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The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office is expanding citywide a program that allows Chicago police officers to directly file charges in some low-level felony gun cases, following a review of pilots in two police districts.

The program, which means prosecutors in the office’s Felony Review Unit will not first assess charges in some cases, has been controversial among some advocacy groups and community members, who objected to the pilot programs starting out in majority-Black neighborhoods and argued that an initial review was an important oversight measure.

But officials with the state’s attorney’s office said prosecutors still review the charges early in the case, adding that the process change has eased bottlenecks and freed up prosecuto

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