Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart speaks at a news conference in Springfield in support of carjacking legislation in 2022. [Ben Szalinski]

During a mid-year budget hearing Tuesday, Cook County commissioners heard from the county sheriff about the decrease in certain instances of crime in Chicago’s River North neighborhood as a result of the office’s presence but also about the office’s ongoing hiring difficulties.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s remarks to the County Finance Committee were among multiple presentations made by county agencies and departments Tuesday, the first of two days of mid-year budget hearings.