What role does the Cook County Sheriff play in Chicago law enforcement? (evictions)

[AmosBanks]

I know there's the Chicago PD and Illinois State Police, but what's up with the Sheriff? Two deputies came and scooped up a guy from work. I work in an office and not someplace where we normally see cops. Why the Sheriff and not CPD?

[almost3am]

I believe the Sherriff covers police type work in unincorporated areas.

[Avengerfire]

Sheriffs are also in charge of evictions countywide. They also pull over people for DUI's.

If someone has a bench warrant the sheriffs can and do take the people into custody.

I believe they also enforce court orders for non-payment of child support.

[chirack]

They also handle security on county property like John Stroger Hospital.

[MKE-Ed]

From what I remember, The Cook County Sheriffs Dept was a notorious dumping ground for police wanna be types with political connections to the old Daley machine. If they worked for the machine then they were rewarded with political patronage jobs in the sherrifs department. Most area police department look upon the Cook County Sheriffs dept as a big joke full of a bunch of losers.

[hank0604]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Sheriffs are also in charge of evictions countywide. They also pull over people for DUI's.

If someone has a bench warrant the sheriffs can and do take the people into custody.

I believe they also enforce court orders for non-payment of child support.

This is pretty much what county sheriffs offices do across the country, in addition to general law enforcement operations in unincorporated areas, such as another poster said.

I believe, though, that Cook County Sheriff also operates the city/county lockups and prisons. Except for the highrise prison downtown, which is a federal prison (I think).

[ofcjim40]

There are 3 basic layers of Law Enforcement. I'll keep this brief and stripped down. You have City/Village, the County, then State. Chicago PD is no different than any other Municipal PD even though it is very large. CPD has no more "authority" than does a town that contains 500 residents and has 2 Officers. Now every town resides in a County. So the County Sheriff's have authority in all of these towns. State Police is rather self explanatory. Now the reasons County arrested him instead of CPD is very simple, but can't give you a definite answer since you basically have no details. A few of the reasons could be he had a County warrant, County had original charges on him, County is picking him up for an investigation, etc. But as an example, my PD could go into Chicago and pick up someone on charges and technically you never need to even notify the City/town you are entering.

[chitown85]

Cook County Sheriff has 3 separate departments under the Sheriff, which is different than Lake or DuPage, which has a unified department. All three departments in Cook County have a different chief under the Sheriff and all are represented by different unions with different pay scales.

Corrections, Court Services, and Sheriff's Police. Corrections is the largest and runs the jail. They also has street units (fugitives, gang unit, patrol around the jail).

Court Services provides security for the courthouses and judges, acts as bailiffs in the courtroom, and also has street functions. Civil Process, Warrants, Evictions, Child Support Enforcement.

Sheriff's Police has 2 functions. One is to provide police services to unincorporated areas. Now, Cook County really doesn't have many unincorporated areas. The second function is to assist suburban agencies who do not have enough manpower to deal with the gangs and narcotics in the suburbs. Sometimes the investigations take them into Chicago. Sometimes they do traffic stuff too.

Like the above poster said, it's hard to know what they needed from him. Corrections could have had a warrant on him. Sheriff's Court's could have had a child support warrant on him. Sheriff's Police could have arrested him for an investigation that occurred anywhere in the County.

[AmosBanks]

Thanks for the info!