By Steve Patterson
The Chicago Sun-Times
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COOK COUNTY, Ill. — Ask Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart about the growing gang problem in the suburbs, and he’ll tell you much of it is because of the crackdown on gangs in the city by former Chicago Police Supt. Phil Cline.
So Dart is ready to put Cline to work in the suburbs.
This week, the Cook County Board will be asked to approve a $96,678 contract with KTD Group, an Orland Park-based consulting firm that now employs Cline.
If it’s approved, Cline will begin work this month and spend a year using the same computerized mapping system that he used to identify crime patterns and hot spots in Chicago.
That allowed Cline to deploy extra officers to certain areas or to recognize similarities in offenses.
“He’ll do a top-to-bottom review of all of our police operations, but what we really want to get from him is that deployment plan,” said Dart’s chief of staff, Bill Cunningham. “That’s one of the things he’s been recognized for around the country.”
Cunningham said the county plans to “enter into partnerships with different clusters” of suburban police departments, hoping each will cooperate to allow for the sharing of information and data that Cline can then use to develop the mapping data.
County officials solicited bids for the contract and KTD, submitted the lowest of three bids, he said.
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