Illinois State Representative Kelly Cassidy is advancing legislation that would strip law enforcement of another critical tool by banning the use of facial recognition and other biometric identifiers statewide. At the same time, a separate House bill seeks to eliminate license plate reader technology, including systems like Flock, further limiting police ability to identify suspects and solve serious crimes. Yet those same policymakers continue to support red‑light cameras and speed cameras, technologies that generate revenue.
This year alone, some of the city’s most disturbing crimes were solved because cameras and biometric technology worked exactly as intended.
Chicago Firefighter Michael Altman died in the line of duty because an arsonist chose destruction over accountability. Surveillance footage showed the suspect returning to the building repeatedly, remaining inside for hours, then leaving without calling 911 or warning anyone. Cameras later tracked him fleeing on public transit and attempting to change his appearance. That evidence mattered. It helped investigators reconstruct the truth and bring justice for a firefighter who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Then there was 18‑year‑old Loyola freshman Sheridan Gorman. She and her friends went to the lakefront around 1 a.m. to take pictures, something countless young people do without a second thought. Prosecutors say she reached the end of the pier and encountered a masked man hiding near the light beacon. When she and her friends ran back toward the beach, a single gunshot struck her in the back and exited through her neck. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Once again, surveillance made the difference. Detectives used video from the area to track the gunman’s path to a nearby apartment building. Additional footage captured him without a mask. A building worker recognized him. That chain of evidence turned a brutal murder into an arrest instead of a cold case.
And it does not stop there.
In January, detectives investigating the murder of Dominique Pollion, whose body was left on a Blue Line train, used high‑quality CTA video and facial recognition to narrow their suspect list. That lead pointed investigators in the right direction, and additional evidence, including video recovered from a suspect’s phone, helped move the case forward.
Facial recognition has also been critical in solving multiple CTA shootings, stabbings, robberies, and assaults. In one case, cameras captured a deadly shooting aboard a Pink Line train. Facial recognition helped identify the suspect, who was later arrested with the murder weapon. In another, a Red Line shooting suspect was identified through surveillance, confirmed by witnesses, and recognized by officers who had encountered him before. The technology has helped stop serial offenders, solve a cab driver’s murder, crack violent attacks in Lincoln Park and the Gold Coast, and put a dangerous kidnapper behind bars for decades.
This is the reality on the ground.
Facial recognition does not replace investigations. It does not file charges. It does not convict anyone. It generates leads, confirms identities, and gives detectives a starting point when victims cannot speak and suspects refuse to cooperate.
CTA investigations are especially dependent on these tools because the transit system is covered by one of the most extensive, high‑quality camera networks in the city. Taking away the ability to use that footage effectively does not protect the public. It protects criminals.
Every time a tool like this is taken off the table, the burden shifts to firefighters running into burning buildings and police officers responding to violent scenes without the benefit of truth captured on video. The people making these decisions will never knock on a door to notify a family that their loved one is gone. First responders will.
These are not theoretical concerns. They are funerals, hospital rooms, and crime scenes taped off in the middle of the night. Cameras and biometric tools have helped deliver justice in Chicago when it mattered most.
If public safety is truly the priority, then stripping proven tools from those doing the work is not reform. It is reckless. What is next your house “ring” cameras?
Our first responders deserve facts, not guesswork. Our victims deserve justice, not ideology. And Chicago deserves leaders who understand the real‑world cost of taking effective tools away.
