Kane Deputy Eden Latham and K-9 Maggie search for county’s missing

ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP – Before she came to be a Kane County Sheriff’s deputy, Eden Latham was a military mechanic at the Texas National Guard Armory in Houston and then at the Rock Falls National Guard Armory in Illinois.

“The Army taught us a lot of things,” Latham said.

She still goes on weekend training sessions for the National Guard.

Latham, 32, also is a K-9 handler for a bloodhound named Maggie and a K-9 training officer.

“Maggie does human scent only,” Latham said. “Sometimes it’s a 10-minute delay or a 12-hour delay. Once we get her geared up and present the scent article – it can be a pillowcase, hairbrush, toothbrush, a cotton swab off a steering wheel – off we go.”

Latham and Maggie work the 2 to 10 p.m. shift doing basic patrol duties in addition to being called out to find missing people.

“Anyone with any kind of mental disability who may have wandered off, elderly people, children with autism,” Latham said.

“Deputy Latham has answered the call for service without hesitation and continues to do so with integrity, honor, and professionalism.”

—  Ron Hain, Kane County sheriff

Although she did not receive the award, Latham was nominated for the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association Deputy of the Year.

In the nomination letter, Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain wrote, “In the wake of serious threat and uncertainty, Deputy Latham has never thought twice and delved into danger.”

“For example, she was dispatched to a suicidal subject threatening to harm himself with a firearm,” according to the nomination letter. “Upon arrival, Deputy Latham and others observed that he had a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and immediately began life-saving measures.”

Before she was hired, Latham also was a certified emergency medical technician, handling thousands of serious injuries and fatality crashes in the area, Hain wrote.

Last year, Latham found a vehicle that was reported stolen. When the driver hit the gas and refused to stop, she designated where a mobile spike strip should be placed, resulting in the driver and occupants being stopped without further threat to the community, Hain wrote.

“Deputy Latham has answered the call for service without hesitation and continues to do so with integrity, honor and professionalism,” Hain wrote.

In her personal life, Latham lives in DeKalb, has a wife who is a dance instructor, two dogs and three cats.

“If I have time to do anything, it’s going to be outside,” Latham said. “I like fishing and hiking. We try to do a camping trip once a year. Two years ago, we drove out to Washington state and visited family and stayed in different national forests all the way home.”

Deputy Jason Katsuleas praised Latham as a deputy and as a person.

“She gets underestimated. It’s just going to happen in this line of work,” Katsuleas said of Latham being a woman and an officer. “She has proven herself beyond belief. She doesn’t have to, she just does.”

Katsuleas described Latham as a hard worker, someone who is always ready to answer the call for service.

“It’s a cliche, but if there is perfect public service, she’s on the front of the brochure for it,” Katsuleas said.

Latham also is “the most hilarious person I’ve ever met in my life,” he said.

“Everybody who knows her has their own, unique personal relationship with her,” Katsuleas said. “When she walks into a room, she is the shining light. She doesn’t have anything bad to say about anyone and the glass is always half full. That is a special gift that not everyone has.”