Waukegan Exchange Club honors two Lake County Sheriff's officials

The Waukegan Exchange Club named Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Andrea Usry as Command Officer of the Year and Deputy Robert Tiedje as Deputy of the Year.

The annual awards were announced April 8.

Sgt. Tom Struck and Usry were nominated for Command Officer of the Year. Deputies Joseph Halek, Jason Plichta, Keith Kaiser, and Tiedje were nominated for Deputy of the Year.

Usry is a sergeant in the criminal investigations division, where she supervises 25 investigators.

As a juvenile officer, she is responsible as the lead supervisor for the school safety team, which includes 45 schools in the unincorporated jurisdictions.

Some of the team's responsibilities include training schools with emergency procedures such as performing lockdown safety drills and educating them in development of safety plans.

Usry is on the committee of the underage drinking and drug task force, which is a multijurisdictional group that combats the sale of alcoholic beverages to minors.

Tiedje is the senior training instructor responsible for training every division of the sheriff's office. He is a member of the tactical response team, a team leader for the snipers on the team, and is on the committee for firearms selection.