Cook County Departmental Review meetings for 2015 Budget

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez

Ms. Alvarez spoke on many accomplishments and steps taken in her office over the past few years.  These are especially concentrated in diverting low level offenders to other programs and situations rather than extensive jail time.  These include the following:

• Proposed legislation that would shift resources from lower risk offenders to those with a higher  propensity for gun violence.  This would reduce criminal class and penalties for low level marijuana and theft crimes, but increase penalties for illegal, repeat felony gun offenders.  Possession of less than 1 oz. of marijuana for the first two arrests would be a petty offense and only with the third arrest would a misdemeanor be charged.  Also mid-level possession and delivery would have lower felony penalties.
• Field testing for drugs at the charging stage (when officers arrest) would have a pilot program started with the Chicago Police Department.  This would alleviate caseloads at the state police crime lab and also expedite narcotics cases and decrease time in custody for cases that are dismissed.
• More cases have been dismissed under felony and misdemeanor deferred prosecution programs (felony-800 dismissals and misdemeanor-1,000 dismissals).  An expanded pilot program will begin at the Markham courthouse.  These programs will use a validated risk assessment to determine eligibility for deferred prosecution.
• A new program to provide services (for homelessness, mental illness drug abuse) for those in engaging in prostitution will be started.  Since there is no longer a felony penalty for this crime, (state law change) some of these services were recently eliminated.  Now the services will be available with out the felony guilty sentence.

Alvarez is advocating best prosecutorial practices (from the Atlanta National Conference of Prosecutors) with regard to gang violence reduction; illegal weapons trafficking; the link between mental illness and gun violence; and the connection between domestic violence and gun violence.

Community Justice Centers have been a priority for the State's Attorneys Office.  They have proved to be very successful in reducing certain categories of crime (murder, sexual assault, aggravated assault).  These four current centers are designed to help solve crime problems in the community, not just arrest and prosecute.  A University of Chicago study last year supported these centers as an effective strategy to prevent and address crime.  The centers are very cost-effective, especially on the north side.  Alvarez has asked for more funds to start more of these centers, but no additional funding was provided in the Budget.

Three additional state's attorneys to expand diversion programs in the criminal division are provided in the budget.

Other points brought up during questioning by the Commissioners include the following:

• Technology integration is not going as fast as it should, but has speeded up in the last 10 months. This is run through Clerk Dorothy Brown's  ICJS Program, which attempts to bring more efficiencies to the Court system.  There is currently no wi-fi in the suburban courtrooms so all data and information must be done by hand.
• There has been a decrease in cases over two years old.  Currently 1200 cases have been in process for 2 years or more.  This is mostly in the southern part of the county due to an increase in cases and a languishing of cases by some judges.
• The Bond Court Initiative has identified defendants eligible for diversion programs and I-Bonds. The average days in custody have decreased from 40 to 17 due to this program.  These diversion programs have saved almost $2 million and prevented criminal backgrounds for many offenders.
• Gun violence is a top priority for this office.  This is not just a Chicago/Cook County problem, but is in all major metropolitan areas.

Inspector General Patrick Blanchard

The Inspector General's Office has the job of uncovering fraud, waste, public corruption and investigating misconduct and unlawful political discrimination (Shakman patronage issues).  There are currently 18 employees in this office.  Mr. Blanchard was just re-appointed for another 6-year term by the Board of Commissioners.  There has been an 18% increase in complaints brought to his office in the past year; this is up 40% from when this office began 6 years ago.  There are currently numerous indictments in process throughout the county government. There is litigation concerning ethics laws going on now in the Assessors Office.  The Health and Hospital System is also 

covered by this office.

Most of the questions and comments by commissioners related to referring candidates for jobs or internships within County government.  There was a lot of concern that political hiring ordinances, which were approved by the Board of Commissioners, might have gone too far and prevent commissioners from recommending good, potential job candidates.  There was a wide variation among the commissioners as to what should be appropriate input in job referrals.

Other issues brought up concerned security of e-mail in the Inspector General's Office during investigations and  statute of limitations on prosecutions (relating to shady vendor contracts).  Most commissioners seemed quite pleased with the work of this office.

Public Defender Abashi Cunningham

The Public Defenders Office has 683 total employees.  The new budget increases the employee count by 10.4 employees, but an additional 15 employees beyond this is requested by Mr. Cunningham.  In answer to a commissioner's question, it was stated that 35% of employees are African-American.   He said that at any given time, 5% of staff is on leave for FMLA and other related issues.  The Public Defender would like additional funds beyond what was provided in the President's Budget, stating that spending more on additional attorneys would save the county money in the long run and defendants would spend less time in jail.