The Cook County Sheriff's Office is the principal law enforcement agency that serves Cook County, Illinois. It is the second largest sheriff's department in the United States, with over 6,900 members when at full operational strength. It is headed by the Sheriff of Cook County, currently Thomas Dart. Due to its size the Cook County Sheriff's Office divides its operations by task into several departments, the most recognizable of which are the Cook County Sheriff's Police Department, the Court Services Division, and the Cook County Sheriff's Department of Corrections.
All Cook County Sheriff's Deputies are Sworn and Illinois Certified Peace Officers with full statutory power of arrest, regardless of their particular job function or title. Like other sheriffs' departments in Illinois, the sheriff can provide all traditional law-enforcement functions, including county-wide patrol and investigations irrespective of municipal boundaries, even in the city of Chicago, but has traditionally limited its police patrol functions to unincorporated areas of the county which are the primary jurisdiction of a sheriff's department in Illinois.
Sheriff's Deputies outside of the patrol and investigations divisions provide the other services of the sheriff, such as service of process, fugitive apprehension, enforcing evictions and levies, securing courthouses, securing and operating the 9,000-plus detainee population of the Cook County Jail, transporting prisoners and overseeing offender rehabilitation programs.
Cook County has additional police departments that are not the responsibility of the sheriff. These include the Cook County Forest Preserve District Police and Cook County Hospital Police.
The Cook County Sheriff's Office is carved into several divisions.
The Cook County Sheriff's Police Department is charged with patrolling unincorporated areas of Cook County as well as assisting suburban police departments with police operations including, but not limited to, detective and evidence services, narcotics interdiction, bomb detection and disposal, vice operations, gang crimes investigation and hostage/barricade/terrorist incidents. Approximately 109,000 people live in unincorporated communities within Cook County among the county's 5.3 million total population. The Cook County Sheriff's Police Academy trains police recruits within the department as well as those from suburban agencies.
The Cook County Sheriff's Department of Corrections is one of the largest single-site pre-trial holding facilities in the world. Deputy Sheriff's assigned to Department of Corrections are responsible for the security of more than 9,000 detainees, many of whom are violent offenders awaiting trial in the criminal court system.
The Cook County Sheriff's Boot Camp is designed to provide non-violent offenders a strict detention program based on military discipline, fundamental vocational skills, education and alcohol/substance abuse treatment. In addition, the boot camp features an eight-month-long post-detention supervision program where participants must return to the boot camp on a daily basis to continue educational programming.
The Central Warrant Unit is responsible for the apprehension of fugitives wanted on warrants for offenses ranging from contempt of court for failure to pay child support to escape and murder. This unit works closely with the United States Marshal's Great Lakes Task Force and is also responsible for extradition of offenders from outside the Cook County area.
The Criminal Intelligence Unit is a vital information hub gathering gang intelligence from within the Department of Corrections and bridges the information gap between all divisions of the sheriff's office and outside agencies. This unit is also responsible for investigative services within corrections and court facilities and is featured in the MSNBC television series "The Squeeze".
The Department of Women's Justice Services administers gender responsive drug treatment programs for female offenders and programs for pregnant detainees among many other services.
The Jail Diversion and Crime Prevention Division was designed to make the Cook County Sheriff’s Office more useful and accessible to residents. It operates many vital preventive and educational programs that municipalities, schools and average citizens can take advantage of free of charge. Programs include DUI and distracted driving prevention, graffiti removal, New Path speakers' series, and the SMART program.
The Office Of Professional Review investigates allegations of misconduct within the sheriff's office.
The Court Services Division provides security for all courtrooms, judges and other government officials as well as prisoners being tried. In addition to providing courtroom security, deputy sheriffs operate security posts at the entrance of each facility where many arrests are made every year of individuals attempting to enter with weapons, drugs and other various contraband. Cook County is home to one of the largest unified court systems in the world, including the Richard J. Daley Center which is arguably the largest courthouse in the world.
Notable Officer ``` Deputy Joe Fiorentino ``` Cook County Crime Stoppers Law Enforcement Award and Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
Rank structure and insignia
Rank insignia for exempt positions that are above the exempt positions of commander and assistant chief include gold oak leaves and increasing numbers of gold stars worn on shirt collars and on shoulders of jackets. Rank insignia for commanders and assistant chiefs are gold eagles worn on the collars of the shirt and the shoulders of the jacket.
Rank insignia for lieutenants are gold bars worn on the collars of the shirt and the shoulders of the jacket. Rank insignia for sergeants are gold chevrons worn on the collars of the shirt and embroidered chevrons worn on the upper sleeves of shirts and jackets. Tenured officers will have gold hash-marks or stars on the lower left side of their long-sleeved shirts and jackets. Each mark represents five years of service. A star represents twenty years of service.
Since the establishment of the Cook County Sheriff Office, 15 officers have died in the line of duty.
