DuPage sheriff rejects proposal to scale back patrol division

DuPage County Sheriff John Zaruba hated the thought of scaling back his patrol division's duties when it was suggested six years ago by county board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom.

Zaruba says he still doesn't like the idea now that another candidate for county board chairman has picked up on it.

Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso, one of four Republican candidates seeking their party's nomination for chairman in the Feb. 2 primary, says DuPage might save money by contracting with local police departments to patrol the dwindling unincorporated areas.

"The sheriff's responsibility with the jail and prisoners is really important," Grasso told the Daily Herald editorial board this week. "However, it needs to be looked at whether those services of patrolling make any sense and whether those dollars can be better spent."

On Friday, Zaruba responded to his fellow Republican, saying it would cost taxpayers more money for the municipalities to patrol unincorporated areas.

"It would be very, very expensive for the taxpayers," Zaruba said during a meeting with the Daily Herald. "We have a very low cost per resident that we protect."

He said there's nothing wrong with the existing system, which has about 95 deputies patrolling unincorporated pockets throughout the 321-square-mile county.

Contracting with municipal departments to patrol unincorporated areas wouldn't shield the county from potential liability issues.

"I would rather have control of our own destiny," Zaruba said.

Meanwhile, Zaruba's challenger in the GOP primary for sheriff said he believes deputies should be helping local police departments patrol municipalities.

"Everyone in DuPage County pays into the county," said Mike Quiroz, a retired sheriff's deputy. "We can ask the towns if we can assist them in any manner. And every single town, with the exception of very few, would say, 'Yeah, we're having a problem with burglaries. We're having a problem with this.' We could go into these towns and help."

Zaruba and Quiroz disagree when it comes to Quiroz's plan to increase the number of patrol deputies. Quiroz said he wants to reduce the number of deputies working at the courthouse to beef up patrols.

Zaruba said every one of the 74 deputies assigned to the courthouse is needed there.

"The state statute mandates that we have deputy sheriffs (at the courthouse)," Zaruba said. "I mandate that they're qualified to handle anything that a patrol deputy can do, because you're in a situation in a courthouse where you have 5,000 to 8,000 people going though it every day. We handle domestic situations. We handle battery situations.

"These people have to have the skills, knowledge and ability to handle those without calling in Wheaton police or our people off the street," he said. "They make arrests daily."