Cook County Commissioner Pushing $50 Million Plan To Combat Youth Violence
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Elected officials, advocates and others are pushing for a Cook County plan to combat widespread youth violence, reports WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore.
West Side and west suburban County Commissioner Richard Boykin says he's proposing a wide-ranging $50 million investment in young people in Cook County.
"This bill provides a $2 million investment for additional sheriff's police to be placed in high crime areas to provide for community policing," Commissioner Boykin said. "The sheriff's police are stretched thin."
But Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says he backs the plan because it is more than enforcement.
"Do we need to make more arrests and get more bad people off the street?" Dart said. "Absolutely we do and this bill provides that, but the other part of it is jobs."
That's there too and it would be funded by a $.04 a gallon gas tax hike.