On December 17th, just in time for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, the McHenry County Board voted to accept a $48,700.64 grant from the State of Illinois to allow the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department to step up traffic enforcement
This is the summary the County Board members were shown:
The STEP [Sustained Traffic Enforcement Program] Grant does not require a local monetary match. The funds from the STEP grant allow MCSO to conduct special enforcement for impaired driving mobilizations and/or occupant protection mobilizations during six holiday campaigns.
$43,163.64 goes for overtime. the rest is for running the cars.
When Sheriff Keith Nygren ran for re-election in the fall of 2010, he told an audience at a candidates’ night that traffic was the biggest challenge that his office would face in the next term.
But, the Traffic Unit was disbanded. (The best article is on Zane Seipler’s blog.)
Voting against the enhanced enforcement for the holidays were
- Nick Chirikos
- Diane Evertsen
- John Hammerand
- Donna Kurtz
- Ersel Schuster
- Mike Walkup