Ald. Silvana Tabares urged the City Council’s Public Safety Committee to back a second phase of the City of Chicago-Cook County Violence Against Women Task Force. She told members the first phase’s findings would go nowhere unless the government acts on them.
“A report on a shelf protects no one,” Tabares (23rd) said to the committee. “That is why we are bringing this resolution forward.”
The committee voted on Oct. 8 to unanimously advance the resolution to the full City Council for consideration on Oct. 14.
Phase two would carry out recommendations from the task force’s final report, which was presented to the City Council and the Cook County Board of Commissioners in July. Tabares said the second phase would begin in January and run through Dec. 31, 2029, with an annual report to the City Council and the County Board.
County stakeholders would meet quarterly, she said and agencies would report quarterly on the resources needed to do the work.
“What we found is that no one owns the whole system,” Tabares said.
She said protective orders, warrants and firearm records never move fast enough, courts stay closed to the public and victims meet that failure at every step.
The phase one report called for a public dashboard, independent oversight of the court and justice system, and data on how law enforcement responds to high-priority court orders, Tabares said.
“This resolution puts someone in charge,” Tabares said. She said it would require FOIA compliance, domestic relations court reform and oversight that includes survivors.
Tabares asked colleagues to adopt the resolution so the State of Illinois, municipalities, townships and government agencies across Cook County could be invited to join the work.
“Phase two will not study the problem again. It will drive implementation of the July report and set the next steps. It will stay focused on what the government is responsible for doing,” she said.
Survivors sat in the chamber during the hearing and Tabares thanked several by name, including Sarah Brown.
ABC 7 Eyewitness News reported that Brown said the changes address challenges she has faced over the past decade while sharing a child with her abuser.
“Shedding a light on the re-victimization that victims go through in a court system that really has very little transparency and just understanding that once you get done with that order of protection, you have to move to domestic relations court,” Brown said in an ABC 7 report.
Tabares’ office has credited the first phase with a 58% drop in the domestic murder rate during its first six months.
“The drop in domestic murders shows the work can move the numbers,” she said. “The rise in shootings shows we are not finished,” Tabares said. “Survivors, they did their part when they came forward. Phase two is our part.”
Tabares also asked Cook County commissioners to adopt the same version of the resolution. Members of the County Board plan to introduce it, according to her office.