Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says a unified transit police force for CTA, Metra and Pace would be the “easiest” option, but he cautions that creating a new department could become expensive, citing concerns drawn from Los Angeles. Dart is personally leading a
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart didn’t mince words this week as he weighed the next step for policing Chicago-area transit: a unified force could simplify accountability, but the price tag could get out of hand.
His office, for years focused on suburban patrols and the jail system, has recently been embedded on CTA trains. Dart says his deputies have already made hundreds of arrests and issued thousands of warnings in the last two and a half months. patrolling CTA service as violence remains stubbornly high.
Dart is now putting that field work into a broader push. He is personally leading a transit task force created under Illinois’ newly enacted transit law. That working group is set to decide early next year whether to recommend creating a unified police force to patrol the Chicago Transit Authority. Metra and Pace.
Creating a new agency would be one of the biggest changes to how transit policing works in Chicago. Dart calls a unified structure the “easiest” option—then immediately points to the part that worries him most.
“I’d be lying to you right now if I’m wedded to one thing. but [making a unified transit police force] would be the easiest. ” Dart said during interviews with reporters this week. “All it would take is a lot of money. And Dart is worried about runaway costs he’s seen in Los Angeles. which recently formed its own transit police force.”.
“I’ve just been watching [L.A. and] how those costs have been ballooning. And it worries me,” Dart said.
Dart’s focus, however, isn’t just cost. He’s also drawing a firm line against the current patchwork of policing responsibilities—where Metra police handle parts of Metra service. the Chicago Police Department covers CTA. and many suburban police departments respond to Pace. For Dart, the problem isn’t the existence of multiple agencies. It’s what he sees as a lack of clear ownership.
“This cannot be some just bifurcated thing where there’s no accountability at all because no one knows who’s running what thing,” Dart said.
Under the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) law signed by Gov. JB Pritzker and enacted at the start of June. Dart says any new transit police system would need to have a single security chief in charge. He also argues the plan can’t depend on officers volunteering for overtime—something he says the CPD’s recent surge of officers relies heavily on.
“That’s not a plan at all. That doesn’t work. So it’s going to have to be either a standalone department, or something that’s more nuanced … like certain areas (have) a standalone department,” Dart said.
Those details are still up for negotiation. Dart says his task force hasn’t officially met yet, though his office has been talking with other transit agencies and police departments for months.
Before the task force began shaping a recommendation, Dart’s deputies were already getting lessons from the system itself.
Learning from CTA patrols
Dart said early discussions about transit safety prompted sheriff’s deputies to patrol CTA trains even before the Trump administration pressured the CTA to increase patrols or risk losing federal funding in March.
Dart said about 50 deputies have been patrolling CTA trains each day. They started on Red Line trains on the South Side and later expanded to riding all other train lines.
The CTA has said the patrols are working. Dart pointed to a specific measure: serious crime on the Red Line was down 70% in April. At the same time, batteries across the whole system remained at historic heights.
In these patrols, Dart said deputies are trying to reintroduce what he described as an enforcement atmosphere. A key part of that effort begins with basic rules—starting with fare enforcement.
Dart said some stations had fare evasion rates “upwards of 80%,” adding that “Virtually no one was paying.” He said deputies began placing themselves near entrances to monitor turnstiles and issue verbal warnings.
“Fare evasion ‘really sets the mindset off of an individual,’” Dart said. “Do you think they’re only concerned about smoking? … about drinking? … about urinating on the train? No, it just sort of lets everything sort of spin out of control.”
Deputies have also focused on homelessness and mental illness—problems Dart said often overlap with what passengers experience on trains.
The NITA law calls for unarmed, trained “transit ambassadors” to begin assisting passengers next year. Dart said those ambassadors will be a welcome and necessary addition. in part because they could take on some of the work he says is currently landing on officers who are responding to mental health emergencies.
“If our officers had to spend the vast majority of their time just dealing with that issue, we’d do no other thing,” Dart said.
As Dart’s deputies continue their patrols and his task force gears up for its recommendation, the question coming into focus is not whether policing can be coordinated—it’s whether Illinois can afford to build a new system without letting costs run away before it ever takes hold.
Tom Dart Cook County Sheriff CTA Metra Pace transit police NITA law JB Pritzker transit ambassadors fare enforcement Chicago Transit Authority