A southwest side alderman is demanding answers from Cook County officials about thousands of outstanding warrants tied to domestic violence cases.
Alderman Silvana Tabares, 23rd Ward, introduced a resolution calling for a special public hearing before the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety to examine how the Cook County court system handles criminal warrants, orders of protection, and GPS/electronic monitoring programs — particularly in cases involving domestic violence, violent crimes, and the safety of Chicago’s first responders.
“There are more than 72,000 outstanding warrants. Half of them are criminal and 7,500 of them are for cases of domestic violence,” Tabares said. “These are individuals the police are looking for. These are people on our streets and they should not be walking freely in our neighborhood if they have an outstanding criminal warrant.”
The resolution was prompted by a recent Schaumburg case in which a man with an outstanding criminal warrant murdered his partner.
According to the resolution, warrants issued by the Cook County courts are transmitted to the sheriff to serve and enforce, and are entered into the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS), managed by the Illinois State Police. Members of the Chicago Police Department have access to this system and must enforce criminal warrants during an encounter.
The Chicago Police Department reported court warrants are the top reason for arrests in the city, which totaled 7,581 in 2023 and 7,551 in 2024. In addition, city officers served hundreds of Cook County protective orders via short-form notifications.
Emergency protective orders are also issued by the Cook County courts and transmitted to the sheriff to serve and enforce. Without service by county law enforcement or short-form service by local law enforcement, protective orders do not appear as “served” in LEADS and limits the ability of law enforcement to enforce the provisions of the order.
The resolution notes that Chicago Police Officer John Bartholomew, Chicago Firefighter Michael Altman, and Chicago Firefighter David Meyer were killed in the line of duty by offenders with warrants. Chicago Police Officer Krystal Rivera was killed in the pursuit of an offender with an active warrant.
Tabares emphasized that the hearing is not about assigning blame.
“This hearing is not about blame, it’s not about pointing fingers and who’s not doing their job. It’s about finding solutions to prevent the next tragedy,” Tabares said.
The alderman pointed to success of the city and Cook County Violence Against Women Task Force, which has contributed to a 62 percent decrease in homicides through coordinated work between city, county, and state agencies.
Other work on domestic violence
Tabares, who is a survivor of domestic violence, has made victim safety and support a priority.
Last October, she held a virtual town hall during Domestic Violence Awareness Month in collaboration with former Alderman Sue Garza of the 10th Ward and Iris Martinez, former clerk of the Circuit Court. The event educated residents about resources, legal aid, filing orders of protection online, and attending court virtually.
“Many of these people don’t realize that you can attend court virtually; victims of domestic violence can attend court virtually. There’s virtual options. You can file an order of protection online,” Tabares said.
The task force wants to continue to offer resources for women because navigating through the protective order system can be very intimidating emotionally and safety is key, she said, also citing the task force’s focus on de-escalation practices.
“And there’s also a language barrier, too,” Tabares said. “These are the types of conversations we’re having.”
According to the Cook County Domestic Violence Resources webpage, domestic violence is defined as ” … any physical, emotional, or sexual abuse of a household or family member by another.”
The alderman also highlighted the safety risks to police officers responding to domestic violence calls. Officer Andres Vasquez Lasso was killed in the line of duty on March 1, 2023, while responding to a domestic violence call.
“It’s the safety for the officers, too,” Tabares said. “My husband is on the job, too, and he tells me these stories of when he goes to domestic calls and how violent and chaotic they can turn into for the victims.”
The hearing
The resolution calls for the Committee on Public Safety to convene a public hearing to deliberate the impacts of the Cook County Court System on the City of Chicago’s annual budget appropriation, resource allocation, operations, and overall public safety.
The hearing must take place in City Council Chambers no later than July 31, 2026.
Cook County stakeholders invited to testify include the Office of the Chief Judge of the Cook County Court System, the Office of the Cook County State’s Attorney, the Office of the Sheriff of Cook County, and the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.
City departments invited to participate include the Chicago Police Department, the Chicago Fire Department, and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. An additional invitation will be sent to the Illinois State Police to share information and data from the LEADS system.
The resolution builds on work from the Violence Against Women Task Force, which was approved in November of last year. That resolution calls for six executive meetings at the county building. The last meeting is scheduled for June 4, and another hearing on task force recommendations is planned for July.
Tabares wants the public hearing to take place before June 30.
“I’m having conversations with the city’s public safety committee to see if we can have this in early June. That hasn’t been finalized but once it is we’ll make sure people have that information so they can listen in on the hearing,” she said.