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Kendall County Sheriff candidates debate use of Flock cameras · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Kendall County Sheriff candidate debate use of flock cameras. Written by Eric
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  Shelkov. This article is being read by an automated voice brought to
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  you by Everlett. The use of flock cameras was one of the
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  issues discussed during a Kendall County Sheriff Candidate Forum hosted by the
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  League of Women Voters Aurora Area. Kendall County Under Sheriff Bobby Richardson,
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  a Republican, is running against retired Kendall County Deputy Jose Villagrana, a
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  Democrat, for sheriff in the November 3rd general election. After being Kendall
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  County Sheriff’s since twenty fourteen, Dwight Baird is not running for another
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  term. Villigrana, a practicing attorney, lost in his race against incumbent Kendall
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  County State's attorney, Eric Weiss, in november twenty twenty four. Richardson has
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  worked in the Kendall County Sheriff's Office for almost twenty years. He
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  started in the patrol division. Villigrana worked for the Kendall County Sheriff's
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  Office for 25 years as a deputy and sergeant. He also is
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  a licensed lawyer. Flock cameras are automated license plate reader systems that
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  photograph passing cars and log vehicle details into a searchable national database.
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  Several police officers in Will County have been placed on administrative leave
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  or face disciplinary actions for unauthorized use of the flock system. During
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  the September 21 virtual forum, moderator Barb Lehmans asked Richardson and Villa
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  Grana if the Kendall County Sheriff's Office should be able to search
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  flock cameras operated by municipalities such as Oswego without obtaining permission of
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  the municipality. If so, what policy governs those searches and who audits
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  them? She asked. Richardson said he thinks unfettered access to the license
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  plate reader system.
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  Is something that shouldn't happen. We have several licensed plate readers at
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  the Sheriff’s Office, as do multiple municipalities within the county and throughout
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  the state, he said. I think that having the prior permission to
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  utilize that search is something that you build with trust trust of
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  other municipalities, knowing that your standards and your policies are guided in
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  the best practices. He said. The Sheriff's Office has an auditing system.
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  Not only do we have thirty day audits, but we also have
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  random audits, Richardson said. He said, at the Sheriff's Office, one has
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  to enter an incident or report number to look up any license
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  plate. Villagrana
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  said he wants to make sure the people and the voters are
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  okay with this overkill of data and surveillance going around. People are
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  just uneasy about us gathering all this information about were they are
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  going, he said. I think it kind of touches on the Fourth
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  Amendment. Is it a search? I think we need to ease back
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  on that, take a look at it, and make sure we're making
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  good decisions for everybody, not just for fighting crime. Priorities for the
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  Sheriff's Office When asked about his highest priority for the Sheriff's Office,
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  Villigrana said it would be to downsize the upper command structure at
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  the office. Villigrana said, when he was a deputy at the Sheriff's
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  Office, he and his fellow deputies felt there here too many commanders
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  who were unnecessary and not enough deputies. In addition, Vilagrana said the
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  department wasn't able to retain its younger deputies. We were constantly losing
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  them because we, I believe, were underpaying the he said. Villigrana said
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  he also would work to boost deputy salaries. When asked the same
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  question, Richardson said his highest priority would be not only to recruit
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  more officers, but also retain the We've continued to bring on qualified
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  deputies from lateral positions from all over Northern Illinois that have retired
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  from other law enforcement agencies or left other law enforcement agencies to
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  come work here at the Sheriff's Office, Richardson said. He said the
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  department is on the tip of the spear when it comes to
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  training. Challenges facing the Kendall County Jail The candidates were also asked
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  about the biggest challenges facing the Kendall County Jail and how the
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  would address the There's several challenges at the jail’s Richardson said. We
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  used to have many federal inmates. We were generating over two million
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  dollars in revenue to the county by housing federal inmates. He said
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  the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago now is housing most of the
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  federal inmates the Kendall County jail previously housed. Currently I think we
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  have two two federal inmates, Richardson said. The amount of revenue that
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  was generated for the county was used for technology and other things
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  in the Sheriff's Office. It's something that I look forward to trying
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  to get back to. The number of inmates also dropped following the
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  passage of the statewide safety Act. Richardson said the jail's south portion
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  currently is not being used. Villagrana said that, as a deputy and
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  sergeant for the Kendall County Sheriff's Office, he was routinely at the
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  jail and that he would routinely speak to the jail employees. It
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  brought me huge respect for what they do, he said. We need
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  to value them. I just think we need to bring them up
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  to the level of every other deputy. Villigrana said doing so, along
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  with increasing their salaries, would improve morale and intern jail services. The
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  candidate forum can be watched on the League of Women Voters Aurora
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  Area's Facebook page, facebook.com slash LWV Aurora Area.