Jason Poje, a veteran prosecutor in Chicago, resigned after 20 years, citing the citys stupid leaders and predicting that it is on a course to disaster under their woke leadership.
Poje, a felony trial attorney, submitted his two weeks notice at the end of April. Before leaving, he sent a letter to 85 colleagues, explaining that the citys love of a popular political agenda has made Democrat-led Chicago more dangerous for everyone.
The simple fact is that this State and County have set themselves on a course to disaster. And the worst part is that the agency for whom I work has backed literally every policy change that had the predicable, and predicted, outcome of more crime and more people getting hurt, Poje wrote, referring to the office of Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx.
Bond reform designed to make sure no one stays in jail while their cases are pending with no safety net to handle more criminals on the streets, shorter parole periods, lower sentences for repeat offenders, the malicious and unnecessary prosecution of law enforcement officers, overuse of diversion programs, intentionally not pursuing prosecutions for crimes lawfully on the books after being passed by our legislature and signed by a governor, all of these so-called reforms have had a direct negative impact, with consequences that will last for a generation, he continued.
Pojes letter did not mention Foxx by name, but it did have an oblique reference to stupid States Attorney policies. He also expressed his dismay at the changes to the city during his time there with his family, lamenting, I will not raise my son here.
I am fortunate enough to have the means to escape, so my entire family is leaving the State of Illinois. I grew up here, my family and friends are here, and yet my own employer has turned it into a place from which I am no longer proud to be, and in which my son is not safe, he said.
Pojes exit comes less than a year after another prosecutor, Assistant Cook County States Attorney Jim Murphy, departed in protest at Foxxs leadership. I wish I could stay, he wrote in July 2022, according to Fox News. However, I can no longer work for this Administration. I have zero confidence in leadership.
Chicago has been plagued by rising crime rates, with the city recording 769 homicides in 2021, a 55% increase from the previous year. The city has also seen a surge in carjackings, with 1,416 incidents reported in 2021, up from 603 in 2019.
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