CHICAGO — Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx was elected in 2016 as a reform candidate, knocking out incumbent Anita Alvarez after harshly criticizing the way she handled charges in 17-year-old Laquan McDonald’s fatal shooting by on-duty Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke.
One major change could make sure police are truly being held accountable, Foxx said on the campaign trail: Special prosecutors — not Cook County assistant state’s attorneys — should decide whether to bring criminal charges against officers allegedly involved in such crimes.
“There is an inherent conflict of interest because of the intimate relationship between the prosecutor’s office and the police, and to suggest that doesn’t exist is disingenuous,” Foxx said at a campaign forum in January 2016.