DuPage County’s plans to participate in a military-style boot camp for teenage criminals moved closer to approval Monday when a County Board committee voted to accept the general terms of a proposed deal with Kane County.
Under the proposed agreement, DuPage would pay about $602,000 a year to Kane County, which would cover half the annual cost of operating a boot camp. In return, DuPage would be able to sentence as many as 45 youths a year to the program when it begins operating next summer.
Though Kane would build and operate the boot camp, officials also want DuPage to contribute up to $200,000 toward the cost of setting up the program.
Members of the DuPage County Board’s Public Safety Committee gave their blessing to the proposed agreement, despite concerns that the county’s judiciary and probation department were not committed fully to using the boot camp as a sentencing option.
Board member Robert Heap (R-Naperville), Public Safety Committee chairman, noted that DuPage could pull out of the agreement after a year by giving four months notice to Kane officials.
With follow-up programs, which would be operated separately in each county, the annual cost to DuPage is estimated at $800,000 to $1 million.
Kane County Board Chairman Mike McCoy has said that he wants to bring the proposed agreement before both boards on Oct. 14.