Public safety in the balance

It is time for the residents of Cook County to give a complex and thorough review of who will be the next Cook County State’s Attorney. 

I have not shied away from criticism of Kim Foxx’s leadership as the current Cook County State’s Attorney. Her blatant disrespect for police officers, chiefs of police, and, more importantly, public safety has put me at odds with her since she took office. I have experienced her leadership approach to be more dictatorial than collaborative. 

When I was president of the West Suburban Chiefs of Police Association, I attended a regional chief’s meeting in the south suburbs along with other directors and presidents of the association. Both the North Suburban representative, Brian King, who at the time was chief in Wilmette, and the South Suburban representative, Chief Tim McCarthy, who was chief in Orland Park, shared that they, too, had experienced difficulty in dealing with the current State’s Attorney Office. At the meeting, Kim Foxx walked in with a bodyguard detail. She proceeded to address the police chiefs, informing them what she and her office were no longer going to do; she made it clear that the chiefs would have no choice in the matter. She was referring to the cases she would and would not prosecute and how felony review would be handled. I argued with her, but eventually got up and left. In the following days, as a representative of the West Suburban Chiefs of Police, I went on record, sending letters to both County and State elected leaders, outlining objections to the procedural changes as presented. The objections were never addressed. 

Felony review is a crucial first step in the prosecution of cases. When a police officer makes an arrest that is a felony statute, in almost all cases, the officer must call felony review to get approval. There are some exceptions to this, most notably drug cases and some felony traffic offenses. The state’s attorney reviews the facts and evidence that the officer has and decides whether the case will be prosecuted as a felony. One of the favorite tactics used by the State’s Attorney Office to punt the case down the line is the CI, continuing investigation. It effectively delays prosecution indefinitely. 

Over the years, there has been much discussion on crime in minority neighborhoods, especially in south Chicago and the south suburbs. The many upstanding and exemplary citizens of these areas are being victimized repeatedly by the policies put in place by Kim Foxx and her administration, such as raising the limits for felony theft charges and selectively restricting prosecutions, leaving the public vulnerable to continuing criminal activity. 

This is not a Democrat-Republican issue, black-white issue, or based on any other racial or ethnic divide. This is simply about public safety and officials doing the job they were elected to do: prosecute offenders. Looking at the record, one might construe Kim Foxx’s staff as acting like public defenders, working against rather than with the police. 

Several cases in recent years have shined the spotlight on how certain doctrines and laws have been misinterpreted to advance Kim Foxx’s agenda. One such instance involved the application of the mutual combatant theory. Getting into a mutually agreed upon fight with someone is not a defense for murder as was posited by the Cook County State’s Attorney Office in the teenage murder case in Schaumburg in 2021. In the Jessie Smollett case, originally he was not charged with disorderly conduct or filing a false police report, which is a felony, until an independent prosecutor got involved. These are just two examples of case mismanagement that have led several of her top aides to quit over the years. 

Given the performance of the Cook County’s State’s Attorney and her office over the last eight years, I encourage police chiefs and other police executives in Cook County to stand up and advocate for what is best for public safety as well as for police officers and the citizens they serve. I know it is often difficult for police chiefs to take a stand that is in opposition to the current office holder’s policies and the political support behind them without jeopardizing their jobs. In this case, it would not be a far-fetched scenario to have a chief fired if he or she were to vocally oppose the current administration and the policies of Kim Foxx’s State’s Attorney’s Office. 

The truth remains: this is not about the individual herself. It is not personal; it is about policy.

I am also asking the citizens of Cook County to think long and hard about who we elect as the next Cook County State’s Attorney. So far, there are three declared candidates: Democrat Clayton Harris III, Democrat Ellen O’Neil Burke, and Republican Robert Fioretti. It is important for voters to investigate these individuals’ backgrounds, work histories, and public statements on how they would prosecute, staff the office, and work with law enforcement to reduce crime. To fail to do so and elect a state’s attorney based primarily on politics is to run the risk of perpetuating the kind of problems we have been experiencing since the last election. 

It is time to vote for a positive change, for someone who will diligently prosecute cases according to the law and the merit of a case, regardless of personal stances or political affiliations. The people of Cook County deserve better.  

Tom Weitzel is the retired chief of the Riverside Police Department after 37 years in law enforcement and 13 years as Chief of Police. These opinions are his own.