Overview
- On Tuesday Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke and acting CTA president Nora Leerhsen announced installation of more than 7,000 signs across the CTA fleet covering over 1,500 railcars and nearly 2,000 buses.
- The signs read that the State's Attorney's Office will prosecute and seek pretrial detention for violent offenses on public transit, formally tying the public message to a detention policy Burke announced when she took office.
- Burke's office says it has approved felony charges in 483 transit-related cases since December 1, 2024, and obtained pretrial detention in 83% of those cases by presenting investigators and evidence at first appearance hearings.
- The signage is part of a broader safety campaign that includes a Regional Transit Task Force, added Chicago police and Cook County sheriff patrols, an internal CTA prosecutorial unit, and training for more than 30 assistant state's attorneys to use transit video evidence.
- Officials attribute recent drops in CTA crime to these combined steps, reporting about a 30% fall systemwide and roughly a 76% decline on the Red Line, and riders should watch for changes in courtroom detention requests and visible patrols as the campaign continues.