High Priority Court Order Working Group Initial Meeting (April 21, 2026)

This was the first working group meeting of the High Priority Court Order task force, a new collaboration among city, county, and state partners focused on improving the response to gender-based violence in Cook County. The meeting convened representatives from the Cook County Board of Commissioners, Chicago City Council, Chicago Police Department, Chicago Fire Department, Cook County Sheriff's Office, Cook County State's Attorney's Office, Circuit Court of Cook County, Public Defender's Office, Illinois Attorney General's Office, and other agencies. The group discussed protective orders, data sharing, service of process, risk assessment, and legislative priorities.

Discussion Items

• Meeting Purpose and Overview (Katie Dunn, Chicago 77): Katie Dunn explained that the task force was created after conversations with approximately 100 survivors and 200 government officials at city, county, and state levels. The goal is to create a unified, victim-centered system, improve first responder safety, and reduce violent crime victimizations. She noted that while overall violent crime in Cook County has decreased, gender-based violence and victimization of women continue to increase. She cited that the Chicago Tribune reported Illinois’s per capita rate of deaths caused by spouse or intimate partner exceeded the combined rates of New York and California.

• Data on Domestic Violence in 2025: Dunn presented that in 2025, fatal shootings decreased 33% but domestic-related fatal shootings increased 50%. Homicide victims in domestic cases were 71% African American, 17% Hispanic/Latino, and 10% white (minority victims comprising 88%). The Office of the Inspector General reports an average of 336 calls per day for domestic-related incidents to Chicago Police (excluding Chicago Fire), representing one in four priority level one calls.

• Protective Orders Overview: Dunn outlined the current process: petitions are filed with the Clerk of the Circuit Court, a judge determines if an order is granted or a future hearing is scheduled, the Cook County Sheriff serves the order on the respondent, and a future hearing determines the duration of protection (up to two years). There are five types of orders with different legislative frameworks; some orders cannot be entered into the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS), which limits enforceability. A key data issue is that LEADS requires a date of birth, and missing birth dates preclude about one in four orders from entering the system.

• Renata Steele (Senior Division Attorney, Cook County Domestic Violence Division): Steele emphasized the need to build on past and current efforts. She described a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) between the State’s Attorney’s Office, CPD, and advocacy agencies (Lifespan and Family Rescue) that developed a Chicago-based risk assessment for lethality factors (e.g., firearms, strangulation, threats to kill). This assessment is currently used in four to five CPD districts where advocates are co-located. She noted that the best time to conduct the assessment is at the scene of an incident, with victim consent. She also reported that the Sheriff’s Office has increased resources for domestic violence, using sheriff’s police to serve orders via short form notification, which has improved service rates. She cautioned that survivors speaking publicly should be informed of potential risks (e.g., retaliation, use of their statements in court) and that their stories should be verified against case records to identify additional barriers.

• Tanae McCoy Cummings (Deputy Chief, Special Victims Bureau, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office): Cummings agreed with Steele’s assessment. She noted that from a prosecution standpoint, short form notification satisfies service requirements, but issues arise when the notification is not entered into LEADS or the paperwork does not reach the clerk’s office, making it difficult to prove service. She also acknowledged that suburban Cook County agencies use various risk assessments, and her office uses that information to inform judges at first appearance court regarding detention and conditions.

• Sergeant Cynthia Flores (Chicago Police Department, Victim Services): Flores raised issues with the short form notification document—it was previously a two-sided form, and sometimes both sides were not transmitted to LEADS. Deputy Director Milstein is reformatting it to a one-page document to resolve this. She also noted a state initiative by Illinois State Police to create a statewide risk assessment bill, mirroring efforts in Cook County.

• Patrice (Chief Deputy Clerk of Domestic Violence): Patrice noted that the clerk’s office receives short form notifications by mail days after service, often after a court hearing has already occurred. She asked whether sheriff’s police could transmit service information directly to the Illinois State Police for automated entry into the clerk’s system, similar to how civil process servers upload data.

• Timeline and Next Steps (Amy Melanowski): The group will meet approximately eight times before July, when public hearings will be held at both the City Council and the Cook County Board of Commissioners. An executive committee meeting is scheduled for the following day (Wednesday, April 22, 2026) at 10 a.m. in the Cook County Board of Commissioners boardroom. Additional working group meetings will be scheduled, and a summary email with next steps will be sent.

Key Outcomes

• The working group will focus on three high-priority orders: orders of protection, warrants (both criminal and civil, particularly violation of orders of protection), and firearm enforcement (including Karina’s Law).
• Initial recommendations include improving service rates (using short form notification and assessing data entry barriers), developing a pilot high-risk team using evidence-based lethality assessments, and creating an interagency data center to break down data silos (modeled after the HIDTA program).
• Participants agreed to explore the date of birth issue for LEADS entry, with potential help from the Secretary of State and Cook County Clerk.
• A future meeting will dive deeper into Karina’s Law warrants, weapons recovery, and challenges with extensions.
• The task force will produce a public report by June 2026, followed by public hearings in July.
• The group will continue to gather input from survivors and subject matter experts as the process moves forward.