Sheriff opens substation for southeast McHenry County

The McHenry County Sheriff's Office gave new meaning to its concept of community policing Wednesday when the agency formally opened its first substation at the Algonquin Township headquarters near Cary.

The substation, at 3702 Northwest Highway, serves a long unfulfilled need to make dealing with the department more convenient for residents of Algonquin, Fox River Grove, Barrington Hills and other communities in southeast portion of the county, Sheriff Keith Nygren said.

"We figured it made the most sense to do this in the most populous part of the county," Nygren said.

The substation will not be staffed full time, but there will be 24-hour access to a one-way phone line linking the office with sheriff's headquarters in Woodstock. People will be able to make appointments to meet with sheriff's personnel at the facility, report accidents, obtain reports and deal with whatever other business they may have with the agency, rather than having to make the 15- to 20-mile trek to the county seat in Woodstock.

Nygren expects the substation to be just as convenient for deputies assigned to patrol that part of the county. Deputies will be able to write reports, briefly detain prisoners and conduct other business without having to make a trip back to headquarters.

"We'll have a better police presence down there now," the sheriff said. "I want to be able to keep our resources down there. If they have to come from Algonquin or Fox River Grove (to Woodstock), that's a half-hour each way, which is an hour less for them on the streets, patrolling and responding to calls."

The seeds of a southeastern substation were planted several years ago when a developer hoping to build a subdivision in Barrington Hills offered a spot within the project for the sheriff's use. The development stalled, but the idea of a substation remained.

Algonquin Township Highway Commissioner Bob Miller picked it up from there, realizing that a building sitting on recently acquired land next to its Route 14 facility could be the ideal fit.

Miller and the township made the building available to the sheriff free of charge, and after about $6,000 of renovations paid for by the sheriff's department, the substation was ready to go.

"It's an opportunity for intergovernmental cooperation that saves everybody money," Miller said. "I think absolutely people will use it."