East Meets West In Will County-Finally
Lt. Steve Egan Says County Residents Ignored
For Far Too Long
Crete-Monee- Democratic Sheriff’s
candidate Lt. Steve Egan has unveiled a plan to finally give the residents of
the eastern portion of Will County the services they deserve; the same services
the rest of Will County has enjoyed all along.
"There
is no Eastern Will County, just Will County,” said Lt. Egan, “and the good
citizens of the eastern portion of Will County have been ignored for far too
long.”
Lt. Egan’s plan
is to transform a currently underutilized Sheriff’s building in Crete-Monee
into a second, full service Sheriff’s Office.
This facility will offer a full slate of services to the residents of
that area.
“This
building still looks virtually brand new after its costly remodeling several
years ago,” noted Lt. Egan, “yet it only serves as a temporary holding cell
manned by two Will County Corrections Officers and only for one third of the
day.”
Retiring
Will County Sheriff Paul Kaupas had this facility remodeled and expanded
several years ago using drug seizure money.
While it has the potential to house a full slate of services for the
residents this promise has never been realized.
Currently, all Sheriff’s personnel serving the eastern portion of Will
County work out of the downtown Joliet office or the west side Laraway Road facility. Lt. Egan maintains this arrangement
underserves the residents while wasting time and resources for the Sheriff’s
Department.
“It makes no
sense to require personnel to drive almost an hour each way,” argues Lt. Egan,
“This wastes valuable time they can spend serving the residents and unknown
amounts of money for the fuel to travel so unnecessarily.”
Currently
the facility serves as a temporary holding facility for subjects arrested
nearby and only between the hours of 8:00 pm and 4:00 am. Lt. Egan would use the ample office space to
reassign deputies, detectives, CSI investigators, clerks and other personnel to
the facility to better serve the area residents. In short, Sheriff’s Department personnel who
currently serve on the eastern portion of Will County would actually be located
where they work.
“In phases
we would make this a second Sheriff’s headquarters that can function
twenty-four hours a day,” said Lt. Egan, “and we would save money and better
serve those residents by doing this.”
