Drug interdiction unit coming to Ogle County Sheriff’s Office thanks to grant

OREGON – A drug interdiction unit soon will be part of the Ogle County Sheriff’s Office thanks to a federal grant.

“We submitted this grant nearly two years ago,” Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle said. “It was an extremely competitive grant process. In fact, our Department of Justice rep was shocked that we had it and received that grant.”

The grant is the Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program grant, provided by the U.S. Department of Justice. It provides 60.33% of the salaries and benefits for the three new officers for three years; the county is responsible for the remaining 39.67%.

On June 20, Ogle County Board members unanimously approved the hiring of three additional deputies to work full time in a drug interdiction unit, bringing the total number of deputies to 23.

The total cost of the program is $621,602, said Bruce Larson, Ogle County Board finance and insurance committee chairperson. The county’s share would be about $55,000 a year for all three deputies, he said.

The Ogle County Sheriff’s Office received the grant in 2020, VanVickle said in an interview Friday. He said that, since then, he has requested the County Board increase the number of deputies several times.

It’s a good time to implement the program, VanVickle told County Board members. Several retirements are expected in the next few years, which means if the unit doesn’t work out, the three officers hired can be reabsorbed into other positions within the office, he said.

“My hope is, at the end of the three years, I can come back to the board and say, ‘Look what we’ve done. We need to continue this and keep the number to 23 and move forward,’ ” VanVickle said.

The deputies doing drug interdiction work often are working overtime to get everything done and ready for court cases on top of appearing in court to testify, he said.

“In one of my former lives being the lead drug prosecutor in Winnebago, drug cases can’t be done part time,” Ogle County State’s Attorney Mike Rock said to County Board members. “The way this is going to be set up, I think, will make much more effective investigations, which should lead to more successful prosecutions in the drug trade.”

Drug crimes are violent crimes or lead to violent crimes, he said. Drugs are sold, and that money ends up feeding into other crimes, in addition to the crimes committed by drug users to fund their addiction, Rock said.

“I know from working with the officers who have done their best – they’re working full shifts and then trying to put together drug cases in the off hours, and it’s just not an effective way of doing that,” Rock said.