Charles Beach was sworn in on Monday as Cook County's first new chief judge in 24 years, and takes over amid a political firestorm over what appears to be systemic issues with how accused criminals are being monitored before trial.

The chief judge's office has come under increased scrutiny over its handling of the county's electronic monitoring program in recent weeks, after a 26 year-old woman was lit on fire on the CTA Blue Line last month by a man wearing an ankle monitor.

Earlier this year, the Cook County Chief Judge's office was given the job of overseeing offenders on ankle monitors, after the Cook County Sheriff's office ended its electronic monitoring program.

The monitoring program is meant to ensure accused criminals stay out of trouble as they await trial, or get them locked up if they don't.

But that program has been under fire and Beach faces the tough job of trying to fix what so many say is broken.

Bethany MaGee, 26, was on the Blue Line two weeks ago, when she was randomly attacked by a man who doused her in gasoline and set her on fire.

"She was running off the train in the middle of it. She was completely engulfed in fire," said witness Christopher Flores.  

Lawrence Reed, 50, now faces federal terrorism charges in the attack, which was caught on surveillance video. 

At the time of the attack, Reed was on electronic monitoring, ordered to wear an ankle monitor while awaiting trial for an August attack of a social worker in a psychiatric hospital.

But he repeatedly violated the terms of his ankle monitor, including twice just hours before he bought the gasoline he poured on MaGee, and nothing was done about it.  

"They've got to get this electronic monitoring situation under control," said CBS News Chicago legal analyst Irv Miller.

Beach faces an immediate challenge in addressing apparent flaws in the ankle monitoring program exposed by Reed's case.

Under Beach's predecessor, Timothy Evans, the chief judge's office and Cook County State's Attorney's Office battled over who dropped the ball when Reed violated terms of his electronic monitoring.

The chief judge's office has said the state's attorney's office wanted a pause in being sent escalated electronic monitoring alerts over concerns about the number of ankle monitoring alerts they were receiving.

The state's attorney's office said that's not true, and they blamed a lack of protocols.

Miller, who knows Beach, said the new chief judge will deal with the monitoring mess as soon as possible.

"He knows the ins and outs of the electronic monitoring system, and he's the type of guy that he is going to ... on day one that will be his number one priority," Miller said.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's office had pushed to get the electronic monitoring program moved from the sheriff's office to the chief judge's office this year, but the chief judge's office doesn't have law enforcement powers allowing them to arrest violators.

Last week, CBS News Chicago asked Preckwinkle's office if there would be any changes to electronic monitoring given what happened in Reed's case.

Preckwinkle's office declined a request for an interview, and referred questions about possible changes to the program to a statement from the chief judge's office, in which they said, "We are reviewing all actions taken in this case to ensure procedures were followed and to identify opportunities for improvement."

"One immediate change under consideration is reinstating the practice of reporting escalated EM alerts to the State's Attorney's Office. That process was previously paused, following concerns raised by the State's Attorney's Office regarding the volume of alerts. In the interest of public safety, we believe it is necessary to re-evaluate this process," the chief judge's office added.