Roughly 8% of the more than 3,000 people enrolled in the often-criticized electronic monitoring system in Cook County are missing, according to the chief judge.
In other words: 243 people are missing.
“Transparency is not optional — it is a core obligation of this office,” Chief Judge Charles Beach II said in a statement. “The public has a right to know how this program operates, what the data shows and what we are doing every day to make it stronger.”
Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke, a frequent critic of electronic monitoring, issued a statement Wednesday saying she welcomes the chief judge’s transparency but called the data “alarming.”
Burke also said the data “clearly demonstrates how current safeguards are falling short, particularly when [electronic monitoring] is available to those charged with the most threatening and heinous crimes.”
“We should all be deeply concerned that hundreds of defendants placed on EM are unaccounted for.” she said. “This creates the potential for more violence, more victims, more fear and heartache in our community. “
The chief judge has set up an online dashboard showing the charges of people currently on electronic monitoring as of April 3. The dashboard shows 21 people charged with murder, 13 charged with attempted murder, 173 charged with aggravated battery and 29 people charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault.
Burke has previously said her office will continue to seek pre-trial detention in cases that impact public safety. At an April news conference, Burke said her prosecutors are going to ask for detention every time a defendant presents a danger.
The debate over the county’s electronic monitoring program came to a head last month with killing of Chicago Police Officer John Barthlomew. The suspect in the case is a repeat felon who was assigned to electronic monitoring for another violent crime at the time of the murder.
According to the chief judge’s office, catching up with electronic monitoring violators will also be a high priority.
“The Criminal Division is fully committed to ensuring that electronic monitoring violations are brought before a judge promptly and that our judicial review process operates with the rigor and consistency the public deserves,” Deputy Chief Judge Erica L. Reddick said in a statement.
