Ron Hain: Candidate Profile

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Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioQA Bio City: Sugar GroveWebsite: www.HainforKaneSheriff.comTwitter: Candidate did not respond.Facebook: Ron Hain for Kane SheriffOffice sought: Kane County Sheriff Age: 41Family: Amy, Wife Mason, Son Ashlyn, DaughterOccupation: Deputy Sheriff, SergeantEducation: Associates Degree in Criminal JusticeCivic involvement: Youth sports coach Elgin Police Re-Entry Program Advisory Board Invest Aurora Advisory BoardElected offices held: NoneQuestions Answers Are sheriff deputies and jail employees competitively compensated?I believe that the Deputies in the Public Safety division are well compensated, however the Corrections Officers are in need of a new contract that increases their pay rate between years 2 and 7 of their employment and also reduces the number of years until they reach their top pay. This gap in their pay schedule has created employee retention issues, which has resulted in mandated overtime and diminishing moral for the rest of the staff. As Sheriff, I would work with the County Board to quickly remedy the pay schedule in effort to retain valuable employees, increase moral, and operational efficiency.Is the current level of jail and patrol staff adequate to ensure the safety of the public and security of the jail?The patrol division still deploys shift person in the same format as it did in the 1980's. Knowing how much the population and infrastructure of the county has changed since then, this archaic approach results in the long response times and inefficiency we currently experience. An additional 5 deputies in the public safety division would serve well to support the investigative division and specialize in domestic safety issues, opioid investigations, and cyber crimes. If the jail was fully staffed at their approved 122 officers, it could operate properly. Sheriff Perez efficiently ran the jail with 640 inmates and 122 officers.What do you see as the biggest gap in solving the opioid crisis in your county? What can the sheriff's office do to help close the gap?The largest gap is created by antiquated investigative tactics and a failure to treat and redirect the addicted population. As Sheriff, I would return interdiction initiatives that I created starting in 2007, that detected thousands of pounds of bulk dangerous drugs flowing into Kane County. I will also introduce my Heroin Hotline Task Force concept that provides a communication pipeline for the community to anonymously report heroin activity, along with a group of officers from Kane County Police agencies to follow up on the information. The Sheriff encounters a large number of our addicted population as the provider of the County Jail. I have highlighted my concept for a residential rehabilitation facility as a diversion to a County Jail sentence. The inmate would be a Kane County resident, non-violent and non-sex offender with an opioid addiction. The inmate would partially support their six to nine month treatment by working full-time through my local employer network. By providing them with in-custody treatment and an employer connection, we stand to redirect their life and return them to the community truly rehabilitated.What is the best process for ensuring the department has operational and efficient patrol vehicles?To ensure the integrity of these important assets regular audits of vehicles within our fleets, using vehicles and equipment specifically designed for police patrols maximize the usage and efficiency of the vehicles. Also, my redesign of the patrol sectors will decrease the daily mileage of each vehicle and minimize the risk of accidental damage during elongated responses.If the department is called upon to make more budget cuts, what cuts would you suggest to the board?I would eliminate or slow-hire administrative and command staff positions, first. Also, I am aware that the Sheriff's Office can lawfully supplement its budget with asset forfeiture proceeds. When targeting large scale drug trafficking organizations, law enforcement often seizes funds and assets associated with their crimes. The assets awarded to the law enforcement agencies through these investigations are truly property of the people of their community. It is the money taken from them through the crimes committed by those black market organizations. I plan to ensure those seized assets are used to alleviate our citizens' tax burden by supplementing the tax appropriated budget at the Sheriff's Office. I will also create a website portal for full transparency, where citizens can observe and track the seized asset process and, ultimately, how it is used to support their public safety.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?The position of Sheriff was created to elect or appoint a person that the community felt could keep them safe from outside dangers and serve their citizens with respect and dignity. I have served and protected Kane County from the primary cause of crime (drug trafficking) by identifying hundreds of international drug traffickers. I have worked to connect prior felons with local employers to reduce their chance of re-offending. Currently, I believe we have too many inmates in our jail who could be redirected and connected to employment. I plan to provide vocational training to a specific set of our inmates in effort to return them to the community as productive citizens. I will re-institute a cyber crimes investigator to prioritize investigations of those preying on the children of Kane County. I see this as one of our largest safety threats, and currently there is no proactive approach to it. I would also enable communication between municipal police agencies and our jail staff through liaisons that will network support and intelligence. The Sheriff's Office also needs to regularly network with Community Crisis Center and Mutual Ground to ensure we are properly supporting domestic violence victims.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Joe Maddon, Chicago Cubs Head CoachWhat is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Hard work pays off.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I would have served in the military.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Spanish. It was a springboard to becoming conversational in the language which has greatly helped me communicate with a large segment of Kane County.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Leave people and places better than how you found them.