Vice Seeks To Unseat Idleburg As Lake County Sheriff: IL Election 2022

LAKE COUNTY, IL — Democratic incumbent John Idleburg is vying for a second term as Lake County Sheriff and faces a challenge from longtime deputy Mark Vice.

Idleburg, of Zion, worked for decades as a federal investigator and, after retiring, joined the Lake County Forest Preserve and Zion Park Police, before deciding to run for Lake County Sheriff in 2018 against three-term Republican incumbent Mark Curran.

Idleburg narrowly edged Curran out of office in 2018, winning with just 137 more votes than Curran. It took the Lake County Clerk's Office two weeks to finalize the results of that race, with Idleburg pulling in 122,885 votes over Curran's 122,748 votes.

Curran is running this election for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court in the 2nd District. He faces Democrat Elizabeth Rochford, a Lake County associate judge and former commissioner of claims.

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Vice, of Avon Township, has been a Lake County Sheriff's Office duty for 16 years and is currently the president of the Lake County Sheriff’s FOP Lodge 66 and president of the Lake County Sheriff’s Deputies FOP Union.

He also serves on the Lake County Sheriff’s Crisis Intervention Team and on the Lake County Sheriff’s Honor Guard.

Idleburg is pointing to his successes during his first term in office as reasons he should be elected to a second term, which include laughing an app that allows residents to fill out a police report, the addition of six police dogs, and a pilot program that pairs mental-health professionals with officers, the Lake County News-Sun is reporting. He's stressed the importance of transparency and worked to be more accessible to the public.

Vice's goals, if elected sheriff, include: creating a county-wide school safety plan in the event that there is a shooting, lowering crime rates and building trust between communities and law enforcement and being an advocate for victims of crime, according to his campaign website.

Vice, who won the Republican primary earlier this year, says a database that includes action plans from all schools across the county would aid officers responding to a mass shooting, according to the Lake County News-Sun. Vice says Idleburg has failed to fill open correctional officer and deputy positions during his term, and says his lack of leadership has led to poor morale and has prevented more hiring.

“If your employees don’t have faith in you, how can the public have faith in you?” Vice said.

The SAFE-T Act, which will go into effect in Illinois on Jan. 1, has been a hot topic this election. While many aspects of the 764-page act have already taken effect since lawmakers approved it in the final hours of the January 2021 lame duck session, the provision that eliminates cash bail and restructures the bond hearing process — the Pretrial Fairness Act — has generated the most controversy.

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During his campaign for re-election, Idleburg said he's had to correct misleading information that's been circulating regarding the SAFE-T Act. Idleburg has heard from residents concerned over a false claim they believe will become a reality in the New Year: that officers won't be able to address someone who is trespassing on private property, according to the Daily Herald.

"(If) you said that this person is a threat to you and your family that individual will be detained and they will be escorted off the property," Idleburg said.

The new law requires officers to ticket those accused of low-level offenses, but they still can arrest them if they pose a threat to the public, according to an Injustice Watch fact check.

Vice, in a separate interview with the Daily Herald, said he's against the new SAFE-T Act law, pointing out that same debunked claim.

"We want to make sure we have a leader that's going to support us and stand with us, not stand against us and make our job harder," Vice said.

Jonah Meadows has contributed to this article.