North Cook News

Hoffman Estates resident Patrick Thomas Brouillette is concerned about crime pouring over from Chicago into the suburbs in the 44th House District.

Brouillette, who is running for the House of Representatives for the 44th district, commented after Wirepoints published its analysis of Chicago data showing carjackings in the city will reach a new high this year, at least since 2001, if 2022 year-to-date trends continue.

“We’d be remiss to think that the extraordinary crime spike in Chicago doesn’t bleed out into the suburbs," he posted on Facebook. "The juxtaposition of the rise in aggravated car jackings compared to the record low number of related arrests is not a coincidence. The lack of criminal prosecution combined with weak crime legislation is the glaring issue here. Is your current representative combating the REAL issues [a]ffecting us, or simply courting imaginary social issues to suit a political agenda? Their voting history and sponsored bills are all public records, so we all know the answer to that question.”

Wirepoints reported that at the current rate, Chicago is set to hit 1,960 carjackings this year, the highest rate since 2001. This is up from 1,848 in 2021 which is more than triple the 2019 number of 603. Of the carjackings, 76% have been "aggravated,” which usually means the use of a weapon. While minority neighborhoods on the South and West sides have the most carjackings, neighborhoods on the Northside have been hit too. Neighborhoods that were considered relatively safe in 2019 are no longer, including Albany Park on the Northwest Side and Beverly and Mount Greenwood on the Southside. This rise in carjacking accompanies a rise in other crime across the city.

Brouillette is an Illinois native and small business owner who says he represents the average Illinoisan wanting to fight for Illinois. He supports phasing out the income tax and reducing property taxes. He said he will seek to abolish the FOID card, and he wants to give small businesses incentives to stay in Illinois. He said that he'd "rather stay and fight for Illinois than give up and leave." He said he supports law and order and putting criminals in jail.

"I've lived in Hoffman Estates since 2007 and I've never seen crime this widespread in our community," Brouillette stated on his campaign website. "Our politicians need to be tougher on crime. Not only that, we need to back our police force that are enforcing our laws. We need LAW & ORDER. Too many criminals know that our system is weak on punishment, so the crime rates naturally increase. Our current rising crime rates are due to public policy, or lack thereof. We need to bring back stiff punishments to reduce our current out of control crime in our community."

In a YouTube video, Brouillette said that children need to be protected and nurtured since they are the future. He is against mandates he sees as irresponsible and said he will fight to pass legislation to ensure regulations like those passed during the COVID pandemic never happen again. He said students are being indoctrinated with political propaganda. 

"These teachings are absolutely abhorrent and should never be allowed in our schools," Brouillette said. "This is perhaps the biggest fight of our generation."

Brouillette is challenging incumbent Democratic Rep. Fred Crespo who has been in office since 2007.