Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart has joined several local officials in urging the creation of a gun violence coordinator and a task force to address gun violence.
A proposed Cook County ordinance would create a Cook County Gun Violence Coordinator who would head a 15-member taskforce. Members of this taskforce would be appointed by the Sheriff of Cook County, the Board of County Commissioners, the Cook County State’s Attorney, the Mayor of Chicago and the Governor of Illinois, among others.
Commissioner Richard Boykin, who is sponsoring the ordinance, along with State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, Congressman Danny Davis and Lake County, Ind., Sheriff John Buncich spoke with community members at a forum on Monday at the Sheriff’s Police Headquarters in Maywood .They discussed the need for policies to reduce gun violence and address the impacts these shootings have on the community.
The role of the coordinator and the task force would be to hold public hearings, and from the information gathered at those hearings, create written recommendations designed to reduce gun violence in Cook County.