Action at MCSD

What's going on at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department under the new sheriff, Bill Prim?

Prim seems to be doing a great job - of staying out of the limelight. And the Northwest Herald is being really kind to him. Prim has been in office almost six months now, having taking over the office on December 1, 2014.

What is Prim doing in the following areas?

Resolving lawsuits against the Sheriff's Department. Legally, many (all?) are being handled by the McHenry County State's Attorney, but Prim certainly ought to have influence and advice to the S.A. about which ones they are likely to lose and ought to settle. How many County dollars, if any, are still going to outside law firms?

Resolving employment disputes and lawsuits filed by former deputies. In fact, some of the deputies may not be "former". At least one was never terminated, even though Nygren tossed him out. Nygren never took that deputies case to the Merit Commission, as required under MCSD policies.

Will Prim decide that at least one deputy was unjustly terminated and put him back to work?

In another case, Nygren never took Greg Pyle's resignation to the Merit Commission, as required. Does this mean that Pyle might still be an employee of MCSD, because his resignation was never officially accepted in the proper manner? Could Pyle sue MCSD and get a settlement as a "nuisance" case that would be cheaper to settle than fight? Should Prim find Pyle's resignation and take it to the Merit Commission, in order to "stop the clock" for sure?

Has Prim re-opened any serious closed cases that were poorly handled by MCSD?  If you remember the triple homicide near Marengo from June 8, 2011 (almost four years), Nygren announced, in effect, "case closed" less than 24 hours after three people died. Several experienced people looked at the reports, and at least two said it was the worst example of a homicide investigation they had ever seen.

Did Prim ever pull that case and ask investigators (not the original ones) to take a fresh look at it? Why wouldn't he ask 1) Why weren't any blood samples ever sent to a laboratory? 2) Just whose blood was it that was found in various parts of the house? 3) Why weren't all the bullets found (more casings were found than bullets)? 4) Was there ever a re-enactment of the incident?

All of these questions could involve controversy. Does Sheriff Prim like controversy? Or like to avoid it?