| Agencyname: | Cook County Sheriff's Office |
| Abbreviation: | CCSO |
| Patch: | IL - Cook County Sheriff.jpg |
| Patchcaption: | Patch of the Cook County Sheriff's Office |
| Budget: | $619 m (2020)[1] |
| Country: | United States |
| Divtype: | State |
| Divname: | Illinois |
| Subdivtype: | County |
| Subdivname: | Cook County, Illinois |
| Legaljuris: | Cook County, Illinois |
| Police: | Yes |
| Local: | Yes |
| Headquarters: | Chicago & Maywood, Illinois |
| Sworn: | 6,900 at full strength |
| Electeetype: | Sheriff |
| Minister1name: | Thomas J. Dart |
| Officetype: | Department |
The Cook County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) is the principal law enforcement agency that serves Cook County, Illinois. It is the second largest sheriff's office in the United States, with over 6,900 members when at full operational strength. It is headed by the Cook County Sheriff, currently Thomas Dart.
Like other sheriffs' offices 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 because unincorporated areas are the primary jurisdiction of a Sheriff's Office in Illinois. The Sheriff's Police patrol services are often not required in incorporated cities because the cities such as Chicago have established their own police departments.
Sheriff's Deputies provide the other services of the sheriff, such as service of process, 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.[2]
The Cook County Sheriff's Office is carved into several departments.[3]
The Cook County Sheriff's Police Department has over 500 state certified law enforcement officers 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, street crimes suppression 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 Training Academy trains police recruits within the department as well as those from suburban agencies.
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. In 2017 Sheriff Dart fired 24 Commanders without cause citing a fictitious “budget crisis”. This case is still being litigated in 2024 due to the unethical delay tactics utilized by Sheriff Dart’s lawyers.
The Office Of Professional Review investigates allegations of misconduct within the sheriff's office.
The Court Services Department provides security for all courtrooms, judges and other government officials as well as prisoners being tried.[5] 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. The Court Services Department also enforces court orders such as evictions.