Sheriff's candidates debate adding marine deputies
A Lake County sheriff candidate says more needs to be done to enforce laws and patrol waterways like the Chain O' Lakes.
Incumbent Sheriff Mark Curran said his office does not have a statutory obligation to patrol area lakes and increasing its marine presence would mean cuts in other services.
“If you request more officers to patrol the waterways, then what will be cut in other areas?” Curran asked. “Where are these people going to come from?”
Jason Patt, a 36-year-old Democrat from Zion, is challenging the Republican Curran, 54, of Libertyville, in the Nov. 4 election.
Patt works as an investigator with the Lake County coroner's office. Curran is a former attorney who was elected sheriff in 2006.
The Lake County Sheriff Marine Unit employs 15 deputies, Curran said, only two of which work full time. He said the three Lake County sheriff marine boats are staffed by part-time deputies who usually hold full-time employment at other police agencies.
When asked about the issue in a Daily Herald questionnaire, Patt said the marine unit “is severely understaffed and in need of a complete overhaul.”
Its response time is “often an unacceptable 60 minutes or more,” he said, adding that new laws will place more financial and personnel strain on the skeleton crew.
“I will hire more part-time officers to provide support while reviewing and revising all policy and procedures,” Patt said in the questionnaire.
He did not return multiple calls Tuesday seeking additional comment or to rebut Curran's statements.
Curran said the marine unit budget was cut in half in 2011 when the sheriff's office requested patrol assistance from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Currently, Curran said, the marine unit handles three days of patrols on the Chain O' Lakes during the boating season. Illinois Conservation Police handles the other four days.
Despite fewer patrols by the sheriff's office, the Chain O' Lakes only had one drowning in 2014, Curran said. The marine unit assisted in 12 accidents, wrote 54 tickets for excessive drinking and issued 331 other citations, he said.
Overall, according to department statistics, calls for service have fallen from 1,567 in 2011 to 917 this year, and the number of tickets issued has fallen from 494 in 2011 to 403 this year.
Curran noted that the Lake County Board is in charge of the overall budget for the sheriff's office.
“I've been through this before,” Curran said. “You walk up and ask (the Lake County Board) for more money for something like additional marine unit patrols, and they say, ‘Sure, what are you going to cut?'”