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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
CALLING ON PRESIDENT JOSEPH R. BIDEN TO SEND FEDERAL RESOURCES TO FIGHT AND PROSECUTE 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 293 people were murdered in Chicago and 1,702 shot so far in 2021, including 120 children shot under the age of 18, three times more than in 2020.
WHEREAS, more than 4,174 people were shot in Chicago in 2020, and 719 shot and killed in Chicago alone and 875 gun-related homicides in Cook County, the most in 25 years (1994).
WHEREAS, there were more than 1,396 carjackings in all of Cook County in 2020, and 632 so far in 2021; and
WHEREAS, there were more than 970 homicides in all of Cook County in 2020; 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 nearly had more people killed by gun violence since 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 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 has received more than $600 million in federal grants for anti-violence initiatives since 2016, yet the number of gun-related crimes and homicides in Cook County is the highest it has been in about two and a half decades; and
WHEREAS, federal resources should come in the form of additional anti-violence program funding, prosecutors and investigators; 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 and prosecuting more homicides and gang related gun violence and car jackings; 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; 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, by supporting local law enforcement’s efforts to prevent 2021 and beyond 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 JOSPEH R. BIDEN 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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