Worlds Collide: Tom Dart in Moline

It's not often that you see a Cook Countywide elected official making an announcement in downstate. Sheriff Tom Dart is offering a training program to help downstate counties stop gangs.

The Quad-City Times tells us:

He invited area law officers to travel to Chicago to see the Cook County Jail, the largest jail in the nation with 10,000 inmates. Dart said a tremendous amount of gang intelligence is culled at the jail. “It provides us with so much information that it’s unbelievable,” he said.

Police at the jail learn about the gangs’ strategies, where they’re going, their hierarchy and more. Quad-City officers who participate in the free training in Chicago will be partnered with Dart’s gang officers, shadowing them on assignments and investigations.

Of course, Dart is no stranger to downstate since his 2002 run for Treasurer. It's nice to see that he's thinking about the rest of Illinois even though he's elected in Chicago.