THOMAS J.

DART
Sheriff of Cook County
Richard J. Daley Center
50 Washington Street, Suite 704
Chicago, Illinois 60602

February 22, 2018

Honorable Toni Preckwinkle

President, Cook County Board of Commissioners
118 North Clark Street
Room 537
Chicago, IL 60602

Dear Madam President:

We all know the judiciary took considerable steps in September toward righting our criminal
justice system by becoming less reliant on cash bail to determine who must sit in jail while
awaiting their day in court. I have long advocated for this approach, both for fairness and public
safety.

The broad impact of these moves is still being measured, but it already is clear that the
composition of defendants, particularly those in the community on the Sheriff’s Electronic
Monitoring Program, has dramatically changed. The number of individuals with gun charges and
other violent offenses has increased dramatically. This new paradigm requires programmatic and
operational changes from my office to ensure fairness and public safety, and ultimately the
success of reform.

My concern and plan for action are rooted in two reports conducted by my staff that are included
in this correspondence. The first summarizes my office’s analysis of 10 weeks of activity at
Central Felony Bond Court, comparing it to a similar period from the prior year. Overall, it
shows that about half as many defendants were ordered held on a cash bond, while the number of
individuals released on their own recognizance jumped to 55 percent from 21 percent. The
percentage of “No Bond” orders rose to 8 percent from less than 1 percent.

Looking closer there is an alarming new pattern for felony gun charges. Before the reforms, gun
offenders were placed on E.M. in 2 percent of cases. After the reform, that number increased to
22 percent. I highlight that fact not to criticize the decisions made in Bond Court, where I am not
present, but to underscore that this population calls for additional community supervision to
ensure safety.
My office conducted a second study to compare, by charge, the roughly 2,100 individuals on
E.M. during one post-reform day in 2018 to a pre-reform day in 2017. That analysis shows that
gun-related charges now account for at least a quarter of those ordered to E.M., with hundreds
more gun offenders in the program post-reform. In addition, many of these individuals are
immediately returning to communities plagued by gun violence.

This is not the first time I have voiced concern about violent offenders returning to the
community pre-trial. In supporting a no-cash bond system, I was in part driven by incidents of
violent offenders paying high bonds and then causing more violence in the community. Last
year, I pointed to a concerning number of gun offenders who had access to enough cash to pay
high bonds. During a four month span in 2017, 351 accused gun offenders came up with more
than $3 million in cash to gain freedom, despite facing bonds of $5,000 ($50,000-D) or more.
Many of them had alleged gang ties. In an effort to stem the continuing violence, I instituted a
program to notify local law enforcement when those bonds were paid.

Once again, out of concern for the public safety that I am sworn to safeguard, I have determined
that I am neither satisfied nor convinced that the E.M. program, in its current form, offers
adequate protections given this recent dramatic increase in violent offenders. Beginning
immediately, my office is taking steps within its authority to help ensure the E.M. program can
be managed as safely as possible for the community. This includes leveraging existing staff and
deploying them to our community corrections division, a move that is all the more difficult given
budget reductions.

Even after the numerous layoffs in fiscal year 2017, my office so far has lost 71 sworn staff to
attrition and is projected to lose a total of about 250 officers by the end of this fiscal year. The
current path is not sustainable and we will soon need additional resources to keep pace with this
evolving landscape that demands heightened supervision in the community to maintain safety.

Moving forward, my office will closely scrutinize all individuals who are assigned to E.M. by
carefully reviewing their charges and criminal histories, a process that may take up to 48 hours.
Those who are deemed to be too high a security risk to be in the community will be referred back
to the court for further evaluation. We will also pursue discussions and partner with the judiciary
on how to improve evaluations for E.M. candidates so that all stakeholders can remain confident
that placements are appropriate and safe.

Those who are admitted to the program will undergo increased supervision, including
unannounced searches of their host sites, which also will undergo rigorous assessments. Local
authorities will continue to be notified of community placements along with assessments of
individuals’ security classifications.

In addition to these restrictions, some gun offenders on E.M. may be asked to attend sessions
with social workers and to work with community agencies that specialize in working with such
populations. This will be an extension of the jail’s internal anti-violence program, S.A.V.E., the
Sheriff’s Anti-Violence Effort.
I believe these steps will help mitigate any increased risk to public safety. It is also important for
the public to understand and appreciate the limits of electronic monitoring. An ankle bracelet
cannot prevent crime. But I believe, at the very least, we must increase the level of community
supervision for a population that would have likely been incarcerated before reform.

The success of efforts to abolish cash bail in other jurisdictions—most notably in Washington,
DC—have been tethered to ensuring public safety by providing intensive pre-trial services in the
community. I remain committed to supporting our collective efforts to right the county’s criminal
justice system and ensuring that we have adequate resources to protect the citizens of Cook
County. I thank you for your partnership in that effort.

Sincerely,

Thomas J. Dart
Cook County Sheriff

CC: Cook County Commissioners

Honorable Chief Judge Timothy Evans
Honorable State’s Attorney Kim Foxx
Public Defender Amy Campanelli