Suburban Chicago Police Departments Go From 'Sacred Cows' to 'Ground Chuck'

Link to November 12 Daily Herald article, "Why are towns cutting police officers?"

Excerpt: Once considered sacred cows of municipal budgets, police departments around the Chicago suburbs these days are more akin to ground chuck.

A number of communities are cutting police staffing in an effort to reduce citywide costs. In past years, municipal leaders usually cut evenly throughout all departments. In some cases the cuts were deeper in other departments to spare public safety departments the pain. But not this time.

“Last year we laid off in our public works department,” said Anne Marrin, Prospect Heights city administrator. “But the fact of the matter is police departments, not just in Prospect Heights, are the largest portions of all these budgets.”