Chicago police officers will now be allowed to file certain felony gun possession charges directly without waiting for a prosecutor to approve the case, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office announced Friday. The move marks the citywide expansion of a program that began in CPD’s Englewood(7th) District, an initiative CWBChicago first reported on earlier this year.
Under the new Expedited Felony Review standard, officers who complete specialized training can directly charge select nonviolent felony gun offenses that do not involve a shooting or a victim. Those charges include unlawful possession of a weapon, unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, and aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon, according to an announcement by the state’s attorney’s office.
Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said the change is designed to eliminate one of the biggest bottlenecks in the county’s felony review system, where lower-level, “victimless” gun cases often sit behind violent-crime investigations that require immediate attention. Burke said the streamlined system will return officers to patrol faster and allow prosecutors to devote more time to cases involving victims and complex evidence.
“This initiative gets police officers back on their beats and frees prosecutors to focus on the most serious crimes,” Burke said in the announcement.
Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling said the new process “strengthens safety by getting our officers back on the street faster.”
The system was piloted first in the Englewood District and then expanded to the Calumet (5th) District in April. During the pilot, 99 percent of the directly filed cases survived a preliminary hearing or resulted in a grand jury indictment, according to O’Neill Burke’s office.
Officials said safeguards are built into the new process. For example, eligible cases must be supported by body-worn camera footage and a district watch commander must approve each filing. Prosecutors still review the cases before they go before a judge or grand jury, and officers can still seek legal guidance from prosecutors in the felony review unit before filing.
Burke said early feedback from police and prosecutors showed the program eased delays that previously kept officers off the street for hours and sometimes caused witnesses to abandon cooperation in more serious matters. She said expanding the process citywide is part of a broader effort to streamline felony review while maintaining constitutional standards.
More in-person and online trainings for CPD personnel will continue through early 2026, with full integration expected by late January.
The Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender is opposed to the program, issuing the following statement:
The Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender has opposed the State’s Attorney’s felony bypass policy since its inception, and we oppose any expansion.
This policy abandons prosecutors’ duty to review felony charges and simply hands that responsibilities over to police, who have an obvious incentive to bring charges in cases whether there is evidence to support them or not.
While the State’s Attorney’s Office claims this policy will free prosecutors to focus on more serious cases, the more likely outcome will be thousands of nonviolent gun possession cases that shouldn’t be filed clogging up the courts, 30% of which end up getting thrown out.
Chicago police have a long history of misconduct connected with the types of traffic stops that usually initiate these nonviolent possession charges, including racial profiling and conducting unconstitutional searches.
A CBS news report last month highlighted the Chicago Police Department charging Black gun owners with unlawfully possessing a firearm even when they were legally allowed to. We would think this would necessitate reexamination of the felony review bypass policy—not expansion.
Coupled with the State’s Attorney’s Office’s other harmful policies, including seeking detention in almost all gun cases without considering the facts unique to each person, bypassing felony review runs a significant risk of unnecessarily involving people in the criminal legal system.
Even someone who is later proven innocent or whose case is dismissed is harmed by the arrest and filing of felony charges without proper prosecutorial oversight. Arrests, possible pretrial detention, and the burden of having to appear in court all lead to a higher likelihood of rearrest in the future and jeopardize the real building blocks of safe communities: stable employment and housing, continuous access to mental and physical healthcare, and strong family relationships.
We urge the State’s Attorney’s Office to end this policy and take an active role in reviewing the quality of all gun possession cases before charges are filed.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender’s statement on Monday, November 24.
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