Cook County Domestic Violence Task Force Meeting – April 29, 2026
Cook County Domestic Violence Task Force Meeting – April 29, 2026
The Cook County Domestic Violence Task Force met on April 29, 2026, from approximately 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, chaired by Commissioner Degman. The primary agenda item was a presentation by Katie Dunn on a proposed high-priority order data center, intended to improve coordination among agencies handling protective orders, warrants, and firearm enforcement. Discussions focused on data sharing, legislative barriers, and victim safety. The group will present recommendations to the Cook County Board and City Council in July 2026.
Discussion Items
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Presentation on High‑Priority Order Data Center: Katie Dunn presented a concept for a public‑private interagency data center modeled after the HIDA co‑location model. The center would focus on protective orders, warrants, and firearm enforcement, aiming to improve coordination among Cook County courts, the City of Chicago, Cook County 911, Illinois State Police, Secretary of State, Cook County Clerk, and the Attorney General’s office. Preliminary 2024 data showed 23,500 emergency domestic violence orders of protection, 6,200 stalking no contact orders, 300 civil no contact orders, 18 firearm restraining orders, and 154 workplace protection orders. The presentation also noted 72,274 active warrants in Cook County, of which roughly 7,500 were for domestic battery and violations of orders of protection. The proposal includes goals to increase the number of protective orders filed, improve service rates, expedite timelines, and enhance data collection and training.
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Discussion on Protective Orders: Vivek Ananda from the Clerk of the Circuit Court raised questions about data sources and the statutory process for sharing orders before they are served. Renata and others noted that current law already allows law enforcement access to civil records, but operational barriers remain, such as lack of access to the Odyssey system and training gaps. The group discussed the need for legislative changes to allow law enforcement to view orders of protection before service, and to improve the use of technology (e.g., Zoom service) and court reminders. Carmen and Renata emphasized the importance of victim education, including the 30‑day window to reinstate dismissed cases.
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Discussion on Criminal Warrants: The task force reviewed the high number of active warrants and the dangers they pose to officers and communities. Speakers noted that many warrants are for domestic‑related offenses and that the current system limits diversion and crisis intervention. The group supported creating an expedited service track for domestic‑related warrants, similar to an existing GPS program, and improving training and data sharing for law enforcement.
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Discussion on Firearm Apprehension: The presentation covered inconsistencies in reporting between city and county ordinances for firearm transfers and lost firearms. Vivek pointed out that law enforcement often fails to return paperwork to the courts after firearm recovery, leading to incomplete records. The group discussed the need for accountability and better coordination, including leveraging Karina’s Law and firearm restraining orders. Madeline Barron (Network Advocating Against Domestic Violence) noted that Karina’s Law requires search warrant returns and surrender orders to be filed with the court, which is essential for victim safety planning.
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Data Dashboard and Next Steps: Katie Dunn mentioned that the task force is also developing a public data dashboard to provide aggregate statistics on protective orders and other high‑priority orders. The interagency data center would focus on case‑level information rather than individual searchable data. The next executive meeting is scheduled for May 6, 2026, to finalize the recommendations.
Key Outcomes
- The task force will include the high‑priority order data center concept as one of its formal recommendations to the Cook County Board and City Council in July 2026.
- The group will follow up on data sharing requests (e.g., the full warrant list requested by the OCJ and CPD) and continue discussions on legislative changes to improve law enforcement access to civil court records.
- Cynthia (CPD) offered to coordinate with the courts to improve return of paperwork from law enforcement after firearm recoveries.
- The task force will hold a separate executive meeting on May 6, 2026, to further refine the proposal and review the data dashboard progress.
Meeting Transcript
And Commissioner Degman, I know you're uh you're chairing this meeting, correct? Yes. Coming to order. Uh as of right now, there's no public comment. Okay. Do we have everybody on the meeting who we need on the meeting? I believe so. So today um Katie Dunn is going to be doing a presentation. Um, so it shouldn't be too long of a meeting. And we'll just kind of go over next steps uh for the executive meeting, which is gonna be on May 6th. And yeah, should be pretty self-explanatory today, which is good. Great. All right, they are having reached 10 a.m. the domestic violence task force meeting will now come to order. Amy, will you please call the role? Yes, there is uh no role to be called, so we can just go right on it. Go ahead. All right, so then we start with speakers. Hi, good morning, everybody. Good morning. Um so thank you all for joining. Um we were hoping to have some pardon me. Oh I think that was someone, yeah. Go go ahead. Okay, sorry. Um we're hoping to have some uh novel data to present, but that's gonna be forthcoming. Um, and so today um we're gonna quickly go over something that's been mentioned before, uh, which is this concept for uh a high priority order data center. So um what we've uh discussed obviously in this working group and in separate conversations um is the need for more collaboration and coordination between all of the entities that have uh statutory obligations but also just obligations to the public um to improve uh the the current kind of setup with how these orders are uh are handled. Um so this is a uh design that's been um discussed with some of the agencies. Um there is a very long version and a short version. I'm giving the short version today, but I'd love to have everybody's notes and input. Um, and this will be one of the recommendations um in July when we uh present to the Kakani board and the uh city council. So I'm just gonna share my screen. Hopefully the right screen. Okay. So um uh to begin, all three levels of government, um, and also the federal government, if if you include them, have statutory responsibilities regarding high priority orders. Um so what we're uh defining that as in this work group is protective orders, warrants, and firearm enforcement. Um yeah, if there's limit limited data accessibility and the current laws and policies uh hinder coordination amongst some of the agencies. So the cook county violence against women task force is recommending a public-private partnership to create a national model for an interagency data center focused on high priority court orders, similar to the HIDA model, which for those of you um who might not uh be uh up to date on HIDA. Um that is a co-location model with members of different units of government that have access to certain systems that work together uh to triage issues and also work together to build cases. Uh this team would collaborate to enhance the enforcement of high priority orders and improve the safety of all parties involved. So the partners would really be everyone that's involved in this task force and the main data sources would be the Cook County Court system and the new Odyssey system, the City of Chicago and Cook County's 911 systems, the Illinois State Police, which I'm not sure if they've joined today, but they're uh there are different systems and uh lead systems and Foy-Curd system, uh, conceal carry and the NICS reporting that they do. Um, the Secretary of State and the Cook County Clerk would help uh with missing information that is uh currently causing some issues, and the attorney general with his vine system, which is a victim notification system. So just to reiterate, these are what we're considering the high priority court orders. Um this is some preliminary data. We're gonna have this data verified and um shared with this group soon. Um, but with the five types of protective orders by legislation um in Illinois with the numbers from last year. So these are 2024 numbers. So these are just the emergency types of orders. They don't include interim and plenary, but um there's just about 23,500 for emergency domestic violence orders of protection, uh, 6200 stocking no contact, about 300 civil no contact, 18 firearm restraining orders, and 154 workplace protection orders.
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