SAO training for road deputies

The Office of the McHenry County State’s Attorney has announced that training for law enforcement officers on "Civil Issues for Road Deputies" will be held on Friday, October 23, 2009, at the State’s Attorney’s Office in the Grand Jury Room at 1:30 p.m.

This training is open to all police departments in McHenry County and the Illinois State Police. The training will be presented by Assistant State’s Attorneys Donald Leist and Sarah Jansen.

Let's hope that every department in the County will have at least one road deputy there. It doesn't have to be a supervisor or command officer; in fact, it might be better to choose an experienced (but not tired) patrol officer to attend and take the information back to the department. I wonder whether they will record the program and make it available for other officers to view.

No outline of the training was provided with the press release, so I'll guess that it will center around the type of calls for service that don't really get settled by police officers. Often a party will call the police department and request assistance on a matter that turns out to be a civil, not a criminal, matter. Officers need to know how to handle these calls, so that they can de-escalate situations and refer the callers to appropriate professional advisors (often, attorneys) or agencies.

Somehow, I don't think the training will be about "being civil" to people with whom the officers come in contact.

How many municipal law enforcement agencies are there in McHenry County? Did I miss anyone?

Algonquin
Bull Valley
Crystal Lake
Harvard
Hebron
Huntley
Lake in the Hills
Lakewood
Marengo
McHenry
Richmond
Woodstock

If you know an officer with one of these departments, call him (or her) and ask if his department will be represented at this training. It's important!