Crime & Law
Local Agencies Adjust Their Approaches Amid Concerns Over CTA Crime
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office last month announced a new internal transit crime task force made up of 30 specially trained prosecutors focused on crimes committed on the Chicago Transit Authority’s buses and trains.
The move follows years of concerns about violent crime on the CTA and efforts by local officials and the Chicago Police Department to curb incidents through increased police presence and private security.
Yvette Loizon, an attorney with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, said violent crime on the CTA is an emerging focus for the office.
“While violent crime throughout our city has decreased significantly, CTA crime is one area where we consistently see violent crime go up,” Loizon said. “That’s a big source of concern for the state’s attorney’s office.”
Chicago Police Department statistics show aggravated battery incidents on the CTA were higher as of April 19, 2026, than at the same point last year. Criminal sexual assaults are also higher this year at 14 reported incidents, compared to nine at the same point last year. Other crime categories like robberies and aggravated assaults are down, according to police data. Homicides and shootings remain about even so far this year.
Renewed attention to CTA crime also follows a December incident in which a woman suffered serious burns after another rider set her on fire. The suspect, Lawrence Reed, had been arrested dozens of times and previously was involved in other CTA-related crimes.
Loizon said the transit task force will help to keep repeat offenders from threatening CTA riders.
“We want to make sure that… our state’s attorneys are stepping up in court, recounting all that information to the court and seeking detention,” Loizon said. “That’s important because when a person is detained pre-trial, by definition, we are prohibiting them from repeating crimes during the course of their case.”
In response to December’s arson incident, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neil Burke told the Chicago Tribune that electronic monitoring alone was not enough to prevent repeat offenses, emphasizing the need to keep those charged with crimes detained.
Following the incident, the Trump administration threatened to withhold around $50 million in federal funding for the CTA if it did not increase security and police presence.
Joseph Schwieterman, a professor in the School for Public Service at DePaul University, said public safety undergirds all the other goals of the CTA, including its upcoming Red Line extension.
“Our whole plan to better integrate our transit system and so forth, the prerequisite for that is fixing our problems and making people feel safe. I think the good news is CTA gets this now,” Schwieterman said. “What would be better, though, is to, of course, see some trends heading in the right direction.”
CPD and CTA last December announced a new security plan that increased the number of officers in the Voluntary Special Employment Program, or VSEP, which sends officers to guard CTA buses and trains on their days off.
The Chicago Transit Authority also axed about 250 unarmed security guards last week, who were part of a contract with Monterrey Security. The agency says funding will instead be directed towards sworn officers, trained professionals and other security resources.
W. Robert Schultz III is a campaign organizer at the Active Transportation Alliance, a Chicago community organization focused on improving access to transportation. He said police and security guard presence has fallen short of making CTA riders feel safe.
“At one occasion, there was a half-dozen private security and a couple of law enforcement people at a major station at 9 a.m. in the morning. That’s not when the danger is for the average rider,” Schultz said. “It’s at 2 a.m, in the morning coming back from a concert, and you’re boarding the L at Harrison station, where the lighting is poor, and there are very few people around.”
Schutlz said CTA should explore the area between “policing everywhere, which is impossible, and doing nothing, which is unacceptable.”
He said interventions that involve mental health experts and social workers could be effective.
“People have different types of reactions to different situations,” Schutz said. “One of the things that society needs to do is scale up our response to the unhoused, mental illness and substance abuse.”
