Recently, you probably heard the news regarding several high-profile cases in which the felony review process and Cook County were highlighted.

There has been much discussion on the off-duty Chicago police officer who was arrested in 2007 for the brutal beating of a bartender in Chicago and in a more recent case in which an individual was not charged with any felonies as a result of a domestic situation in Cicero. In both cases, the police department became the focus of the felony review process and how it is handled.

Why this is important to you and what you may not know is that all felony cases in Cook County must be approved by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s felony review unit with the exception of narcotics cases.

However, this does not apply to the Chicago Police Department. District commanders in Chicago are able to invoke a felony override at the street level if they feel the case warrants such — the same privileges do not extend to the suburban law enforcement agencies in Cook County.

As chief, I have received many calls from victims of crimes expressing concern when charges are not approved for a felony.

Felony review is not a state statute. The felony review process was set up by the state’s attorney’s office to monitor felony prosecutions before the individual is arraigned in court. As early as November 2006, I was on a committee that met at the Berwyn Police Department with police executives from the West Suburban and South Suburban Chiefs Association.

We attempted to have the felony review process mirror the same process that takes place in Chicago. We were not successful.

When a police officer seeks a felony charge in Cook County, the felony review unit, which is in Chicago, must be contacted regardless of where the arrest takes place. The felony review assistant will either approve or disapprove felony charges.

Why felony review? Simple: The felony conviction rate.

I am not a proponent of this process. I believe the police officers should just follow state statutes and charge according to the law and evidence presented.

It is not the police officer’s job to push for felony review — it is the police officer’s job to present the facts of the case, and either the case is accepted or rejected. Criticism that the police need to push harder for felony approval is utterly ridiculous. The police and prosecutors need to work together to sort out the facts involved in the case to ensure that the proper charges are filed against defendants with the evidence to support such charges.

Thomas Weitzel is chief of police for the village of Riverside