Kankakee County Sheriff issued the following announcement on May 23.
Joined by lawmakers and sheriffs from across Illinois, the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association (ISA) today announced the launch of its “Lawmaker Ride Along” effort. The program, which will eventually expand across the entire state of Illinois, will educate lawmakers on law enforcement’s work in their districts and strengthen the relationships between these leaders and the communities they serve. The program starts this summer.
“We all want safe communities. One of the best ways to achieve that is by building stronger relationships between law enforcement and the elected officials from the communities we both serve,” ISA Executive Director Jim Kaitschuk said. “It’s a two-way street. So we will be inviting legislators to ride along with our sheriffs and meet with their teams, and law enforcement will be meeting with legislators in their districts to provide feedback and input on proposals in Springfield. We truly believe this effort will create safer communities from the trust built between law enforcement, legislators and their communities.”
As part of the ISA’s “Lawmaker Ride Along” program, legislators will be invited at least annually to visit the offices of sheriffs and meet with their teams. Legislators will ride along with law enforcement to have a first-hand view of the challenges law enforcement faces. Sheriffs will also go and meet with legislators in their legislative districts to provide feedback on legislative proposals in Springfield and receive feedback from communities.
Sheriffs from across Illinois—Knox County Sheriff Dave Clague, Vermilion County Sheriff Pat Hartshorn, Montgomery County Rick Robbins and others—were on hand today. Rep. Slaughter, Rep. Cassidy, Rep. Turner, Rep. Evans, Sen. Sims, Sen. Mulroe, and Sen. Van Pelt joined the sheriffs in making the announcement.
Kaitschuk continued: “Understandably, pieces of legislation are passed to solve problems. But many times the legislation fails to fix the problem. By building stronger relationships and having more dialogue, legislators can focus on developing and passing impactful bills that provide law enforcement the tools needed to keep communities safe.”
Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey has already offered similar opportunities, both on patrol and in the jail, to our local county board members and elected officials, some of which whom have already done so.
“We welcome our lawmakers any opportunity to take the time to see first-hand, what our officers do on a daily basis,” said Sheriff Downey.
For more information about the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association, visit https://www.ilsheriff.org/.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Kankakee County Sheriff
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