The public record, read aloud, from the first call to the final disposition.
A-Wire follows real incidents in Cook County through every agency that touches them: dispatch, police, fire, animal control, inspectors, prosecutors and the courts. Every sentence comes from a document. Nothing is dramatized, and no one is guilty until a court says so.
Each case is told in standard parts, the same in every case, so any listener can find the stage they want. A case skips any stage its record never reached.
A case's whole arc in short form. Hear it, then decide whether to go deeper.
The full arc as one story. This is what plays on the air.
Everything in the file, in order, in standard parts. Kept permanently.
A-Wire. Case file zero zero three. The scene.
A published random draw does, weighted to match the county's real caseload. That means most episodes end in a plea or a citation, because that is how most cases end. Every draw is logged, including cases drawn and excluded, with the reason. A yearly coverage report compares the cases A-Wire covered against the county's full caseload, so anyone can check the balance.
The first case files are being built from requested public records. Contact information will be posted here when the records desk opens.