Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Chicago Sun-Times
by Sun Times editorial staff

Should the Cook County Forest Preserve police be disbanded to save money and their duties handed over to Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart?

Dart thinks so. Dart's officers already investigate major crimes that occur in the preserves. And he says that if about 20 sheriff's officer positions lost to earlier budget cuts were restored, he could take over the work of 104 forest preserve police jobs as well.

That, Dart says, would save taxpayers about $8 million a year.

Saving money is undoubtedly important at a time when governments at all levels are trying to squeeze every possible nickel. All three candidates running for Cook County Board president have said they support the idea.

But good government is often more complicated than simply cutting costs.

The forest preserve police have responsibilities that are considerably different from those of most police departments. They must, for example, worry about the poaching of rare or endangered reptiles, amphibians and plants. They must be vigilant about illegal trail use, which can significantly degrade nature areas. They must know the woods intimately so they can track down illegally planted marijuana patches.

Such concerns aren't as likely to hold the attention of county police officers who may feel they have far more serious crimes to worry about. In fact, those sorts of violations in the preserves were given such short shrift amid the more serious crimes on Cook County court dockets that a separate administrative court recently was created to process tickets written by the forest preserve police.

Unlike the past, when many forest preserve police officers were patronage workers with no special skills, all of them now are trained by the state in conservation issues. For example, they must know fishing, wildlife and boating regulations.

A rule of thumb in police work is that it takes about five officers to staff one around-the-clock, seven-day-a-week position. If Dart added 20 officers, he would get roughly four extra officers per shift to patrol almost 69,000 acres of forest preserves spread throughout the county. And that's not counting the days when officers have to testify in court.

That doesn't sound to us like much police manpower for the preserves, no matter what administrative efficiencies Dart can devise, assuming the 180 patrol officers he already has are busy enough already.

Policing the forest preserves isn't easy because much of the territory is out of the reach of squad cars. It is patrolled partly by officers using all-terrain vehicles, mountain bikes and even horses.

Sheriff's police officers are paid about $20,000 a year more than the forest preserve police, so if Dart finds he needs to hire more officers than he thought, the expected savings would start to melt away.

Any proposal to trim government and save money is worth exploring. But if we don't step carefully, we might wind up in a patch of poison ivy.