Politics & Government

Sheriff Candidate Steve Egan Unveils Plan to Serve Eastern End of Will County

Will County Sheriff's Lt. Steve Egan wants the department to open a full-service station in Crete-Monee.

From Will County Sheriff candidate Steve Egan:

Democratic sheriff’s candidate Lt. Steve Egan has unveiled a plan to finally give the residents of the eastern portion of Will County the services they deserve: the same services the rest of Will County has enjoyed all along.

"There is no Eastern Will County, just Will County, and the good citizens of the eastern portion of Will County have been ignored for far too long,” Egan said.

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Egan’s plan is to transform a currently underutilized Sheriff’s building in Crete-Monee into a second, full service Sheriff’s Office. This facility will offer a full slate of services to the residents of that area.

“This building still looks virtually brand new after its costly remodeling several years ago, yet it only serves as a temporary holding cell manned by two Will County Corrections Officers and only for one third of the day,” Egan said.

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Retiring Sheriff Paul Kaupas had this facility remodeled and expanded several years ago using drug seizure money. While it has the potential to house a full slate of services for the residents this promise has never been realized.

Currently, all Sheriff’s personnel serving the eastern portion of Will County work out of the downtown Joliet office or the west side Laraway Road facility. Egan maintains that this arrangement underserves the residents while wasting time and resources for the Sheriff’s Department.

“It makes no sense to require personnel to drive almost an hour each way,” Egan said. “This wastes valuable time they can spend serving the residents and unknown amounts of money for the fuel to travel so unnecessarily.”

Currently the facility serves as a temporary holding facility for subjects arrested nearby and only between the hours of 8:00 pm and 4:00 am. Egan would use the ample office space to reassign deputies, detectives, CSI investigators, clerks and other personnel to the facility to better serve the area residents. In short, Sheriff’s Department personnel who currently serve on the eastern portion of Will County would actually be located where they work.

“In phases we would make this a second Sheriff’s headquarters that can function twenty-four hours a day,” Egan said, “and we would save money and better serve those residents by doing this.”

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