Cook County sheriff boosts Chicago warrant arrests

The Cook County Sheriff's Department will increase efforts to apprehend people wanted for violent crimes in an effort to reduce gun violence in Chicago.

Cook County Jail executive director Cara Smith says sheriff's deputies are being shifted from suburban Robbins, where they were working to reduce violence, to Chicago. Smith told the Chicago Sun-Times the deputies won't be patrolling Chicago's streets, but will work with the police department's fugitive teams more frequently.

Smith says the sheriff's department will also boost its supervision of criminal defendants released from jail on electronic monitoring.

The Cook County sheriff's decision to focus on arrest warrants issued for violent crime suspects comes in the wake of a violent Fourth of July weekend when 13 people were shot to death and dozens more were wounded.