How strong is your heart?

You may not want to go to www.mcsdexposed.blogspot.com, unless you have a really strong heart and plenty of Pepto-Bismal handy. The Citizens for Zane Seipler have just posted some (only "some") of the total wages earned by a few of the deputies at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.

The report ran 11 pages. What you'll see at MCSD Exposed is only a few of the many entries. Deputies are paid a salary for their work, and then they have an opportunity to increase their pay by over-time. And what an "opportunity" it is! Pretty good deal for them. And very costly for the taxpayers.

Certainly, better management could control what it's currently costing the taxpayers for law enforcement at MCSD.

Last year I wrote about service of an arrest warrant on a woman who owed a few dollars to the courthouse for unpaid fines. Six law enforcement officers, wearing combat gear and with guns drawn, approached her house and scared her teen-age daughter half to death. Where was the wanted woman? At work.

One deputy could have handled that warrant. By treating everyone as America's Most Wanted, the McHenry County Sheriff's Department runs amok with excessive costs.

Go to www.mcsdexposed.blogspot.com and look at those total pay outlays. And remember; those don't even include benefits.

I doubt I'll make the effort to convert the FOIA response to an Excel spreadsheet, which I could easily then sort by salary, or by name, or by rank. It would be really interesting to see separate columns for salary and over-time.

It's a cop-out (I know, I know; no pun intended) to say that McHenry County Sheriff's Department must remain competitive, or deputies will leave. I say differently. Pay them adequately. Be judicious with training dollars and programs. Provide excellent working conditions (no screaming; no threats). And if they want to leave, let them leave.

My heart almost stopped when I saw the number on the list who are making $90,000, $95,000, $100,000/year and more.

That's repugnant!