911 for county system

Tony Peraica in seeking the position of State's Attorney this year is already emailing people with this story. It almost sounds like he's running for the wrong position when he should actually be running for County Board President instead but that election is in another two years. Crain's:

Four years into a $41-million program to install police surveillance systems throughout suburban Cook County, a third of municipalities are equipped, the contractor has been replaced after a number of technical glitches and a subcontractor responsible for installing the equipment is bankrupt.

More than half the budget — funded by federal Homeland Security grants — has been spent, and at least one county commissioner alleges official misconduct.

For their part, county officials say that the program has had technical problems and acknowledge that an employee has been investigated for his business dealings. But they say the investigation exonerated him and that they're working on the other problems.

The program is another embarrassment for Cook County President Todd Stroger, who pushed through a highly unpopular sales tax hike this year, continues to battle accusations of patronage and is desperately trying to cure an ailing public hospital system.

Cook County Commissioner Michael Quigley calls the Homeland Security project "a disaster so far."

Fellow Commissioner Tony Peraica is even more critical. Mr. Peraica, who is calling for a federal probe of the program, dubbed Project Shield, says two FBI agents interviewed him at his request for almost three hours last month.

"Cook County Project Shield is definitely on their radar, and it's being looked at very carefully," says Mr. Peraica, a Republican running for state's attorney and a frequent critic of the county's Democratic administration.

The FBI declines to comment, and Cook County officials say they have no knowledge of a federal investigation.

"I'm the grant manager of the Homeland Security grant," says Daniel Coughlin, director of the county's Judicial Advisory Council. "I have never gotten any contact whatsoever from any federal authorities."