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Will County Sheriff candidate Jim Reilly answered Shaw Local’s election questionnaire for the Will County Sheriff primary election.
Voting ends for the primary election on the evening of June 28.
Full Name: Jim Reilly
What office are you seeking? Will County Sheriff
What offices, if any, have you previously held? Past President, Will County Humane Society
City: Joliet, Illinois
Occupation: Deputy Will County Sheriff
Education: Doctor of Philosophy, Criminal Justice/Global Leadership
Master of Science, Criminal Justice
Bachelor of Arts, Criminal Law
Campaign Website: www.ReillyforSheriff.com
What would be your top three priorities over the next four years?
Reduce Crime
Support Law Enforcement
Target Drug Dealers
Crime has become a number #1 issue throughout our nation, and Will County is no exception. Illinois legislators passed legislation that has emboldened criminals and undermined the authority of law enforcement. These misguided efforts originate from failed leadership and have plagued our communities with violent crimes, including murder, car jackings, home invasions, and assaults. Our current Sheriff has remained silent as his Springfield colleagues allow this legislation to stand.
As a result, morale within law enforcement is the lowest I have ever witnessed in my 20-plus years as an officer. It is time to repeal this failed legislation that allows criminals to roam free throughout our communities. We need a Sheriff who supports and leads his department, protecting them against the Springfield and Chicago politicians ruining our state.
Under my leadership, we will immediately implement a plainclothes tactical unit to respond to high-crime areas while utilizing tactics that will allow us to arrest and hold violent offenders accountable for their actions.
The Will County Sheriff’s Police Department will go back to pursuing violent offenders and bringing them to justice. The days of allowing violent armed offenders to flee law enforcement without repercussions are over. Our deputies and supervisors will be trained in several pursuit tactics that will send a clear message to these violent thugs that we will protect our communities and that they will face judgment.
Will County needs a Sheriff that supports his police department. Unfortunately, our current Sheriff treats his public office as a part-time job, despite being paid over $115,000 by the taxpayers of Will County. This has resulted in low morale and a lack of general direction within the Sheriff’s Department.
I will proudly support my law enforcement brothers and sisters and defend them while appreciating the challenging tasks they complete daily while protecting our communities.
We need our department members out in the community, identifying high-crime areas and working intelligently to reduce unwanted criminal behaviors. We will work closely with the State’s Attorney’s Office to ensure our investigations and arrests are solid and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
We have the talent and ability to fight this recent rise in crime; we need new engaged leadership who appreciates the value of their employees and treats the office of Sheriff seriously.
Taxes are a top concern raised by voters locally. What do you do within your position to address residents’ tax burden?
I do not support raising taxes in Will County; our community members are overtaxed already. The Sheriff’s department is one of the largest employers throughout the Will County area, and the money entrusted to the Sheriff by taxpayers should be spent wisely. By reorganizing the current administrators within the Sheriff’s department, we will free up revenue for better use by adding police officers to our underserved communities.
Because of the recent which was passed without considering costs, it is certain the Progressive movement, if left in control, will have to raise taxes to pay for their failed legislation, which includes HB 3653. These progressive political agendas need to be repealed, and there should not be any new taxes to pay for failed leadership.
If left in place, HB 3653 will cost Illinois taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in additional taxes from a state already grossly mismanaged. This is not mentioning the costs of safety and lives that will ultimately be ruined if we allow unfunded mandates to reduce our policing budgets while reducing the workforce protecting us daily on the streets of Will County and throughout the state.
Voters also cited crime as a concern. What do you think needs to be done to address this concern?
By working closely with the departmental units, my administration will look for non-monetary incentives that will allow us to support our employees and reduce costs to taxpayers. We will also reorganize the Will County Sheriff’s Police department into a more accountable, efficient working governmental agency that is transparent and accountable to the citizens of Will County. Also, the Will County taxpayers deserve a well-trained, professional organization that can intelligently respond to the rise in crime plaguing our communities.
As previously mentioned, we need a proactive response to crime within our neighborhoods. By utilizing intelligence-led policing efforts, and supporting these efforts with highly-trained self-initiated law enforcement officers, criminal behaviors can be identified, addressed, and resolved to reduce our calls for service and free up valuable resources to patrol our communities.
Another focus of the new proactive unit is to identify and target high crimes areas that currently feed the narcotics pipeline that has allowed Will County to become the secondhighest county in the State for overdose deaths. As a part of my Heroin Epidemic Plan, we will be initiating in-school training programs to educate our children on the dangers of drugs and other self-confidence-promoting programs.
My administration will work closely with our school administrators to ensure our children’s safety and security. As a part of the community-policing efforts, every school that falls under the responsibility of the Will County Sheriff’s Police will be assigned a liaison deputy who will regularly check security plans and procedures while keeping daily contact with these schools offering any assistance available.
We will rebuild and restore a criminal intelligence database available to the Will County Sheriff’s Police department members. For unknown reasons, our current Sheriff removed and discontinued the availability of a criminal intelligence database used regularly by Sheriff’s Police department members to solve crimes and locate suspects or wanted offenders. The removal of this intelligence database has dramatically undermined the ability of our hard-working deputies and supervisors to complete their law enforcement duties and hampered the apprehension of suspects who have committed criminal offenses.
What do you bring to the table that your opponents do not?
I consider it an honor and privilege to be a law enforcement officer in the Will County area for over 20 years. As a part of my commitment to serving the people of Will County, I have finished my undergraduate degree at De Paul University in Criminal Law, my Masters’ Degree in Criminal Justice at Aurora University, and my Ph.D. in Global Leadership-Criminal Justice through Walden University.
In my 20 years as an officer, my experiences include working for several years within an organized crime/drug enforcement unit. This experience allowed me to be the case agent on one of Will County’s most prominent criminal drug conspiracy cases. Our team worked closely with local and federal agencies to solve crimes such as murder, armed robberies, murder for hires, and many other high-profile cases, including political corruption.
My law enforcement career has been blessed with several departmental and community awards, which further support my qualifications to be Will County’s next Sheriff. I was awarded “Officer of the Year” from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Joliet Police Department in 1991 and 1993. I was also awarded Deputy of the Year in 2016, recognized as Deputy of the Year from the Lockport Chamber of Commerce, and again in 2016 from the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
I have received over 20 Departmental Commendations, several Unit Merit Awards, and Letters of appreciation from the Illinois Attorney’s General Office, Federal Bureau of Investigations, and Drug Enforcement Administration, to name only a few.
Recently local communities such as the Village of Coal City and the Grundy County Sheriff’s Police department have recognized my help in apprehending a potential carjacker and locating an offender who had shot a law enforcement officer.
These departmental and community awards attest to my commitment and understanding of building trust as a law enforcement officer who has dedicated his life to serving our community. I will bring these same high standards to the position of Sheriff.
Our new administration will select the best educated, most experienced, and professional individuals to fill the upper management positions. We will work closely with every department within the Sheriff’s Police organization, from Corrections, Patrol, Investigations, and Supervisors, to create a working environment free from Administration intimidation, aggressive disciplines, and political patronage that is currently costing the Will County taxpayer millions of dollars. I believe our employees are our most valuable resource. By appointing the most qualified administration, I can return the Will County Sheriff’s Police agency to a more respected agency led by hard-working, well-educated professionals who understand and support our commitment to the citizens of Will County.
If you could redo or reverse any one decision made by the sheriff in the last four years, what would it be and why?
Sheriff Kelley has failed the Will County Sheriff’s Police Department and law enforcement throughout the State of Illinois because he will not speak out publicly against HB 3653 or the current liberal political movement that is destroying law enforcement.
Sheriff Kelley has chosen to remain silent, which leads the hard-working men and women of Will County law enforcement to lose faith in Sheriff Kelley’s leadership. It has become apparent that Sheriff Kelley values the current Liberal Progressive movement over the law enforcement men and women who serve him.
Politics and political agendas that undermine law enforcement and encourage criminal behaviors have to stop. Law enforcement is one of Our Country’s proudest professions, and I will always support the men and women who risk their lives daily to serve us and protect our communities.
Will County needs a new direction, a fresh set of leaders who promote transparency, commitment, and dedication to duty. We have seen violence against law enforcement and within our communities rise to unprecedented levels, and this can not become the new normal.
It is time for a new direction throughout Will County and the State of Illinois. Please vote in Support of Jim Reilly for Will County Sheriff, a new direction for Will County.