(A) Establishment.
(1) The County Board does hereby acknowledge, concurs with and joins in the establishment of the County Drug Program, a local anti-crime fund, within the meaning of 20 ILCS 3910/7.
(2) All monies contributed to said County Drug Program, a local anti-crime program, shall be deposited in an account with the County Treasurer in accordance with the terms of the Program.
(3) The County Board shall have full discretion to expend money from the County Drug Program in accordance with terms of the Program.
(B) Coordinated approach.
(1) Substance abuse has long been a problem in the county and combating substance abuse requires a coordinated effort by law enforcement, the courts, governments and the community. Substance abuse problems continue to adversely effect the county’s children and families either by the direct use of the substances by members of the community or by the users’ criminal activity while under the influence of substances or efforts to sustain their habit.
(2) Crimes, such as domestic violence, theft, burglary and child abuse, often stem from the use of illicit substances, alcohol and prescription drugs.
(3) The County Sheriff and State’s Attorney hereby strive to achieve better results in their efforts to deal with substance abuse issues by creating a local anti-crime program within the meaning of 20 ILCS 3910/7.
(C) Financial impact of crime.
(1) The cost of crimes associated with substance abuse is enormous. Financial losses of victims in the county of thefts and burglary over the past decade are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Domestic violence victims incur medical and counseling expenses in an effort to become healed from their injuries. Many of these costs are ultimately born by the community as a whole through taxes, payments made by Medicare, trips to the emergency room at the local health care facilities, increased health insurance premiums or by increased costs of products and goods when businesses are forced to raise prices after losing money as a result of crime.
(2) Investigation and prosecution of these crimes is also expensive and requires resources through all levels of the process. Law enforcement responds to countless calls each shift. Each contact requires investigation and report. Most serious crimes require the use of resources for days, months or even years to properly present the case to the prosecutor and trier of fact. Appearances at hearings and follow up work seems to never end as cases proceed through the court process.
(3) Housing criminal defendants, either on pre-trial or after sentence, at the county jail costs the county an enormous sum of money. Many defendants come into the jail with physical or mental health care needs that have to be addressed by the County Sheriff. Few detainees have health care coverage or money to repay these expenses. The cost of operating the jail is the largest expense incurred in the County Sheriff’s Department’s budget.
(4) The court system is overwhelmed by the growing number of cases on the criminal and juvenile dockets. Last year (2011), approximately 1,000 felony and misdemeanor cases, 79 juvenile delinquency cases and 62 juvenile abuse/neglect/dependency cases were filed in the Circuit Court. In addition to those cases filed, 72 minors were sent to juvenile diversion and countless other adults and minors were dealt with by law enforcement agencies operating in the county where a case was not formally charged.
(5) The vast majority of people entering the county and juvenile court system are indigent and require court appointed representation. Court appointed defense attorneys are more and more frequently requesting the appointment of investigators and experts to assist them in the defense of defendants charged with crimes.
(6) The state legislature continues to change the landscape of the criminal justice system by imposing unfunded mandates such the requirements for offender evaluations prior to sentencing and the establishment of county drug courts. All of which continue to increase the financial burden on the county court system.
(7) In juvenile abuse/neglect/dependency cases, which are almost always situations created as a result of a parents’ or caretakers’ substance abuse as a direct or underlying cause, it is necessary for the court to appoint attorneys not only to represent each of the parents but an attorney to serve as guardian ad litem for the child or children of the families. Juvenile cases can last for years. The Federal Adoption and Safe Families Act mandates that the court seek to establish permanency in a child’s life once he or she comes into care and requires hearings every six months to check the status of achieving established goals. At all times, the county juvenile court system is monitoring hundreds of children and families.
(8) In sum, substance abuse problems in the community have placed a heavy burden on the county, which requires a more comprehensive and collaborative approach on the part of law enforcement, government, the courts and the community to effectively combat.
(D) The County Drug Program, a local anti-crime program; 20 ILCS 3910/7.
(1) It is essential that public awareness of the problems associated with substance abuse be increased. The public needs to be aware of the dangers of relatively new types of manufactured drugs, such as methamphetamine and synthetically produced controlled substances, as well as the problems associated with the abuse of other illicit substances, alcohol and prescription medications.
(2) For example, the process of the production of methamphetamine creates an imminent danger to the community as methamphetamine manufacturing labs, remnants and the materials used in the process are extremely volatile and have caused serious burn injuries to unsuspecting people who happen upon them and people involved in the process. Producers of methamphetamine are not concerned with safety and, more often than not, scatter the materials used to produce the drug around the county to avoid detection by law enforcement.
(3) Increased public awareness and education are important to prevent the use of substances in the community. Education of youths on addiction and providing other outlets for their healthy growth and development is critical. Partnerships with, and support of, local youth focused community groups will assist in this venture.
(4) The public needs to be encouraged and programs developed to increase the reporting of incidences of crime in order for law enforcement to more effectively and efficiently respond, apprehend suspects and prosecute criminals (20 ILCS 3910/7).
(5) The Program should seek partnership with, and support of, local community based groups to assist in the public reporting of crime, drug awareness and drug education campaigns.
(E) Investigation and prosecution.
(1) Law enforcement needs to continue to evolve to the ever changing problems associated with substance abuse and the criminal conduct it spawns. New synthetically produced drugs and controlled substances marketed and sold to the public either on the Internet, on the streets or at retail establishments and the changing processes for the production of methamphetamine are just a few of the challenges that the county faces.
(2) Financial related crimes such as theft, identity theft, burglary and robbery have exploded as addicts try to finance their habits through crime. In today’s world, money changes hands with the click of a mouse or the swipe of a card and criminals have found ways to steal and exploit victims who often do not know they have been violated for several weeks after the attack.
(3) Law enforcement must continue to be responsive and proactive in this relatively new arena of computer and digital crime and establish sound investigative and prosecutorial techniques to obtain convictions.
(4) The Program should provide resources as are necessary for research, training, staffing, compensation and equipment for the County Sheriff’s office and the State’s Attorneys’ office to help achieve the Program’s stated goals.
(F) Court services. The Program recognizes the need to support the county court system and court services to more comprehensively deal with substance abuse problems in the county. The Program should specifically support the needs of children and families who have been afflicted by substance abuse issues of a parent or caretaker.
(G) Statement of support; Drug Task Force.
(1) The County Sheriff and State’s Attorney will work together with each other and other agencies to attempt to better address the problems associated with substance abuse in the community.
(2) A Drug Task Force is hereby created between these two law enforcement agencies, pursuant to 20 ILCS 3910/7, which shall meet, collaborate and work together toward reducing the problems associated with substance abuse and crime in the county. The Task Force shall report to the County Board on its recommendations for program needs, expenditures and funding. The County Sheriff and State’s Attorney state and agree that the problems and needs, as outlined in this section, are appropriate areas for expenditures from the County Drug Program, a local anti-crime program.
(H) Funding.
(1) The Program should be funded primarily by the criminal defendants and substance abusers who are responsible for the problems as discussed herein. Contributions to the County Drug Program should be sought from defendants involved in the county court system as part of their sentences (730 ILCS 5/5-6-3(b)(13)). Forfeiture proceedings should be aggressively pursued against assets involved in criminal conduct pursuant to the State Criminal Code.
(2) In short, criminals should be held accountable for their conduct and should be looked at first to fund these programs. The reality of the situation is, however, that the County Drug Program cannot be fully funded by the criminals. The substance abuse problem, and its impact on the community, is so immense that the Program must look to other funding sources.
(3) Grant money should be pursued from state and federal agencies to help finance the programs that they have mandated be employed. The Program will also seek continued support from the County Board, as is necessary, to address the community’s substance abuse problems.
(I) Deposits and expenditures.
(1) All money contributed to the Program shall be deposited in an account with the County Treasurer, who shall be the custodian of the account. The money deposited in the account shall be accounted for separately from other county funds as the County Drug Program, a local anti-crime program.
(2) Money shall be distributed from the account by the County Board for payment of programs, services, training, equipment, compensation or other expenses necessary for the effective operation of the Program, as outlined herein, at its sole discretion.
(J) Modification of Program. This Program may be modified by written agreement between the County Sheriff and the State’s Attorney, however, the County Board shall always retain full discretion over all money expended from the County Drug Program, a local anti-crime fund as detailed in division (I) above.
(K) Effective date. The County Drug Program, a local anti-crime program, as defined by 20 ILCS 3910/7, is so established on April, 16, 2012.
(Res. 2012-17, passed 4-17-2012)