to file felony convictions on the right person,” Ford told The Center Square. “I think that we need to make sure that the prosecutors and law enforcement work closely together and the direction should be coming from the prosecutor’s office.”
With Englewood area residents feeling targeted already expressing outrage over the new policy, Ford said it’s all to be expected given some of the actions taken by city officials.
“I don’t think we’ve followed our consent decree enough to trust the fact that we have the ability to trust a system without some type of review,” he said. “I mean, we still have the consent decree that probably would be something that the consent decree may not agree with. I don’t think anybody would be in disagreement with charging the right person, but if the goal is to make our streets safer the best way to make them safe is to try the right case.”
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Data shows in the nearly three months since the policy went into effect, 7th District officers have filed 22 felony gun cases. In 2024, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office rejected gun charges in 464 of 4,200 felony cases, or at a clip of roughly 10%.
With the program slated for review every three months, Burke’s office has pledged to provide updates on the program in the coming weeks.
