Jeff Bodin, Kane County Sheriff 2022 Primary Election Questionnaire

Full Name: Jeff Bodin

What office are you seeking? Kane County Sheriff

What offices, if any, have you previously held? N/A

City: Sugar Grove (grew up in Aurora and North Aurora)

Occupation: Kane County Sheriffs Deputy

Education: Two years of Criminal Justice at Waubonsee Community College

Campaign Website: www.bodinforsheriff.com

What would be your top three priorities over the next four years?

1. To be tougher on violent crimes while continuing and improving mental health, drug rehabilitation and work programs within the jail.

2. To reorganize sworn staff to increase the patrol deputies from 6-7 at a time to 9-10 at any given time at no additional cost. This will allow quicker response times to calls for service in the unincorporated population of 65,000-75,000 residents and allow patrol deputies to assist other agencies more efficiently.

3. To be more fiscally responsible than the current administration.

Taxes are a top concern raised by voters locally. What do you do within your position to address residents’ tax burden?

I have plans that will cut down on a massive overtime budget that is currently in place. I will not hire any high salary, non sworn staff strictly for political favors. I will reorganize the current, unnecessary non sworn staff to save taxpayer dollars. I will also look into take home vehicles and gas cards for all non sworn staff that currently utilize this incentive.

Voters also cited crime as a concern. What do you think needs to be done to address this concern?

I will not push pre-arrest diversion programs for felony crimes like the current Sheriff and State’s Attorney are doing. Judges are letting violent criminals out on low or no bonds. The State’s Attorney’s office are causing issues by refusing felony charges and either dropping or lowering charges for offenders that have been arrested.

What do you bring to the table that your opponents do not?

Fresh new ideas and programs, fiscal responsibility and over 15 years on patrol in Kane County.

If you could redo or reverse any one decision made by the sheriff in the last four years, what would it be and why?

Hard to only pick one, but I would say the current policy of allowing a 6-7 deputy minimum to patrol an area that is 520 square miles with an unincorporated population of 65,000-70,000 people. Sworn staff can be reorganized to have more deputies on the street by never having less than 9-10 on 24 hours a day.

I will establish ten hour shifts like Ron Hain promised 4 years ago but never followed through on. Ten hour shifts would have a few hour overlap that would allow 15-20 deputies on the street for a few hours at a time to better respond to call and to better assist other agencies in Kane County. Personally, I have been the only patrol deputy readily available south of St.Charles (covering approximately 150 square miles) on several occasions over the last few years. This prohibits quick response times to calls and is a safety concern for the deputies and the residents of Kane County.