Crime & Law
Chicago’s Gun Offender Registry ‘Incomplete and Unreliable,’ City Watchdog Finds
(WTTW News)
Chicago’s registry of gun offenders is “incomplete and unreliable,” a city watchdog investigation found, due to a lack of enforcement, procedural controls and inconsistent guidance.
Chicago’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) on Tuesday published a new report that found numerous issues with the city’s Gun Offender Registration Ordinance, which requires anyone convicted of certain firearm-related charges to register during their release from custody or sentencing.
“As Chicago reckons with the scourge of gun violence, we ought to be measuring up every available tool to control it,” Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said in a statement. “If a law enforcement tool has a meaningful operational benefit, then we must invest the time and resources to make it effective in keeping Chicagoans safer. If the costs of thorough, consistent implementation and enforcement outweigh the impact of this particular tool, then we ought not stand it up as window dressing.”
The OIG report found that some gun offenders who are supposed to register following their convictions are not informed that they need to do so due to coordination issues between the Chicago Police Department and jails and prisons.
Due to the broad scope of the ordinance, Witzburg’s office said the CPD currently has no way of ensuring that all offenders are notified of their need to register.
Those who are informed are required to register in-person, but issues arose there too, according to the OIG. The report said both the city and CPD have provided “inconsistent and conflicting information” on where and when to register, while there’s also a lack of available locations, limited hours and long lines.
The OIG also found that police don’t typically conduct routine residency verifications or other proactive missions necessary to enforce the ordinance and the city rarely seeks to enforce penalties for ordinance violations.
“Supporters of the Ordinance have argued that the Gun Offender Registry can serve as a public safety tool, a resource for law enforcement, and a deterrent to crime,” Witzburg’s office wrote in its report. “However, little evidence exists suggesting that the Ordinance or the registry has fulfilled these intended goals.”
The registry was first introduced in 2010, and then expanded three years later following efforts from then Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward), whom the OIG report noted believed the ordinance had significant importance as a gun violence prevention strategy, a community resource and a law enforcement tool.
Burke at the time suggested that gun offender registries have a “deterrent effect on people who might be tempted to commit gun crimes again,” the report states.
Burke was later convicted in 2023 on 13 counts of racketeering, bribery and extortion following his landmark federal corruption trial.
The OIG recommended that the city define metrics to assess the effectiveness of the registry and provide sufficient resources to ensure it is being enforced properly. The report also recommended the city undertake a cost/benefit analysis of the ordinance’s “efficacy and efficiency.”
In response, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office said it is committed to evaluating the ordinance and intends to “define collectable metrics” and “determine whether and to what extent additional resources are necessary.”
The CPD’s Bureau of Detectives Chief Antoinette Ursitti said police have already begun a review of all public-facing registry data to ensure its accuracy and has begun using additional technology to aid in registry enforcement.
Ursitti also stated her department is willing to coordinate with the city to review the gun offender registry and “evaluate ways in which it can be strengthened to work better for both registrants and the CPD.”
