Veteran Chicago prosecutor quits with blistering letter on crime: ‘I will not raise my son here’

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A 20-year veteran Chicago prosecutor quit his job and wrote a blistering letter to his colleagues on his way out Friday, blasting the city's "stupid" leaders and declaring they set the city "on a course to disaster"

Jason Poje, a felony trial attorney, put in his two weeks' notice with the city at the end of April. Before he left, however, he sent a goodbye letter to 85 colleagues to explain that the city's insistence on following a "popular political agenda" has made 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 State's 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.

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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who recently lost her reelection bid, was extremely unpopular among police and law enforcement groups. (Kamil Krzaczynski / File)

Chicago police vehicles arrive at a crime scene. (FOX32 Chicago WFLD / File)

While Poje's letter did not mention Foxx by name, it did reference "stupid State’s Attorney policies." Foxx's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

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Poje also remarked on how he respected his colleagues who were willing to stay in the city despite the difficulties. Poje said he needed to leave for the sake of his family's safety.

"Many years ago my family found a nice quiet corner of the suburbs. Now my son, who is only 5, hears gunfire while playing at our neighborhood park, and a drug dealer is open-air selling behind my house (the second one in two years)," Poje wrote.

"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 added.

State's Attorney Kim Foxx has lost several prosecutors over her policies. "I have zero confidence in leadership," one wrote.

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Poje's exit comes less than a year after another prosecutor, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Jim Murphy, resigned in protest against Foxx's leadership.

"I wish I could stay," he wrote in July 2022 "However, I can no longer work for this Administration. I have zero confidence in leadership."