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Use of Flock cameras debated at Kendall County Sheriff candidate forum · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Use of Flock cameras debated at Kendall County Sheriff candidate forum Written
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  by Eric Shelkov. This article is being read by an automated voice,
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  brought to you by Everlit. Uh the use of flock cameras was
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  one of the issues discussed during a Kendall
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  County Sheriff Candidate Forum hosted by the League of Women Voters Aurora
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  Area. Kendall County Under Sheriff Bobby Richardson, a Republican, is running against
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  retired Kendall County Deputy Jose Villagrana, a Democrat, for sheriff in the
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  November 3rd general election. After being Kendall County Sheriff’s since twenty fourteen,
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  Dwight Baird is not running for another term. Vilagrana, a practicing attorney,
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  lost in his race against incumbent Kendall County State's attorney Eric Weiss
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  in November 2024. Richardson has worked in the Kendall County Sheriff's officers
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  for almost twenty years. He started in the patrol division. Villigrana worked
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  for the Kendall County Sheriff's Office for 25 years as a deputy
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  and sergeant. He also is a licensed lawyer. Flock cameras are automated
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  license plate reader systems that photograph passing cars and log vehicle details
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  into a searchable national database. Several police officers in Will County have
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  been placed on administrative leave or faced disciplinary actions for unauthorized use
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  of the flock system. During the September 21st virtual forum, moderator Barb
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  Lehmans asked Richardson and Villa Grana if the Kendall County Sheriff's Office
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  should be able to search flock cameras operated by municipalities such as
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  Oswego without obtaining permission of the municipality. If so, what policy governs
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  those searches and who audits them? She asked. Richardson said he thinks
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  unfettered access to the license plate reader system.
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  Is something that shouldn't happen. We have several license plate readers at
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  the Sheriff’s Office, as do multiple municipalities with within the county and
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  throughout the state, he said. I think that having the prior permission
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  to utilize that search is something that you build with trust, with
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  trust of other municipalities, knowing that your standards and your policies are
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  guided in the best practices. He said. The Sheriff's Office has an
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  auditing system. Not only do we have thirty-day audits, but we also
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  have random audits, Richardson said. He said, at the sheriff's office, one
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  has to enter an incident or report number to look up any
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  license 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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  Vilagrana said it would be to downsize the upper command structure at
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  the office. Villa Grana said when he was a deputy at the
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  Sheriff’s Office, He
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  and his fellow deputies felt there were too many commanders who were
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  unnecessary and not enough deputies. In addition, Vilagrana said The department wasn't
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  able to retain its younger deputies. We were constantly losing them because
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  we, I believe, were underpaying them, he said. Vilagrana said he also
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  would work to boost deputy salaries. When asked the same question, Richardson
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  said his highest priority would be not only to recruit more officers,
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  but also retain them. We've continued to bring on qualified deputies from
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  lateral positions from all over Northern Illinois that have retired from other
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  law enforcement agencies or left other law enforcement agencies to come work
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  here at the Sheriff’s Office. Richardson said. He said the department is
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  on the tip of
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  the spear when it comes to training. Challenges facing the Kendall County
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  Jail The candidates were also asked about the biggest challenges facing the
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  Kendall County jail and how they would address the There's several challenges
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  at the jail, Richardson said. We used to have many federal inmates.
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  We were generating over two million dollars in revenue to the county
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  by housing federal inmates. He said the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago
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  is now housing most of the federal inmates The Kendall County jail
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  previously housed. Currently I think we have two federal inmates, Richardson said.
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  The amount of revenue that was generated for the county was used
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  for technology and other things in the Sheriff's Office. It's something that
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  I look forward to trying to get back to. The number of
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  inmates also dropped following the passage of the statewide safety Act. Richardson
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  said the jail's south portion currently is not being used. Villagrana said
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  that as a deputy and sergeant for the Kendall County Sheriff's Office
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  he was routinely at the jail and that he would routinely speak
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  to the jail employees. It brought me huge respect for what they
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  do, he said. We need to value them. I just think we
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  need to bring them up to the level of every other deputy.
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  Villigrana said doing so, along with increasing their salaries, would improve morale
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  and in turn jail services. The candidate forum can be watched on
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  the League of Women Voters Aurora Area's Facebook page, facebook com slash
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  LWV Aurora Area.