New task force aggressively prosecuting CTA crimes with hopes to prevent future ones: O'Neill Burke

CHICAGO (WLS) -- With crime continuing to plague the CTA, Cook County's top prosecutor is sending a strong message: Commit a violent crime on public transportation, and you'll likely be detained.

In a rare interview, State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke tells the I-Team that a new task force is aggressively prosecuting CTA crimes with hopes of preventing future ones.

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"And all you got is cameras. Where are the actual people that you all are saying are supposed to be on the train?" said Marquettia Johnson, as she made an emotional plea for more security on public transportation at the most recent CTA board meeting.

Johnson's husband, Raymond Harrison, was killed just before Christmas during an argument on the Pink Line. Violent crimes such as these continue to afflict the system, affect ridership, and led to O'Neill Burke to take action.

"We have seen violent crime drop in every category across the board in double-digit numbers. Where we have not seen a decrease, and actually had a significant increase, is violent crimes on the CTA. So, we created a task force with 36 prosecutors and investigators from all over the office, and we have gone in and done trainings with CTA, taking a look at what their technology is. And CPD has been a significant partner in this as well, and they have a lot of technology that helps us prove our cases," O'Neill Burke told the I-Team.

Court documents reveal those technologies helped investigators find Pedro Villarreal, the man accused of killing Harrison.

O'Neill Burke says collaborating with CPD and CTA is vital to making the system safer and announced her internal transit crime task force last month. Prosecutors began training at the Strategic Decision Support Center in early March.

SEE ALSO | Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke looks back at her first 15 months in office

"They have gunshot detection technology. They have facial recognition. They have video evidence. So, a lot of it is making sure that we have the relationships to know exactly what is there and what's possible for us to get when we go in. We ask for detention if somebody presents a danger," said O'Neill Burke.

That's what they did in Villarreal's case. A judge agreed with the prosecutor's request to detain him for Harrison's death.

"We ask for detention in every violent crime on the CTA... We're getting detention in 81% of the cases. That's up significantly from where it was 15 months ago. And the way that we do that is make sure judges have the fullest picture possible on why this person presents a danger," O'Neill Burke told the I-Team.

The state's attorney's online dashboard tracks each case and shows the increase in violent crime detentions since O'Neill Burke took office.

"There's two things that deter crime. One is the likelihood of being caught, and the second is the likelihood of being punished. The state's attorney's office is in charge of the likelihood of being punished, and we've increased that likelihood significantly," said O'Neill Burke. "If we do not get detention, we ask for a stay away order, which means we ask a judge to order that defendant to not go to that train station or to not use that bus line... And that's a huge component of making sure the most violent people are not re-traumatizing and re-victimizing people on the same train line, on the same bus line."

Her approach is straightforward.

"Deterrence is achieved when we send a very strong message that we take these cases seriously. You will be detained and you will be prosecuted. That's what the prosecutor's office can do. We can serve as a deterrent to these crimes. A vital part of this task force is to make sure that all of our partners in CPD and CTA know exactly who to reach out to and who to contact and how these cases are progressing," said O'Neill Burke. "In order to have a safe, vibrant city, we need to have a safe public transportation system. That's the goal, is to make sure that we are getting CTA crime addressed in a way that makes the entire community feel safer."

Late last year, the Federal Transit Administration demanded a new safety plan for the Chicago transit system. The feds threatened to withhold millions if better safety measures weren't implemented. The first plan was rejected and another one submitted to the FTA. Progress on the revised plan is being monitored by the administration.