Cook County to stop prosecuting some traffic tickets
(Thomas Hawk/Flickr)
CHICAGO (AP) -- Cook County's state's attorney's office will stop prosecuting some traffic offenses because there is not enough staff to handle all the cases.
First Assistant State's Attorney Eric Sussman tells the Chicago Tribune that starting later this year the office won't prosecute people charged with driving on licenses that have been suspended for financial reasons such as failure to pay child support, tolls, and parking tickets.
Sussman says there's been a dramatic drop in the number of prosecutors in the last decade, leaving those prosecutors overwhelmed by their growing caseloads.
He says the move will free up some prosecutors to handle other cases. He also says that communities where the offenses occurred can themselves prosecute the cases if they choose to.