Members of Chicago's law enforcement community are taking offense with a comment made by Mayor Brandon Johnson, after he said this week, in part, "jails and incarceration and law enforcement is a sickness."

The comment sparked outrage online and in the Cook County State's Attorney's office.

Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke said she was deeply offended by the statement.

Some argued that Johnson's words were taken out of context.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Johnson was responding to a question about how to make Chicagoans feel safe in their communities:

"The fact of the matter is, we are driving violence down in this city, and we're using every single resource that's available to us. Jails and incarceration and law enforcement is a sickness that has not led to safe communities" Johnson said.

The "law enforcement is a sickness" comment drew outrage in some conservative and pro-police circles on social media — even prompting O'Neill Burke to voice her own outrage during an interview on a different topic.

"The statement was disappointing and disheartening. We are part of law enforcement. The State's Attorney's office is the prosecution arm, and that is clearly law enforcement," she said. "I have 1,300 people who work in this office, who are dedicated public servants, who get up every single day to make sure that they keep women safe from domestic violence, to make sure that we are doing our jobs in protecting children from being sex trafficked, to make sure that we are prosecuting murder cases. What we do every day does not call for our eradication."

When she was elected last November, O'Neill Burke was considered the "law-and-order focused" candidate and was backed by police.

Hoping to clarify what Mayor Johnson meant by "law enforcement is a sickness," CBS News Chicago asked him about the remark.

"The people who heard my statement, they know exactly what I meant and what I'm talking about. They're using this moment to politicize to justify their own insecurities. I'm not going to stand for it, I'm not going to take it, and neither will the residents of this fine city," he said.

Johnson added that "the addiction of jails and incarceration is one that we have to wean ourselves off of" — this time leaving out a reference to law enforcement, specifically. 

DE MAR: "When you just responded, though, you didn't loop in law enforcement this time. So did you not intend to use the loop in law enforcement?"

JOHNSON: "Here's what I've said, though. Law enforcement alone does not keep communities safe. Law enforcement agrees with me on that. … How do you send police officers into communities when there there's little access to affordable housing? What is a police officer's responsibility to hunger? What is a police officer's responsibility to the lack of funding for special education and bilingual education? Should police officers solve those problems? No, that's not their responsibility. So I've said this for years, now. This is nothing new."

Johnson went on to say that jails, incarceration, and law enforcement should not be considered some kind of "salvation" for the Black and Brown communities of Chicago.

The Chicago Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on the mayor's remark.