6 months ago, Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill, Burke promised a new approach to tackling violent crime.

Key to that approach has been asking her prosecutors to seek pretrial detention for more suspects, especially those charged with felony firearm cases since Burke took office.

Cook County jail's population has grown from around 5200 at the end of her predecessor, Kim Foxx term to just under 5800.

Now.

But critics say violent crime was already trending down in the city and the country and question the need for Berks tougher approach to crime.

Joining us now to give us her take the job so far and her efforts to reshape the office is Judge Eileen O'Neill, Burke, Cook County State's attorney.

And of our viewers are aware of your, of course, the former Circuit County clerk.

I was on public or to that the so as discussed, you recently announced the creation of a choice protection units in your office focusing on ensuring women access to reproductive services.

Tell us more about that units on and why you wanted to to create that right was necessary.

So on the lawn or when Dobbs came down, I was starting to think about, well, Illinois is going to be one of the few places in the Midwest that you're going to be able to have abortion services.

So >> I started looking at what would the potential charges before someone who is coming here to interfere with that right?

And it could be anything from ordinance violations on noise violations blocking a roadway all the way up to assaults batteries.

And we tried to get a terrorism legislation passed in the Legislature within the last few months in order to have another tool in our tool box to deter people from coming to Illinois.

We've had an 80% increase of women coming Illinois from other states in order to get reproductive health services with that is going to be women or people who want to interfere with women exercising the right to reproductive health.

So we need to be ready for.

So as I was looking at the the multitude statute that could come into play, it became very apparent to me that these are not the type of cases that can just land on your desk and you would know what to do.

So we've formed a choice protection unit, which is a volunteer unit, essays have volunteered to come in.

And in addition to their regular court call the trained what are the statues there available to us?

What trends are we seeing in other legislators in other states all across the country.

And let's have training on it so that we're not caught on our back foot.

We're ready to go and having this unit is also a deterrent.

It sends a very strong message that we take this very seriously in Cook County and we will prosecute anyone who is interfering with the women you, engaging in criminal conduct.

And of course, that training is so that the essays can recognize a case where someone is intentionally attempting to.

>> To someone's effort to to receive that care.

And doing so in a criminal manner.

And they commit that crime, we will prosecute.

And we want to be ready for that.

What about the the actions of other states who might legally target reproductive health care providers in this state?

Will that unit be able to look at those as well?

Is that the kind of thing that that would normally be within the province the attorney general's office?

we will be addressing any time a crime is committed in Cook County.

What we wanted to to get through the legislature and the session was a terrorism bill.

Terrorism is is currently a statute, a state statute that we can you lies when a terrorist act occurs in a hospital?

Well, again, it's a very real threat.

Pierre and Danville both have had clinics bomb and and it is a very real threat that we need to have terrorism in our state statute where it cannot guarantee that the federal government will pursue terrorism charges.

When someone commits a terrorist act abortion clinics, we wanted to an end.

The statute to include a abortion and reproductive health services clinics as well as hospitals.

Your views on pretrial detention and electronic monitoring on.

So you directed, as we mentioned, you're prosecutors to object on the record whenever they had sought attention.

>> And a judge instead opt for electronic monitoring or home confinement.

Why did you why was that important to read into it there is significant problem right now with electronic monitoring.

It is being transferred from Sheriff Dart's office to the chief judges.

>> umbrella and.

>> The problem is pretrial officers within the chief judge's office do not have arrest authority.

So if someone cuts off their band or goes a lecture.

Nick monitoring those pretrial officers do not have the authority to go in to arrest someone.

They don't have the authority to common.

Ask for an arrest warrant.

You need a law enforcement personnel to do that.

And those are significant problems with the electronic monitoring system.

In addition, we have 40 to 50 people that are charged with murder, attempted murder on electronic monitoring.

Those are not appropriate charges for electronic monitoring.

My job is to make sure that people who are a danger to the public that we do everything we can to detain them.

If someone is not a danger to the public, we are not asking for detention.

So there's many low-level felony cases that somebody doesn't present a danger.

If someone is carrying a machine gun, Oregon with the switch, converting it into an automatic weapon.

They present a danger to the public that those cases we seek If someone commits a violent crime, the aggravated battery where someone goes to the hospital, violent assault on someone where they're going to the hospital.

We asked for detention.

We're also asking for detention anytime someone commits a violent crime on the CTA in order to have a safe, thriving community.

We need to have safe public transportation system and we do not have that.

We can send very strong deterrent message by asking for detention and jail time when someone presents a danger to the public.

As as a former judge yourself, some critics say that this sort of undermines the discretionary authority of judges to make that decision.

Well, yes, it is a a violent crime, but looking at the facts of this case.

>> I'm so order electronic monitoring.

What would you say to argument?

Well, when we first came in, we knew that there is a significant problem.

There is a significant problem in our assistance getting this access to all of the data bases.

So we have a feed from CPD, but we didn't have access to the chief judges information.

We didn't have access to the sheriff's information.

We didn't have access to a lot of court files.

So I'll give you an example of why this was significant for us going into first parents, court.

One, man came out from detention.

The state was asking for detention on someone.

It's a brand new assistant state's attorney in the courtroom.

Judge says why are you asking for detention on this allegation in the petition was he left a basket of gifts for his children and his ex-wife's porch.

And why would you ask for detention on that?

And and the state's attorney couldn't answer the question sufficiently.

The judge luckily had come from civil court and knew how to get into the civil court system.

She take a look at the divorce files, pulled at the order of protection, turned out that this person had taken the children absconded to Indiana, barricaded himself in a hotel room.

They had to surround the hotel with a SWAT team while he threatened to kill himself from the children.

Well, that's significantly different than I left a basket of gifts on my ex-wife's porch.

That was when the state was asking for detention.

And yet we did not have access to that information.

So we immediately embedded to investigators over in first parents court so that they could start plumbing.

All of the information that we need to have to give the most full picture to courts when we are seeking detention on why and why did they present a danger?

You also you expand a pilot of the felony bypass review program.

Now that is in 2 districts, Englewood in Calumet.

This one allows police officers to get to skip getting approval from your office on if they need a felony weapons charge.

>> Once they've had a lieutenant sign off on Why did you want to expand?

This enters excess.

Let me let clarify down a little So and they're just for class for gun cases, which means it's a handgun.

It's not an automatic weapon and it's a handgun.

>> And somebody doesn't have the appropriate licensing.

A FOID card of fire owner's identification card.

So it's the it's really just a registration issue.

It is not a issue of and somebody is presenting a danger to the public.

And we're saying that you can bypass felony review.

We're one of the few jurisdictions in the entire country that does come your view.

So what it is is when a police officer has made an arrest on a felony, they call family review to review the case and determine if there is a sufficient basis to hold that case into first repairs quarter, a preliminary hearing and there are certain types of cases assistance states trees go out.

And if it's a victim case it you know, a violent crime.

Assistant state's attorneys go out to the police station, the interview, the witnesses, if it's a gun case, there's no winner view of anyone.

It's the police officers giving you that information over the phone.

There was a 90% approval rate on those types cases that were brought to us.

So on, what would hands like this just in And I just want to get to one more thing before we run out of time.

it sounds like this.

accelerates the process for something officers were off the street 6 hours waiting to get interview approval.

That was a logjam that's people not getting their 9-1-1.

Calls responded to in a timely manner.

>> So we took Who's waiting the longest on 9-1-1, calls and who has sufficient going cases to have us do this training.

So we went out and we train every single officer in both of those districts exactly what we need help.

And every single one of those cases has made it through preliminary hearing.

So that said, Cook County, Public Defender and some aldermen are concerned about a couple of things that sort of critical layer of oversight that they believe is missing.

But also these were talking about 2 predominantly black communities that are receiving this this pilot of a program so far and they feel like those 2 communities are being treated differently in 30 seconds.

What do you say to Illinois State?

Police is doing training now and they cover all the roadways in Cook County.

So that will cover everyone from were not cut down to Sauk Village and will cover everyone.

So the other thing was goes where the communities that we're waiting, the longest on 9-1-1, calls had nothing to do with race.

It had to do with the efficiencies that we needed to