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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
A PROPOSED RESOLUTION TO RECOGNIZE AND CELEBRATE THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE COOK COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT
WHEREAS: In December 1921, Cook County Sheriff Charles W. Peters proposed that the sheriff’s office create a police force responsible for patrolling the roadways and other areas of suburban Cook County; and
WHEREAS: in early January 1922, the hiring of 70 highway police deputies was approved by Cook County, and on April 1, 1922, the first 32 Cook County highway patrol officers were officially sworn in; and
WHEREAS: The first station, known as Station 1, was at Waukegan Road and Dempster Street until a permanent building was completed in 1924 in Maine Township; and
WHEREAS: The highway patrol deputies were eventually reorganized into a sheriff’s police force whose responsibilities continued to grow throughout the 1940s and 1950s; and
WHEREAS: The name Cook County Sheriff’s Police Department was adopted, and the colors of tan and brown were introduced for the new sheriff’s police uniform; and
WHEREAS: Today’s Sheriff’s Police Department is the third-largest police department in Illinois, divided into five principal divisions: Field Operations, Criminal Investigations, Street Crimes, Communications Operations, and Operational Support; and
WHEREAS: the Cook County Sheriff’s Police provide primary police services to more than 126,000 residents in unincorporated Cook County, the Village of Ford Heights and back up police services to several suburbs that have significant budgetary constraints, as well as ancillary services to multiple
suburbs, including a K9 unit to help locate missing individuals, crime scene technician services to help solve crimes, and the Community Safety Team, which provides proactive policing in areas of high violence; and
WHEREAS: The Sheriff’s police have been on the cutting edge of law enforcement, implementing a Treatment Response Team, a Co-Responder Program, a Hostage Barricade Team, a Juvenile Justice and Advocacy Unit, as well as recently developed Carjacking and Chicago Initiatives; and
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Cook County Board of Commissioners, on behalf of the residents of Cook County, extends its sincere congratulations and gratitude to the Cook County Sheriff’s Department for 100 years of Service and Protection; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this Resolution be spread upon the official proceedings of this Honorable Body and that an official copy of the same be tendered to Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart and the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Department.
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