FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 25, 2025

After Horrific Fire Attack, Teamsters Local 700 Demands Electronic Monitoring Program Remain Within the Cook County Sheriff’s Office

LOMBARD, ILL. – Last week, Chicagoans were horrified at the news of an innocent woman set on fire on the CTA Blue Line. Now, newly released information shows the alleged attacker, Lawrence Reed, repeatedly violated the terms of his electronic monitoring release by leaving his home without permission for extended periods prior to the incident. Despite multiple alerts in the hours leading up to the attack, staff from the Office of the Chief Judge, the agency currently taking charge of the electronic monitoring program, did not intervene to locate or secure Reed. 

Teamsters Local 700, the union that represented electronic monitoring staff members when the program was previously administered by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, has warned of the safety threat of moving the program from the Sheriff’s Office to the Office of the Chief Judge.

Teamsters Local 700 President Ramon Williams released the following statement regarding the incident:

“We have been warning the community for more than a year of the danger posed by the reckless decision to transfer the electronic monitoring program away from the oversight of the Local 700 sworn peace officers at the Sheriff’s Office who previously handled the program. Now, we’re seeing the terrifying consequences of this disastrous decision in this horrific fire attack on the Blue Line, one that never should have happened. The bottom line here is clear: the Office of the Chief Judge is not equipped to properly administer this program, and now an innocent woman has been set on fire and traumatized for life.” 

“To ensure the safety of the community, the process of transferring the electronic monitoring program to the Office of the Chief Judge must be halted immediately and the program must be reestablished within the office of the Cook County Sheriff. Local 700 stands ready to work with Sheriff Dart, incoming Chief Judge Beach, the Cook County Board, and state lawmakers to fix this mess – before another innocent person gets hurt.”

BACKGROUND:

The electronic monitoring program is currently in the process of being transferred from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office to the Office of the Chief Judge. Under the Sheriff’s Office, the electronic monitoring program provided 24-hour monitoring, tracked a participant who is not where they are supposed to be, and provided rapid face-to-face intervention by investigators who are highly trained in law enforcement tactics. Participants in the electronic monitoring program under the Sheriff’s Office were monitored by Local 700 certified sworn peace officers who performed participant monitoring, crime deterrence patrols, drug and firearm recovery operations, participant home checks, participant compliance checks, and more.

Earlier this year, the Cook County Sheriff, in conjunction with the Cook County Board of Commissioners, began the process of transferring the electronic monitoring program to the Office of the Chief Judge. Electronic monitoring personnel within the Office of the Chief Judge are not sworn peace officers and cannot provide the same level of monitoring and oversight to electronic monitoring participants. This comes with a serious impact to the safety of the community as the level of monitoring and intervention, as demonstrated in this horrific fire attack.

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