Cook County’s top public defense attorney called for the immediate removal of a new Chicago Police Department website that broadcasts adult gun-related criminal charges, citing what she described as inaccurate data and a “blatant intrusion” of defendants’ privacy.

“This is another example of police using a list of people who are presumed innocent as a red herring to distract from the real issue of the day: The CPD’s failure to arrest the individuals who are shooters and who continue to wreak havoc in Chicago,” county public defender Amy Campanelli said in a statement on Wednesday.

The latest escalation of a political fight between Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle centers on how the county’s justice system treats defendants accused of gun crimes.

Preckwinkle and county Chief Judge Timothy Evans have touted changes to the area’s bond court system that are said to keep poor defendants from languishing in jail on minor charges if they cannot afford bail. But Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, has joined Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson’s public campaign arguing that the criminal justice system allows too many alleged gun offenders to stay out of jail while awaiting trial.

Lightfoot reiterated that criticism this week after mass shootings in Texas and Ohio — and tweets from President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump spurred by the city’s most violent weekend of the year. Police unveiled the gun crime website after a summer weekend that saw 55 people shot, seven fatally, in Chicago.

Campanelli said she was “deeply troubled” by the department’s so-called “Gun Offender Dashboard,” which aims to document who is arrested on suspicion of gun crimes, the specific charge and whether they posted a full cash bond, 10% of that amount or were released without posting any money. Campanelli argued the department’s site misstates the various types of bonds available to defendants.

Preckwinkle nominated Campanelli to the public defender post in 2015, and the county board president has pressed Lightfoot, her political rival in this year’s mayoral election, on the merits of a system that has sparked debate over the value of a defendant’s presumption of innocence when it comes to gun violence.

In a letter to Lightfoot last month, Preckwinkle said the police superintendent “must stop misleading the public about why gun violence remains a challenging problem in Chicago.” Campanelli offered a similar attack on Wednesday.

“This website uses the vague term ‘gun offenders’ to create a false narrative of what’s truly occurring,” Campanelli said of the police database. “Let’s set the record straight — the term ‘gun offender’ also includes anyone who illegally possesses — and doesn’t shoot — a gun for his or her own protection. This is the unfortunate reality for too many residents who live in a city that continues to be plagued by gun violence.”

Campanelli noted the term “gun offender” also can be placed on someone who doesn’t possess a gun at all but may be sitting in a car where a gun is found, or someone who was arrested without a gun but a gun was found near them.

“But the most troubling and legally questionable aspect of this website is the blatant intrusion into my clients’ privacy,” Campanelli said. “The people on this list have not been convicted of the crimes for which they were charged. Yet, CPD is flaunting bond court stats as if they have already been convicted.”

“This website skews the facts, invades the privacy rights of my clients and must be taken down,” she said.

Lightfoot’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

jjperez@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @PerezJr