In a predominantly Black area of Chicago, police can now directly file gun charges without a prosecutor’s approval. The new program rolls back a process that serves to check misconduct.

A new initiative is being tested in the Seventh District—which covers Englewood and other nearby neighborhoods—that allows police to file felony gun possession charges without approval from a prosecutor. In the Feb. 19 case, the CPD directly filed charges for aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon against the 40-year old.

The program was designed jointly by the CPD and by the county prosecutor’s office, which is headed since early December by State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke. It launched on Jan. 1, according to a CPD directive obtained by Bolts through a Freedom of Information Act request.

In the two months since the initiative launched, the CPD has used it to file at least 22 felony cases without review, the state’s attorney’s office told Bolts. While the pilot only exists in one of Chicago’s 25 police districts so far, officials plan to review the pilot every three months and could expand it city- or county-wide.

The move is one of the clearest signs yet that O’Neill Burke, who took office in December, is looking to adopt a more trusting attitude toward police than her more progressive predecessor Kim Foxx.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250317112457/https://boltsmag.org/cook-county-initiative-to-bypass-felony-review-chicago/

  • PaxEnglish
    111·
    4 hours ago

    This is suppose to be a Canadian app why are we flooded with everything that’s happening in america? Fook off with this shite from down south they have enough platform to push they bullshit let this app be about what’s going on in Canada for Canadians. I’d rather even hear what’s going on in any other country than the USA It doesn’t say world news or USA news - it’s suppose to be news that relates to us living here in Canada!

    • JonsJava@lemmy.worldMEnglish
      101·
      4 hours ago

      While I appreciate your frustration regarding all the USA news, that’s the news that is posted to [email protected]

      If you would like to see news from other nations in this FEDERATED community, feel free to post news from around the globe.

      I wish you the best.

      • PaxEnglish
        31·
        4 hours ago

        No worries - I unsubscribed I’d rather have more Canadian related news.

    • OtterAEnglish
      4·
      3 hours ago

      So while lemmy.ca is a Canadian instance (hosted in Canada, run by Canadians, etc.), it’s federated and so you can still connect to communities everywhere else. I would recommend skimming through these two pages :)

      https://fedecan.ca/en/guide/get-started

      https://fedecan.ca/en/guide/lemmy/for-users/detailed-overview

      Each community is free to decide what content belongs in it, and users are free to subscribe to the ones that match what they’re looking for. If it helps, you can find some more Canada specific communities here:

      I don’t know if we have a community specifically for Canadian news, but the country / province / territory / city communities generally fill that niche.

      I personally prefer to only use my subscribed feed (instead of all) so that I can curate it the way I like it