By Samantha Abernethy
Medill Reports - Chicago

Incoming Cook County state's attorney Anita Alvarez hopes to make good on her talk of using community prosecution initiatives and reopening community outposts to make the office more accessible for victims and increase presence in high-crime areas.

Community prosecution offices, a common crime prevention strategy, plant attorneys in neighborhoods to develop problem-solving strategies with other agencies. Attorneys work with teachers, police and clergymen to identify situations that can create the opportunity for crime and step in before it can be committed.

"The whole concept is that it would put a name to the face for citizens, to bring them closer, so they feel more comfortable, as opposed to having to go to 26th and California or to very large, busy court facilities," said Sally Daly, spokesman for Alvarez.
Daly added that locations have not been selected but that they would be geographically chosen to reach the most people.

Cook County had five community prosecution offices, but they were casualties of Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's 2007 budget cuts, mandated to make up the expected $502 million budget deficit.

In February 2007, the community prosecution offices-three in Chicago, one in Oak Park and one in Maywood-and the community outreach unit were closed. The office also lost 75 lawyers; the public defender's office lost 43 lawyers.

Notwithstanding the financial hurdles, Daly said that Alvarez does not anticipate opposition to the proposal. In May, though, her opponent, Republican candidate Tony Peraica, who is a Cook County Board member, dismissed the community prosecution offices as nothing more than a "feel-good measure to provide do-nothing jobs for the politically connected."

Daly said that Alvarez plans to reopen the offices without asking for more money from the County Board. She said Alvarez believes the offices can be created without additional personnel costs by reassigning existing prosecutors, and hope to defray administrative costs by partnering with private businesses for donations.

During the campaign, Green Party candidate Thomas O'Brien, an assistant prosecutor in the office, argued that creating more offices would not attract residents, suggesting it would be much more effective to reach out through existing community groups and churches. Daly said that Alvarez is definitely planning on using those resources, as well as schools, police and county commissioners.

Alvarez, the first female and Hispanic to be prosecutor, takes office on Dec. 1.