Pilot Program?
If someone gets caught with a gun in Englewood, no need to stay off the street all night. Just process him and go out for another gun:
- Cops in one Chicago police district who arrest people for illegal gun
possession can now file some firearms-related felony charges directly
without getting approval from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Multiple sources say the “Felony Review Bypass Program” began at midnight on January 1 in the Englewood (7th) District. Neither CPD nor the state’s attorney’s office directly answered questions about the program, although both provided statements that did not deny its existence.
For years, cops in Cook County have had to get a prosecutor in the state’s attorney’s Felony Review Unit to approve all felony charges, a sometimes time-consuming hurdle that keeps officers off the street. Now, at least for a while, cops in the Englewood district can file some gun charges with the approval of their lieutenant.
Felony Review is a mostly useless process where the ASA on duty demands more evidence, more interviews and labels cases "continuing investigation" before dropping all charges or making the police charge misdemeanors. It allows Dart to empty out the jail and not actually hold prisoners.
If we remember correctly, there isn't a "felony review" in any county except Cook, where it exists simply to provide the politically connected bottom 20% of lawyers to make some money until they can run for office.
If they're letting WOLs actually charge criminals with breaking a pretty straightforward law, that's actual progress that O'Neill-Burke is making.
Labels: info for the police
posted by SCC at 12:05 AM
42 Comments:
Have u met some of the LT’s sitting in these offices??? Honestly, I’d rather have felony review than some of these Lts approve felony charges. Some have no clue and are merit scholars, some are life long 35 and Michigan former house mice and others don’t want a thing to do with police work and won’t want to get called into a deposition about why they approved felony charges on a case that went bad. I don’t think this was thought out..
Sometimes time-consuming? Felony review shenanigans always added an hour or more to every arrest that they were involved in. You had to call them to get a call back, then call to make sure they didn't forget about you, fax them a bunch of shit that shouldn't matter, then wait for them to call back, then waste your time telling them all the evidence, then get denied for some bullshit reason in most cases.
SCC: just an FYI, DuPage county has felony review also. It’s called “felony screening” over there. In a lot of cases though, they come out to the station and help you write out the report, complaints etc themselves.
Plenty of counties do felony review. Dupage does.
C'mon Chicago coppers! Here's your chance! Do it and make a difference.
I had a partner who worked as a copper downstate before coming to CPD. I asked him about their felony review process. He replied, "What felony review? If the statute says it's a felony we charge it as a felony." Cook county is FUBAR.
DuPage Felonies get screened unless something changed after the Safe T Act started. I been out 3 years and have no regrets, and no state tax on my pension!
Who cares anymore just answer ur calls how much of a moron do u have to be to not get it by now.
Multiple sources say the “Felony Review Bypass Program” began at midnight on January 1 in the Englewood (7th) District.
Where's the community outrage in da hood..?
I believe NYPD restricts their officers from filing felony charges directly as well.
This is good, but too little too late lol nothing like getting a quick arrest done only to wait for state all night for like 5-6 hours cause there’s only two states attorneys working the whole cook county a night. Kudos to the boys and girls out there still doing it. Be safe.
Step in the right direction. Any chance that next we actually see a gun offender do time?
Perhaps the governor would like to address the punishment of gun offenders rather than gun control?
Can’t wait to sandbag the guy coming in from Indiana with a UUW
There is review in collar counties like dupage, will and kane but they're normal in comparison to cook. Cook's review has always been to tamp down jail numbers and not overcrowd their own system which is beyond broken due to bad behavior.
Will County agencies still have felony review, with exception of Joliet, they can use a supervisor. Our process is much more accommodating than Cook county, as I remember it.
Great idea. Now expand it.
How soon before someone files a lawsuit saying it is racist? Especially if it is just being done in Englewood.
They do? Only for major cases. They weren’t coming out for gun cases. I can count on one hand the number of times they have come out, and those were only for major cases. And they don’t write shit for us
Any felony goes through screening in Dupage. Officers and supervisors don’t have a say.
In the early 70s if you got a gun you had to call the Robbery dicks who responded , usually with a swivel stick in the shirt pocket, and they would interview you asshole arrested for robberies investigations purposes but they would always make out your felony complaints along with misdemeanor complaints called reducers in those days and the felony 101s.
Old man Daley and a States Attorney came up with Felony Review in order to unclog the court system at 26th st and the whole purpose was to separate the wheat from the chaff in prosecutions.
Get the Feds involved immediately so the scumbag gets charged with a federal felony. Bypass all the Cook County nonsense.
#3 I sympathize with. I have same reservations as a PO.
The thing is, we HAVE gun control - it's just not enforced. Pritzker loves things like FOID, CCL, & mag limits so much?... then let's Charge for those violations and see what effect that might actually have.
Coward!
Yeah, I love this policy, but implementation in just one neighborhood instead of citywide is nothing but asking for a lawsuit.
..."swivel stick"?
Felony Review exists in both Lake and McHenry County.
Felony Review started because the States Attorneys said they were loosing to many cases because of poor Police work. They wanted more control & we have Felony Review
OT, nice profile of late Chief Jim Mauer's life.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/obituaries/2025/01/07/jim-maurer-obituary-high-ranking-chicago-police-official-dies-at-78
And so Daley could claim a 90% + plus conviction rate on felonies
Judge, jury and executioner. Love it!
Exactly. Initiated by States Attorney Bernard Carey to increase his conviction numbers. Once locked a guy up for Robbery when the program first came out. Felony Review ASA shows up and says "Charge him with Theft and battery". I told him that those are the elements of the offense of Robbery. He still denied the charge. He later went on to become a Judge.
Shouldn’t the Sheriff’s budget be cut by the jail being empty? Where’s my tax rebate.
You were on the clock, off the street, and out of the weather. What's the problem?
Good cases were approved, weak cases were questioned, bad cases were bad cases and some bad cases just should not be approved. When i had a bad case but needed a rejection (for CYA), I told felony review I just need a name for the rejection. Often they gave it. All on the clock, some on OT. No big deal. All part of the job. Don't take such things personally. Look, laugh, learn. Go home happy. Enjoy life. It will all end some day. Every day of work is a day closer to furlo and later retirement.
PCS cases don't need felony review.
If given a chance, as a young officer in the 1990s and early 2000s,I would have made everything a felony if I could. If you read the statutes, there's a lot of offenses that can be felonies that are often charged as misdemeanors. Felony review is a check and balance on aggressive policing. That's a good thing. Misdemeanor and traffic court keys are good too, because there are some officers who would be going to court everyday if they could for the OT to help pay for trucks, boats, motorcycles, home projects, second homes, retirement, mistresses, divorces and child support.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!
This almost makes sense.
How the frell did this slip thru?
Believe it or not i had numerous clout hack sgts berate me for not having my felony 101s with a pcs arrest.
My tact sgt says it’s a good arrest because we’re the real police
AKA Felony Denial - Rookie ASAs that want 100% winnable case to keep stats high.
Very nice👏🏻
Indiana CCW are easy gun arrests! My tac Lt told me not to worry about lawsuits. He has my back.
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