State Police for Blagojevich Chicago Effort Won’t Come from McHenry County

And the reason is pretty simple.

There are no state policemen assigned to McHenry County.

The first year of George Ryan’s term as governor, the State Police Director came before the appropriations committee on which I served as top Republican.

I asked why McHenry County had no state policemen. (I remember knocking on the door of one in Marengo when I ran for county treasurer in 1966, so that had not always been the case.) I suggested our population justified some.

When he returned a year later, the director told the committee that I was correct and that some would be sent our way.

After I left office, I remember State Rep. Jack Franks announcing that we finally had state police in McHenry County.

Well, no more.

No regular patrols.

Lt. Luis Gutierrez told me District 2, which covers McHenry County, has 86 officers and that the only time special enforcement teams were sent up here was when they were requested by the sheriff or some police chief.

When they come, they “concentrate on hot spots,” he said. Traffic hot spots.

As to where any state policemen might come from to back up the governor’s pledge, Guitierrez told me,

“It’s really too early to discuss where troops will come from, if we send troops to Chicago.”

= = = = =
The top Illinois State Police vehicle was on I-39 south of Rockford on July 4th. We took 39 to 55 and saw police cars all the way to St. Louis. I think the second one with the pickup truck was on 39, too. The bottom unmarked car is in the Metro East area on I-55. And, that’s not all we saw on the way to Joplin.


Comments

State Police for Blagojevich Chicago Effort Won’t Come from McHenry County — 1 Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *