Slick's discipline remains out-of-sight

For the present time, the disciplinary records of McHenry County Sheriff's Department Deputy Jason ("Slick") Novak remain locked away at the Sheriff's Department and out of the public's view. Is this right?

How are internal investigations at the Sheriff's Department handled?

The sheriff's department did nothing wrong in its investigations of Novak, according to the Northwest Herald article on October 19. The denial was attributed to Michael Combs, Assistant State's Attorney and Chief of the Criminal Division.

The State's Attorney's Office is the legal representative of the Sheriff's Department. Many believe the relationship between Sheriff Nygren and State's Attorney Lou Bianchi is more than a little strained. But the fact is that the State's Attorney's Office represents the Sheriff's Department. What else could Attorney Combs say?

A lawyer always denies wrong-doing by his client. So the statement is really superfluous. But it looks good in print.

I fell out of my chair laughing, when I read, "If she's (the Confidential Informant) thanking them for their work, then that proves that the sheriff's department's investigation was on the level."

A little action on Novak's couch in the middle of the night? That was on the level?

Hundreds (how many? 600? More? Many more?) of text messages and many hours of telephone calls between Novak and the C.I.? That was on the level?

And to which investigation is Attorney Combs referring? The drug investigation that led to Branham's arrest or the investigation into any wrongdoing to Det. Novak?

Novak got ten days off without pay and was transferred from detectives to patrol. He wasn't "busted" from Detective to Deputy. He was always a deputy, just assigned to the detective division at the sheriff's department.

Was there actually a violation of criminal laws here, but the Sheriff's Department "chose" not to go after one of its own?

In another case at the Sheriff's Department involving a deputy who had sex with an informant, that deputy got only a three-day suspension.

This is how our Sheriff's Department is currently run. And this is why the next Sheriff (2014) had better come from outside the Department.

Why wasn't Sheriff Nygren outraged by this behavior of a deputy? Was the battery dead in his cell phone?