Crime & Law

Pilot Program Allowing CPD Officers to Directly File Felony Gun Charges Expands to 2nd South Side Police District Despite Objections

A pilot program that allows Chicago police officers to file felony gun charges without first getting approval from a prosecutor expanded to a second South Side police district on Friday, despite objections from defense attorneys and police reform advocates.

The Felony Review Bypass Pilot Program launched in the Englewood (7th) Police District in January, after Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke took office, and is now in effect in the Calumet (5th) Police District, officials said.

The program allows Chicago police officers to charge those arrested in either police districts with unlawful possession of a weapon, unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon and aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon, which are felonies, without getting the approval of an assistant state’s attorney after a CPD lieutenant signs off.

Designed to streamline the charging process “for lower-level felony gun cases” and ease “a significant strain on police and prosecutor resources across Chicago,” the pilot program was a success during the first three months in the Englewood Police District, which includes Gage Park, Auburn Gresham, Chicago Lawn and Greater Grand Crossing, according to a statement from the state’s attorney’s office.

Mayor Brandon Johnson declined March 18 to tell reporters whether he supported the pilot program, saying that “constitutional policing, building relationships within the community and restoring relationships and maintaining relationships with law enforcement and the community, that is my top priority.”

Garien Gatewood, deputy mayor for community safety, told reporters that one of the most common calls to police in Englewood are about someone with a gun.

“So we always need to look for solutions to those issues and always need to find support,” Gatewood said.

The mayor’s office declined to comment about the expansion of the pilot program in response to multiple inquiries from WTTW News.

Eighty percent of the Englewood District’s residents are Black, while just 1.4% are White, city records show. The Calumet Police District includes Washington Heights, Riverdale, West Pullman, Pullman, Roseland and South Deering. More than 91% percent of the district’s residents are Black, while just 2.2% are White, city records show.

Both are among the city’s busiest and “stand to benefit significantly from the more efficient charging process,” according to the state’s attorney’s office, citing data compiled by Chicago’s inspector general.

Since the start of the year, homicides are down more than 19%, and shootings dropped more than 30%, as compared with the first three months of 2024, according to city data.

In the Englewood District, seven people have been killed since Jan. 1, one fewer than during the same period last year. Twenty-one people have been shot so far this year, as compared with 29 in 2024, according to city data.

In the Calumet District, nine people have been killed since Jan. 1, one more than during the same period last year. Twenty-eight people have been shot so far this year, as compared with 39 in 2024, according to city data.

In Chicago’s other 20 police districts, covering the city’s North and West sides, and in the rest of the state of Illinois, the approval of an assistant state’s attorney is still required before anyone can be charged with a felony for possessing a weapon.

“These are straightforward gun possession cases that nevertheless can take hours to get through felony review,” O’Neill Burke said. “Rather than take a police officer off the beat while awaiting a felony review callback, this program equips them with the tools and training to file appropriate charges directly and get back on the street.”

Chicago Police Department Supt. Larry Snelling said in a statement that the program creates a “more efficient process.”

While both Snelling and O’Neill Burke declared the three-month pilot in the Englewood District a success, Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell said he was “deeply concerned” by the program’s expansion.

“There is no doubt that this change is rooted in a desire to build safer communities, but this change removes a critical layer of oversight that helps ensure charges are legally sound, factually supported, and brought in the interest of justice,” according to a statement from Mitchell’s office.

The felony review process is a necessary “safeguard” that prevents Chicagoans from being arrested or incarcerated and facing the loss of a job, apartment or custody of their children, according to a statement from Mitchell’s office.

“We are particularly concerned that this program is being expanded without a clear framework to evaluate its impact on individuals, court backlogs, or racial disparities,” Mitchell said. “History has shown that when oversight is diminished, the risk of injustice increases — especially for those in communities that have long experienced the burdens of aggressive policing.”

Officers assigned to the Englewood District used the pilot program to charge 43 people with gun possession between Jan. 1 and April 2, according to the State’s Attorney’s Office.

Thirty cases have been reviewed by a judge or grand jury and allowed to proceed, with 13 cases still pending. Seven guns recovered in connection with those cases “have been linked to previous criminal activity, including one murder, through forensic testing,” according to the State’s Attorney’s Office.

“We are encouraged by the results we’ve seen already and will continue monitoring the program to ensure charging decisions always meet the highest legal and ethical standards,” O’Neill Burke said.

Twelve in-person trainings in both police districts gave officers and supervisors “extensive instruction on the legal criteria for each of the eligible charges,” according to the state’s attorney.

Stephanie Kollmann, policy director for the Children and Family Justice Center at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, said the pilot program has created a two-tiered system of justice that does not offer those arrested in communities where a majority of Black Chicagoans live the same level of protections against police misconduct as those arrested in predominantly White neighborhoods.

“This is deeply concerning,” Kollmann said. “That means charges brought against residents of two South Side police districts will face less scrutiny and less oversight from charges brought by a department that has a long history of misconduct.”

For nearly two decades, Chicago police officers have had the ability to file felony drug charges without getting the approval of an assistant state’s attorney.

The terms of a federal court order requiring CPD to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers, known as the consent decree, requires that the independent monitoring team charged with enforcing the court-ordered reforms to sign off on changes like the pilot program bypassing felony review.

A spokesperson for the monitors declined to comment in response to an inquiry from WTTW News.

Alexandra Block of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, which sued to force the city to agree to federal court oversight, said she was also troubled by the pilot program.

“It appears that the Chicago Police Department is targeting an area that is home to mostly Black Chicagoans with a program that offers less protection and consideration of their constitutional rights,” Block said.

Anthony Driver Jr., the president of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, said he planned to attend a town hall organized by the Englewood (7th) Police District Council at noon Saturday at Ogden Park to discuss the pilot program.

There is no evidence the CCPSA reviewed the pilot program before it launched in January or approved its expansion.

Bolts Magazine and CWB Chicago were the first to report on the pilot program.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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