In
his opening remarks, Sheriff Dart announced the closing of 3 divisions (the
oldest ones) of the Cook County Jail since the population is down. He wanted to
make it very clear that he had an understanding with President Preckwinkle,
however, that if the jail population should spike again, money would be set
aside to rebuild a division. Currently, the jail population is around 8,000,
down from over 10,000 just a few years ago. Electronic monitoring, in lieu of
detention, accounts for about 2,000 at present. He does not want to get into a
situation in which overcrowding is a problem. However, he pointed
out that his mental health division is always overcrowded. He also talked about
the high numbers of illegal guns his officers have confiscated in the southern
suburbs.
Many commissioners asked about the cost savings of closing 3 divisions.
The sheriff made the point that the cost savings for the closings cannot be
measured “dollar for dollar”. For example, when he
closes these divisions, the employees who used to staff them, along with the
personnel costs, are not let go. Instead, he utilizes those employees
within the other buildings in order to bring down the high costs of
overtime.
While the jail population is down, he has more people
to attend to who are on Electronic Monitoring. He also is spending more on
health care professionals in his mental health unit and special treatment
center. He is also training several police forces in the southern suburbs and
sending more officers to those areas throughout the county that need
help.
Commissioner Boykin called the sheriff the “best sheriff in all of the
USA" and commended him for doing a difficult job quite well. Most of the
commissioners had a great deal of praise for the job Sheriff Dart was doing.
When asked about mental health, the sheriff spoke at length about his new Mental
Health Treatment Setting in the area that was once the boot camp. He also said
that the heroin epidemic was tied to some extent to the issue of mental health
in that some detainees use heroin instead of prescription drugs to ease their
difficulties.
Commissioner Garcia asked about the role of the new Gun Violence
Coordinator that was just approved by the Board. Sheriff Dart explained the work
he and the sheriffs from several counties in NW Indiana are doing in order to
work together to stop the sale of illegal guns. This coordinator could help with
that. In addition he praised the Lyons government and the gun shop in Lyons
which negotiated on a new ordinance that, among other things, institutes a
requirement for the gun shop to have a “Do Not Sell List” for people who are
known to be purchasing guns for others (“straw buyers”). This store will also
notify the police if a person is turned down for a sale. The coordinator could
help this become the model for other towns. (Three gun stores were recently sued
for perpetuating gun violence. The Lyons Gun Store settled out of court with
these new rules).
Commissioner Murphy asked if the old Boot Camp program was completely
gone. The sheriff explained that he stopped the old program because the results
did not warrant the cost and did not assist the men in the program in getting a
job. The new program is training detainees in carpentry, plumbing, and other
trades by tearing down and refreshing abandoned buildings throughout the county.
He is sure that
the new program will have better results. She also asked about using the RICO
statute to go after gang leaders. He thought that RICO was a very complicated
statute and is tough to use in prosecution. He also noted that the “War on
Drugs” has failed.
Commissioner Suffredin appreciated that closing 3 buildings would not
bring the massive savings that everyone wanted. He did want to know where most
of the increase in costs proposed in the budget were being applied. The sheriff
said that mostly the costs went to COLA’S and step increases for employees.
He also said
that his IT budget was higher than before. There was some talk later on among
Commissioners Daley, Gainer and the sheriff about pulling back some automatic
raises for non-union employees in departments under the elected officials that
are due to take effect December 1 in order that the elected official could
reallocate the money to reflect job performance. Daley said that this idea could
be considered at the Nov. 18 Board Meeting (the last one before Dec. 1).
No
one at this hearing discussed STAR goals or targets, but the budget book
mentioned several. Some of the overall goals for the Sheriff’s Office include
compliance with the Shakman decision in hiring, reviewing revenues to bring down
costs, and having more transparency for his programs. For the sheriff's police
some STAR goals include improving the Child Protection Response unit and more
illegal gun recovery. And for the jail some STAR goals include enrolling more
detainees in mental health programs and improving the discharge procedures so
that detainees know where they can get mental health help, housing and job
information.
Submitted by Jan Goldberg, League Observer
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