Top Cop Calls For Bail Changes After Another Bloody Weekend

CHICAGO — Police Supt. David Brown renewed his call for revamping Cook County's electronic monitoring bail system in the wake of another bloody weekend of shootings that left 87 people shot including 17 murders.

Natalia Wallace, 7, was shot dead around 7 p.m. in the 100 block of North Latrobe on July 4th in the Austin neighborhood. Police said they have a suspect in custody. Brown said that there was a person in the home Wallace was visiting that was on electronic monitoring for robbery. He said detectives are putting "pieces together" as part of the death investigation to determine whether that detail was related to Wallace's death.

A 14-year-old boy was shot dead Saturday night in 6100 block of South Carpenter in the Englewood neighborhood.

"We cannot allow this to be normalized in this city. We cannot get used to hearing about children gunned down in Chicago every weekend. We must keep violent offenders in jail longer," Brown said at a Monday news conference.

"We should revamp the electronic monitoring program. It’s clearly not working. We will not stop until this violence ends. That means all of us."

Over the Independence holiday weekend, Brown deployed an additional 1,200 officers on the street every day. Officers made 98 gun arrests, recovered 173 guns and arrested 16 people on outstanding warrants, including five for murder, Brown said.

The superintendent said Chicago needs more than more cops on the street to stem violence, stressing that prosecutors and the criminal court system make changes to stop the "revolving door in the criminal justice system in the city."

"I hope tragedies these past three weekends brings us all to the table, so we can revamp the electronic monitoring program ... find a way to hold violent offenders in jail longer. Chicago deserves us figuring this out ... And we can. Chicago can do this," Brown said.

"This all hands on deck … everyone being held accountable in the same way."

At a separate news conference on Monday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot backed up Brown's call for keeping violent offenders in jail longer rather than allowing them to be released on electronic monitoring as part of bail reform efforts.

"No one thinks go back to day when Cook County jail was in effect a debtor's prison … We need to put those dark days behind us in the past. But in this moment, when we think of violent criminals who have demonstrated they are, in fact, a danger to the community, … Yes, they need to be locked up," she said. "As leaders and elected officials, we must put aside the politics and come together in collaboration for the good of our residents who we all swore to protect."