DuPage candidate wants sheriff's patrols scaled back

County board candidate Gary Grasso says looking at southeastern DuPage on a map is enough to convince him that it's not cost effective to have the sheriff's department patrolling that area.

With municipalities already protecting so much of that part of the county, Grasso said DuPage should reduce the size of the sheriff's patrol division and pay local police departments to patrol unincorporated neighborhoods near their boundaries.

“The municipal police departments can cover those unincorporated pockets much more efficiently than the sheriff could,” Grasso told the Daily Herald editorial board this week.

Grasso, who is the mayor of Burr Ridge, is one of the four Republicans in the race for three District 3 seats on the county board. The three other GOP candidates are incumbents Brian Krajewski and John Curran and retired DuPage Judge Ken Moy of Hinsdale.

The Republican winners of the March 20 primary will face Democrat Sharon Bryant of Bolingbrook in the November general election. District 3 includes all or parts of Bolingbrook, Burr Ridge, Clarendon Hills, Darien, Downers Grove, Hinsdale, Lemont, Naperville, Westmont, Willowbrook and Woodridge.

Krajewski agreed that Grasso's suggestion makes sense when you look at District 3.

“We have small unincorporated pockets,” Krajewski said. “It's hard for the sheriff to patrol one area and then run four towns over to another little area. If there is an incident, the municipalities are right there.”

But Curran said patrolling unincorporated areas is a statutory duty of DuPage County Sheriff John Zaruba. He is the only person who can give it up.

“Can we engage in a discussion with the sheriff? Yes,” Curran said. “Can we slash his budget and say ‘Figure it out'? No.”

Zaruba, whose spokeswoman could not be reached Thursday, opposed a plan to scale back his patrol division's duties when it was suggested nine years ago by then-county board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom.

And the sheriff didn't support the idea when he won re-election in 2010. At that time, Zaruba said it would cost taxpayers more money for the municipalities to patrol unincorporated areas.

Still, Grasso said he would like to see county board members work with Zaruba to at least study the issue. “I agree that you can't force it down his throat,” he said.

However, Grasso said the discussion should happen because the county's finances are getting tighter. He said the sheriff's department, which has 538 full-time employees, is a major part of the county's overall budget.

“It you're going to make any meaningful cost savings and consolidate,” Grasso said, “then that's an obvious area to look.”