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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION CALLING ON PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO SEND RESOURCES TO FIGHT VIOLENCE IN COOK COUNTY
WHEREAS, Cook County is the second largest county in the United States; and
WHEREAS, the city of Chicago is the largest municipality within Cook County with a population of nearly three million; and
WHEREAS, at least 762 people were murdered in Chicago in 2016, which is nearly 300 more people than were killed in all of 2015; and
WHEREAS, more than 4,300 people were shot in Chicago in 2016, which is about 1,400 more shooting victims than in all of 2015; and
WHEREAS, in the first month of 2017, at least 310 people were shot in the city of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, in the first month of 2017 66 people were killed by gun violence in Cook County and 56 of those were within the city of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, in the first month 2017, more than 80 percent of the homicide victims were African American; and
WHEREAS, there were 915 homicides in all of Cook County in 2016; and
WHEREAS, treatment for shooting victims treated by the Cook County Health and Hospitals System can cost County taxpayers as much as $50,000 for each shooting victim; and
WHEREAS, the Cook County Medical Examiner has indicated that the surge in homicides has caused additional work for the staff in that office; and
WHEREAS, Chicago had more homicides in 2016 than New York and Los Angeles combined; and
WHEREAS, there are a number of communities in suburban Cook County struggling with growing rates of violence and gang activity; and
WHEREAS, minorities are most often the victims of the rising violence in Cook County; and
WHEREAS, the presidential administration has repeatedly indicated that it will send additional federal resources to combat violence if leaders here request them; and
WHEREAS, Cook County government must be proactive in its anti-violence efforts by initiating the dialogue with the presidential administration to develop strategies and request the needed resources to help tackle the epidemic of violence; and
WHEREAS, Cook County received more than $200 million in federal grants for anti-violence initiatives in 2016, yet the number of homicides in Cook County was the highest it had been in about two decades; and
WHEREAS, federal resources should come in the form of additional anti-violence program funding; and
WHEREAS, those federal resources should also come in the form of economic investment in endangered communities; and
WHEREAS, the federal government can assist local law enforcement by utilizing federal law enforcement officers to help local officers in curbing the violence and solving more homicides; and
WHEREAS, it is vital that elected officials in their leadership capacities provide the crucial moral and public support to law enforcement officials as they undertake the difficult and dangerous task of combating the epidemic of violence; and
WHEREAS, these measures will have an immediate and significant impact on reducing the violence in Chicago and Cook County without utilizing the National Guard; and
WHEREAS, the issue of violence is not a political one, and every citizen of Cook County should have a right to be safe in their neighborhoods and live without fear of being shot and killed; and
WHEREAS, elected officials must make every effort to fight the violence in Cook County to prevent 2017 from seeing even more people killed.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Commissioners and President of the Board that this Resolution serve as a formal request to President Donald Trump to provide additional resources to fight the violence plaguing Chicago and Cook County and that the Cook County Administration, under the leadership of President Toni Preckwinkle, take the necessary steps of communication to initiate this most critical appeal for assistance.
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